Three Drumheller men are safe at home after a harrowing adventure off the coast of Vancouver Island last week.
Ralph Veenhuis, Jeff Finley, and Darren Walker were fishing near Tofino on Veenhuis’s craft, the Aquaholic, when suddenly they had to fight for their lives as an abnormal series of swells caused the boat to start sinking.
Darren Walker (left), Ralph Veenhuis, and Jeff Finley on the bow of the Coast Guard ship that rescued them after surviving 40 minutes stranded off the west coast after their boat sank last week. A series of unusually large swells flooded the stern of Veenhuis’s boat, the Aquaholic, and stalled the engine. They are safe and back home in Alberta.
The three had been peacefully fishing for roughly three hours when the first large swell hit the stern of the Aquaholic and flooded the engine. Veenhuis believes the swells were caused by a large cruise ship passing through the area.
“Basically we had four or five large consecutive swells hit the back of the boat shortly after a large cruise ship passed by on our stern. They (the cruise ship) have as much right to be out there as we do. It was just a freak situation,” said Veenhuis. “The first swell went over the back of the boat and flooded the engine room.”
The engine stalled, preventing Veenhuis from turning the bow towards the subsequent swells. Several more swells flooded over the stern and the Aquaholic began to sink.
The three men didn’t panic and sprung into action.
“We started to sink, so we got on the radio and contacted the coast guard and gave them a location, so they could do search and rescue. We pumped up the inflatable (raft) as fast as we could,” said Veenhuis. “In three minutes we went from being in trouble to abandoning ship. We did everything we needed to do in minutes and that’s why we’re alive.”
They were then left stranded in the ocean, held afloat only by their life jackets, a half-inflated raft, and a nearly empty cooler, meant for any fish they caught.
“Even in the water we didn’t panic. If one person was getting too cold, we’d pull them up on the raft and get them warmed up,” said Veenhuis.
“After 20 minutes, the search and rescue plane went by, but we weren’t sure if it saw us. We all went quiet for a few minutes, then Jeff looked over and said, ‘hey man, did anybody bring Wilson?’ When the big cruise ship turned around then the two guys started singing the Love Boat theme. That kept us going.”
The search and rescue plane returned and circled over the three men. After 40 minutes in the water, a Sea King Helicopter and Coast Guard boat arrived. The men were taken aboard the Coast Guard ship and treated for hypothermia.
Darren Walker (back, first from left), Ralph Veenhuis, and Jeff Finley, with the Coast Guard crew that rescued them. The three Drumheller men survived 40 minutes in the Pacific Ocean after their boat was hit by a series of large swells and sank.
However, their injuries could have been worse, considering the local wildlife.
“We had hypothermia, so they got us inside and helped us. Apparently the area was heavily infested with blue sharks, but luckily none showed up,” said Veenhuis.
Veenhuis has been boating for 30 years and had spent the prior 40 days boating off the west coast on the Aquaholic, which he purchased three years ago.
“It’s an ex-Coast Guard boat from Washington, Coast Guard certified, and everything was working properly. It was just an unfortunate situation. We were out there fishing for three hours before the incident. There were swells, but nothing the ship couldn’t handle,” said Veenhuis.
Now, the three are back home.
“It still hasn’t completely sunk in yet,” said Veenhuis. ‘It’s surreal what transpired there.”