This Thursday, me and 4 other friends decided to drive up to Sombrio beach to camp the night and surf Friday. the wave forecast was set to be waist high and clean early on, but with heavy winds coming after creating blown out waves, so we were looking froward to what would be a beautiful morning. When we arrived at Sombrio it was pouring rain, we set our tents up in a semi covered area off the beach and then went off to explore down the beach.
When the morning came we woke up and got changed into our wetsuits right away, looking out at the beach to see which break had the best waves. It was windy in the morning, as a result there was plenty of large pieces of driftwood in the water, getting picked up and smashed onto the beach. Rain was hitting us sideways leaving our tents surrounded in pools of water and mud, and made it harder to see the water and waves.
Once changed we walked in our wetsuits to the west side of the beach toward a surf break named “seconds,” however we did not make it out to the wave. I got on my board and started paddling out, but I heard my name called and shouting from the beach, I turned to see my friend laying flat on his back, and then pulled himself up the beach dragging his leg. I paddled in as fast as I could to see that he had broken his leg, the culprit was an approximately 10x4ft piece of driftwood that had been picked up by the wash and thrown at his leg, hitting just above the ankle. He immediately knew it was broken, and seemed to be a compound fracture.
Instantly, once he was further away from the crashing waves, my two friends ran to call 911 and get search and rescue. Thankfully, the only other people on the beach saw them running frantically, and went to go see what was going on. These people were Matt and Katie, who thankfully were able to provide a first aid kit, warm water, blankets, and a tarp that we used to block the waves.
I immediately immobilized his foot, however the wind and rain were picking up so waves were hitting us on the beach, we needed to move. Thankfully, we had a large enough board with us to use as a stretcher to carry him further from the waves, and once we all worked together to lift him on the board, it turned into a waiting game.
As the weather was so poor, Search and Rescue could not send in any helicopters or boats, so we had to wait for them to drive from Sooke to the beach, which is supposed to take an hour. However, because of the area we were in and because some of the search and rescue team are volunteers, we ended up on the beach for 3 hours before the first 2 responders showed up.
During the hours we were on the beach waiting, unsure of when help would arrive, he lost around 200ml of blood, and we were getting beat by wind, rain, and waves. Thankfully because everyone was calm, patient, and understanding, we were able to get through it together. When search and rescue arrived we could finally somewhat relax, and another 2 hours later the full search and rescue team arrived and put him on a stretcher and drove to the hospital.
Reflecting on the event today, I am so thankful for everyone there, as we all played an important role in making the rescue go as safe as it couldve. I am also thankful for my lifeguard training, as because of this I was able to react calmly and quickly when the injury occured, possibly preventing further injury.
