Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 • B 5
Seamus Waibel practices his boating maneuvers in the Port Townsend Boat Haven for Salish Rescue. Photo courtesy Seamus Waibel
PT high schooler rescues boaters
Seamus Waibel volunteers for 3rd year while attending school online KIRK BOXLEITNER KBOXLEITNER@PTLEADER.COM At the age of 16, Port Townsend 10th-grader Seamus Waibel is already entering his third year as a volunteer rescue boater. Waibel was hooked as soon as he attended a CPR class taught by Erik Wennstrom, education director for Salish Rescue. “Seamus has demonstrated a lot of initiative in a very difficult program,” Wennstrom said. “He’s demonstrated levels of commitment and independence that have qualified him to go out in harsh conditions to help save lives.” Wennstrom moved to Port Townsend in 1985 and volunteered with East Jefferson Fire
Rescue for more than 20 years. He was instrumental in the creation of East Jefferson County’s fireboat and marine rescue programs, and led a search and rescue Explorer post for the Boy Scouts of America. Salish Rescue has offered hands-on, on-the-water search and rescue skills training for both youths and adults since 2004. It routinely provides safety coverage for community events, and supports nearshore search and rescue operations. “You have to train enough to have a high level of skill, because if you mess up, you could kill someone,” said Waibel, who has trained as often as two hours a day, from four to five days a week, while keeping up with his
schoolwork through Washington Virtual Academies (WAVA), a full-time online public school for students across the state. LOVE OF THE SEA While Waibel’s first year with WAVA has also seen him take part in several of its extracurricular activities, including student government, the DIY Club and the Leadership Club, the school’s flexible schedule allows him to complete his classes in the morning and practice rescue boating later in the day. Waibel credits his upbringing in Port Townsend, where he’s lived since the second grade, with fostering his love for the sea, while his mother, Melissa Love, asked, “What teenage boy doesn’t want to go out on the water and play in powerful boats, speeding through the wind and the waves?” Waibel has had to develop a certain measure of responsibility
to be granted that power. “You have to be able to do precise maneuvering in small areas,” Waibel said. “That means being aware of the wind, the weather and the current,” Love added. “Well, yeah, that goes without saying,” Waibel replied, rolling his eyes. Waibel has also picked up medical skills, including how to warm patients to counteract hypothermia from a dip in cold waters, as well as how to coordinate his efforts with those of emergency responders, including the U.S. Coast Guard and East Jefferson Fire Rescue. “You need to figure out where to drop off the folks you’ve rescued, so the ambulances can meet you,” Waibel said. “For search and rescue operations, you need to take into account when and where someone was last seen, and then use the current direction and
water speed to figure out where they might be now.” “And regardless of what you’re doing, you have to know what the waters are like in certain areas, and how to get to various locations quickly,” Love said. “Speed is of the essence.” Learning these rules has not only afforded Waibel more hours of play with the boats, but has also benefited the handful of rescues in which he’s been personally involved. Notably, Wennstrom praised Waibel’s role as part of a rescue crew for a sailboat that was in distress during last year’s Race to Alaska. “Seamus helped bring the boat to shore and recovered broken pieces of the boat that were drifting in the ocean,” Wennstrom said. “It’s great when you get to see these kids grow up in front of you. They start out not being sure of themselves, and become confident mariners.”
Search and Rescue offers free boot camp for volunteers Jefferson Search and Rescue (JSAR) holds its second annual boot camp between March 8 and May 10. The free training encompasses all first-year Washington state emergency worker requirements. Anyone interested in being a volunteer search and rescue worker should take advantage of this, said JSAR training chair Matt Stewart. “This is our annual chance to cover basic and intermediate navigation,
radio communications, foundational search skills, an awareness-level introduction to technical rope rescue and individual survival skills,” Stewart said. No prior experience is necessary. A wish to help others in your community is important. Much of JSAR’s team shares a love of the outdoors and general physical fitness, but there is a variety of ways to make a contribution, he said. JSAR teams assist local law enforcement and federal
land-management agencies by responding to missing hikers, providing technical rescue knowledge, supporting Project Life Saver and many other tasks as necessary. “The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office [JCSO] relies almost exclusively on JSAR teams to perform lifesaving rescue missions within this county and to assist neighboring counties as needed,” said Art Frank, JCSO chief criminal deputy. “There is no doubt that without these dedicated volunteers who
San Juan Villa Spring Events Bringing youth and elderly together - We are so happy about our new partnership with Grant Street Elementary School and their music teacher Miss Kriszti Brunica. We now have children coming to us and singing at least twice a month. If you would like to attend, the dates are as follows: • March 17th & March 23rd at 11am • April 20th & 28th at 10:30am. Friday March 17th, 3-4:30 pm St. Patrick’s Day Gaelic Tea, open to all ages. Please RSVP by March 8, 2017: 344-3114
Friday April 14th at noon Good Friday Easter Brunch. Open to all. Please RSVP by April 7th: 344-3114 Friday May 5th, 3pm-4:30pm Cinco de Mayo Social. Open to all. Please RSVP by April 28th: 344-3114 Watch for us in the Pet Parade come Rhody Festival!
Providing Life Enrichment for Those with Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Forms of Memory Loss 112 Castellano Way, Port Townsend • 360 344-3114 • acaringplace.net
refurbished equipment was donated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which attempts to return pots to identified owners and donates them CRAP POT SALE only if that proves impossible. JSAR also hosts a sale of JSAR uses the sales to crab pots and related gear fund its equipment and trainfrom 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, ing. Call 360-797-5011 with March 19 at 2355 W. Sims questions about the sale. Way in Port Townsend. Both commercial and ABOUT JSAR Jefferson Search and recreational crab pots are available for purchase, along Rescue is a Washington state with bait boxes, weighted rope nonprofit corporation. and floats. The reclaimed and Volunteer members donate thousands of hours, lives would be lost.” For more information, contact Stewart at 360-797-5011 or mstewart@jsar-wa.com.
conduct search and rescue operations as well as public education services for the people of Jefferson County and the Olympic Peninsula. JSAR missions are directed by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, which has legal responsibility under the law for all search and rescue activities in the county. JSAR meets at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at East Jefferson Fire Rescue Station 1-1 in Chimacum.
PORT TOWNSEND SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
SPRING SALE! FRIDAY NIGHTS @ PTSA! MAKE IT & TAKE IT (CRAFTS) PAINT YOUR PALATE (ACRYLICS) FIGURE DRAWING. MORE INFO:
ptArts.org
CLASSES & WORKSHOPS FOR ADULTS & YOUTH EVERYONE WELCOME! NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED. PAINTING, DRAWING, PHOTOGRAPHY, BEADS, SCULPTURE, PUPPETS, AND MUCH MORE.
(360)344-4479 PTARTS.ORG