Beach boys in action

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Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator
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'Beach boys in action' From rubber rafts to fast lifesaving craft, rescue unit on the job


The Hamilton Spectator - Hamilton, Ont.
ROSEMARY TODD
May 4, 1993


CLARENCE DEAN, 84, can recall the days in the 1940s when he, as deputy chief of the Hamilton Beach Rescue Unit, faced the high, frigid waters of Lake Ontario in a dinghy.

By the time his son, Bill, now 60, became a member of the volunteer organization, motorboats had replaced the rubber rafts.

Now, the job of his grandson, Mark, 31, a unit lieutenant, has become that much easier with the introduction of a six-metre (20- foot), 200-horsepower outboard-motor vessel.

'We'll be able to stay out in rougher water, there will be better speed to get out to calls and it's a more stable boat,' said Mark, who was born on the Beach Strip and recently returned after living in Stoney Creek.

The three generations of the Dean family came together yesterday during a dedication service at the rescue unit's Beach Boulevard clubhouse. About 45 veteran and active members and several politicians, including Regional Chairman Reg Whynott, toasted the fibreglass and balsa wood rescue boat sitting on a trailer outside the unit's boathouse.

'Smarter'

The $40,000 boat, built by Medeiros Boat Works in Oakville, will be given a test run in the next few days. The model is used by the RCMP and Parks Canada in Georgian Bay and houses a water pump to help control boat fires. The club hopes to add a radar system.

The rescue boat joins the club's six-metre (20-foot) Galaxy, a larger boat with a 175-horsepower inboard-outboard motor.

Bill Tannahill, rescue unit chief, said volunteers -- 'the beach boys in action' -- raised $20,000 from bingos, held twice weekly since August 1991. The region also contributes $6,320 annually to the unit's capital budget.

Mr. Tannahill, a member of the club for 23 years, said the unit responded to about 33 calls last year, not all of them life- threatening incidents. While the number of emergencies has decreased -- 'people are getting a wee bit smarter' many still occur early in the season when 'people are itching to get fishing,' he said.

Hamilton-Wentworth police Superintendent Cliff Jackson, responsible for the force's marine division based inside the harbor, said the beach unit is another resource the boating public can use in case of emergency.

'It's mainly by their presence and their accessibility to the lake,' Supt. Jackson said. 'They can get on the lake sometimes faster than we can get across the bay.'

The unit evolved from the beach community's volunteer fire department, formed in 1942. It now boasts 30 active members, has a siren at its clubhouse and one on the beach to warn of emergencies.

While much of the beach community can hear the siren, distant members are equipped with pagers. From mid-June to the Labor Day weekend, the unit patrols every weekend and holiday Mondays between the Burlington Canal and Fifty Road.

All the members have faced danger during some 'ticklish rescues,' said Bill Dean. Three years ago, Bill responded to a call in which three fishermen were stranded 10 kilometres (six miles) offshore after their motor quit.

'The waves were 10 to 12 feet high, but we brought them in,' said Bill, adding he was piloting a six-metre (20-foot) Wilker boat with a 120-horsepower motor.

'It was pretty close, but we kept it in tow and brought her in with a hope and a prayer.

'We've all been out in real bad weather,' he said. 'That's when all of the problems happen.'

It was only last summer when Mark Dean, a pipefitter at Dofasco, went out with Lieutenant Rick Cranwell to assist two stranded boats during a lightning storm.

'It was touching down in the water all around us,' said Mark. 'It was like a light show.'

But like his grandfather, father and two uncles who risked their lives to help others, 'I just like helping people.'

Photo- Kaz Novak, The Hamilton Spectator,
Three generations of Deans- Clarence, 84, Bill, 60, and Mark, 31- with the new 200-horsepower rescue craft.
 

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