Local captain aids paddleboarder who got blown adrift in Semiahmoo Bay

His patented water-rescue device played a key role in the New Year’s Eve recovery

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Toward the end of 2019, Bellingham resident Suzanne Westcott came up with a goal to paddleboard “through the month of December.” Westcott has been paddleboarding for six years, and in the summer, she paddles at least once a day, if not twice. About a week before the new year, she decided that to meet her year-end goal, she would go paddleboarding on December 31.

Westcott, who is 51 years old and usually paddles in Bellingham Bay, checked the weather forecast and decided that she would drive up to Blaine for her New Year’s Eve paddle. She hopped into her vehicle, did some “recon” and found three potential paddleboarding spots in Semiahmoo. She then drove back home to Bellingham to fetch her gear.

Westcott put on some 9mm booties, wind and waterproof pants, wool layers, a kayaking jacket, paddle gloves and a personal flotation device (PFD). She also grabbed her Riviera Voyager paddleboard, a wide recreational board that’s 12'6" long. “It is super wide and super stable, with a pointed front so it cuts through waves nicely,” she said.

She then returned to Blaine, where she launched into the waters of Semiahmoo Bay near the Alaska Packers Association Museum on the Semiahmoo Spit. It was about 12:45 or 1 p.m. Her goal was to do “a quick paddle” – maybe five or 10 minutes max. The waters seemed to be calm.

Unfortunately for Westcott, the quick jaunt turned into an hour-and-a-half ordeal, which required an emergency rescue by first responders and a local captain named Randy Parten. In the end, a new water-rescue device invented by Parten was put to the test – and it succeeded brilliantly.

The distress signal

That afternoon, Parten had been sitting in the office of his Blaine yacht brokerage, The Dream Boat Company at 229 Marine Drive, when he heard a “PAN-PAN” distress signal from the Coast Guard on his VHF radio. The message said that there was a paddleboarder in Semiahmoo Bay who needed to be rescued. Parten immediately walked outside to his boat, a 32-foot, 700-horsepower towing vessel, and started the engines. He responded to the Coast Guard, telling them that he could deploy if necessary.

“They said their nearest resources were coming from Bellingham, and that there were rough seas,” said Parten. “They said that any assistance would therefore be appreciated.”

Parten exited the marina in his boat and headed toward Semiahmoo Bay. It took him about five minutes to get there. There wasn’t much light, and it was raining. Because it can be hard to see a person in the water in those conditions, Parten got in touch with first responders on the shore, who had eyes on Westcott. “They guided me toward her, well into Canadian waters toward White Rock,” said Parten.

The 911 call

At first, everything seemed to be going fine. Westcott’s goal had been to go straight out into the water, and then ride the waves back to the beach. “I went out too far,” she said in retrospect. “So then my angle was off when I was coming in. I went about 100 feet past where I wanted to be, and that unfortunately happened to be where the winds started just blowing.”

From past experience, Westcott knew that she could paddle against 15-knot headwinds, and that she could even do quick sprints against 18-knot headwinds. Unfortunately, the winds were blowing at about 30 knots. Once the winds hit her, she switched to an energy-conserving “M” position. “I was going slow and steady,” she said. “I was not getting too much farther out, but in hindsight, I wasn’t making any progress heading in. At some point, I knew I wasn’t going to make it in. I knew that I couldn’t fight it.”

After 38 minutes on the water, Westcott called 911. “I told them I was on the water, where I was and that I didn’t think I was going to make it back in,” she said. After hanging up, she continued paddling for a while, slow and steady. Although two- to three-foot waves were hitting her sideways, she wasn’t cold, and she wasn’t scared. “I never felt the need to pull my PFD,” she said. “I’m very calm in emergencies, that’s just my nature.”

After a while, Westcott decided to stop paddling. Having already crossed the marine border into Canada, she decided that she would just land in B.C. instead of trying to make it back to Blaine. She used her paddle as a rudder and placed another call to first responders, letting them know about her change of plans. She was told that a helicopter had been deployed, and that a boater had responded to an emergency alert and was on his way.

“While I was on the phone, I was told that there was a guy coming out of the harbor,” she said. “I thought, ‘Alright, let’s do this.’ I got this rush of adrenaline. For some reason, I turned my board around and had to get back over the marine border into U.S. waters.”

Westcott resumed paddling toward Blaine. She started thinking about how she would get onto a boat. “I didn’t know who it was or what the plan was, and I knew the waves were big,” she said.

The rescue

After first responders guided Parten toward Westcott, he finally spotted her in the water. When he was about 50 yards away from her, he walked to the back of his boat and threw a life ring into the water. Attached to the life ring was a Rescu Swim’r, a plastic device that Parten invented last year.

The Rescu Swim’r makes it safer, easier and faster to tow a life ring to a person overboard. This is because it functions as a rudder, allowing the rescuer to tow a life ring at a 45-degree angle to a boat, rather than dragging it directly behind the boat. This means that the rescuer does not need to make a close pass or circle the boat around the person in the water, saving time and avoiding potential contact with the propellers.

Parten walked back to the helm and started towing the life ring to Westcott, who was starting to get colder. “My fingers were starting to get cold,” she recalled. “The last time I closed my dry bag, I could barely pinch the clip. But I wasn’t shivering. The bottom half of me was getting wet but my core and top half were dry.”

As Parten came closer, drove past her and took the boat out of gear, Westcott tried to process how to get on the boat. That’s when she saw the line for the life ring off to the side. “I just knew I had to grab the line with my gloves, and I knew I could do that,” she said. “It slid through my hands perfectly, and after I put my arm through the ring, he pulled me in. That was the easiest part of the whole day.”

When Parten and Westcott came face to face, Westcott’s first words were “thank you” or “I’m so sorry” – she can’t remember which. She asked Parten, “Do I just leave my gear here?” Parten replied: “Let’s just get you on the boat first.”

Because Westcott had been sitting in the “M” position for so long, she had a hard time standing up. After she managed to get one foot onto the boat’s swim platform, Parten grabbed her arm and yanked the rest of her body onto the boat. “I slid like a seal onto the bench in the back of the boat,” said Westcott, who was feeling nauseous and just laid on her stomach for a few moments before sitting up.

Meanwhile, Parten grabbed the paddleboard’s tether and tied it to his boat. He could tell that Westcott was stable and alert. But to test her senses, he deliberately asked her a vague question: “Are you with me?” To which Westcott replied: “Yup, I’m good.”

Returning to shore

Parten transported Westcott to the Plover dock on the Semiahmoo Spit, where first responders including North Whatcom Fire and Rescue were waiting. Once ashore, she went inside an ambulance to get warmed up. She was given heating packs, and changed into a dry set of clothes. “I had so much shame, I was apologizing to everybody who was there,” she said. “I felt so bad for disrupting everybody.”

Parten believes that his Rescu Swim’r device played a key role in the rescue. “In that weather, with four-foot waves and 30-knot gusts, it was a danger to bring a boat next to her,” he said. The Rescu Swim’r that he used to rescue Westcott was a prototype; he is currently working with a Seattle manufacturer to develop a mass-market model of the device, which should be ready in about three months.

A few days after the incident, Westcott met with Parten and his wife Regina for lunch. It was an opportunity for Westcott to thank Parten for his rescue effort. Westcott and Parten bonded over their love for the singer Billy Joel. Parten’s boat, “She’s Got A Way,” is a reference to the epic Billy Joel song. “As the daughter of a fisherman, ‘The Downeaster Alexa’ was my song,” said Westcott. “When I saw the name of Randy’s boat as I was throwing my paddle on the swim platform, I thought it was a fortuitous moment.”

Westcott also wished to thank the Coast Guard, North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for their assistance. “I’m so grateful,” she said, adding that from now on, she only plans to go paddleboarding when it’s not too windy, and that she won’t go as far out next time. Although she is well-versed in water safety, the experience has left her feeling humbled by the power of nature.

“Accidents happen,” she said. “Mistakes happen. You’re going to learn from it, so it’s important not to beat yourself up.”

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