Night Training for Skydiver Rescue
Being close to an airport with active skydiving operations, we get calls for skydivers landing in the marsh and backwaters at least a couple times each year. So last night we combined our night boating and navigation practice with searching for a “skydiver” represented by 4 PVC pipes placed in the waterway, Dutchman Creek, and Piney Point Creek.
We used 2 of our boats, the aluminum Jon boat (4492) and the inflatable (4490), each with a 2-person crew. Each member was required to crew each boat and find all 4 skydivers. The pictures below were taken just before dark, but we waited until night before launching our first mission and wrapped up just before 10 PM. We put the boats in the water at the Wildlife Ramp.
The More You Know…. Many locals refer to Dutchman Creek as the waterway along Dutchman Creek Park and the Wildlife Boat Ramp. Did you know that is not correct? The real Dutchman Creek is 2,000′ east of there (as a pelican flies), or about 1.3 miles by boat. This is mostly a matter of trivia for most, but is actually a semi-major issue for us. When we hear from C-COM that “A skydiver was reported down in Dutchman Creek”, we actually have to search 2 places; the real Dutchman Creek and the waterway around Wildlife and Dutchman Creek Park. Because of the proximity to the airport, the latter is the more likely location of the skydiver, even though it is not technically Dutchman Creek at all!
