Quick action saves man from drowning in the Bay
By Scott Woodhouse - Express Staff

A few minutes earlier he introduced himself as "dead man walking."

The Centreville resident spent more than 30 minutes in the frigid Bay after a late afternoon fishing trip nearly turned tragic.

After working in his garden all day in the unseasonably hot temperatures, he decided to quit for the day and go fishing. He launched his 16-foot fibreglass canoe from his waterfront property next to the Centreville Bridge and paddled out into the Bay.

"The water was very calm and I didn't notice there was any wind when I was in close to shore," he said.

But before he realized what was happening, a strong offshore breeze had blown him more than two kilometres from shore and the wind was starting to gust heavily. "I tried to turn the canoe around but the wind kept blowing me back out," he said.

"I was paddling like crazy but the wind was too strong. Then it just flipped me over and I was in the water."

At first he thought he could swim back to shore started out. Lucky for him, after about 10 metres he remembered his Air Cadet training - if your plane crashes in the water stay with it. His decision to stay with the canoe probably saved his life.

He swam back and attempted to right the capsized canoe.

"I tried to tip it back over but it was useless. It just kept rolling over and over," he said.

Hooftman had on a life jacket, and by clinging to the canoe, he was able to keep himself partially out of the water, which is around 6 degrees Celsius and avoid hypothermia - for a while.

"I screamed and screamed for help," he said. "All I could think of was those three guys who drowned a couple of years ago when their sailboat capsized."

Little did he know that Lakeshore Ave. resident Al Brodrick had witnessed the whole thing.

"I had just got up from a nap and was looking out over the water," he said the next day. "I saw this guy in a canoe paddling like crazy."

"I got the binoculars and had a look and I could see he was having trouble getting turned around in the wind. The gusts just kept blowing the bow around every time he tried to turn. Then it tipped."

Brodrick immediately called 911, but after no one called him back for more specific directions, he decided it might be quicker to call the local coast guard base directly.

"My wife found the number for the Search and Rescue Centre in Trenton and I called there. They gave me the number of the Meaford base and phoned them," he said. "It's a good thing, because it was more than five minutes after my first call and the Coast Guard still hadn't been contacted by 911."

In the meantime, Mary Wilcox had also heard Hooftman's screams for help and had called the OPP.

"It was really hard to see against the glare of the sun and he was so low in the water," said Mary Wilcox. "Every time he stopped screaming, I thought he'd drowned." who also heard Rudy's screams for help and called the OPP.

Brodrick told the Coast Guard that he would set off a marine flare so they would know his location. They saw the flare and flew right past where Hooftman was struggling to stay conscious and hold onto the canoe.

Brodrick, watching the whole scene unfold through his binoculars, phoned the local Coast Guard base back, and was able to direct them right to the overturned canoe.

"I was on phone and he was on the radio and together we directed the Zodiac right to the place."

They arrived not a moment too soon.

"I remember being pulled out of the water by the coast guard, but after that it's a blank. I don't remember the boat ride to shore, the trip in the ambulance or being admitted to the hospital," said Hooftman.

"I do remember saying to the guy in the boat, "Am I glad to see you." And I was. Another five minutes and I would have been dead. I don't think I could have held on much longer."

"At the hospital, I was shaking like crazy. The staff was great. Dr. McCall looked after me and they used this special blanket to warm me back up. It took three hours for my body temperature to get back to normal."

"As soon as I hit that water - it was so cold - I thought I was dead," he said. "But Davy Jones' locker didn't get me this time."

Still hoarse from screaming for help, Hooftman said he wanted to thank the people who rescued him, especially Al and Mary and the rescue crew from the Coast Guard. And he wants to warn others that the canoe is not a good watercraft for the Georgian Bay.

"That's it for me, I'm going to sell it. I'll never get in one again. They're okay on smaller lakes but they're not designed for the big water," he said.