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Article: From the Orillia Packet and Times
Pair saved from frigid waters
Two men pulled from icy Lake Dalrymple after boat capsizes
Posted By Courtney Whalen
Posted 8 hours ago
What started out as an afternoon of routine maintenance at Lake Dalrymple Resort took an unexpected turn Sunday when workers had to drop their hammers and pick up paddles for a water rescue.
With opening weekend fast approaching, Cal Lyver, part owner of the resort, was one of a number of people working at the property early Sunday afternoon.
While working on a dock with friend Al Thomas, Lyver thought he spotted something in the water.
“We saw something floating at a good distance and we couldn’t quite make it out,” said Lyver, adding he saw a flash of red he thought could be a life-jacket.
“We started waving and we got a response back,” he said. “That’s when we kind of went into rush mode.”
With the ice only out of the lake for about 10 days, Lyver knew it was essential to get whoever it was out of the frigid waters.
Brandon Cooper and his friend Cory Pietryszyn were just rounding the corner of the resort when they saw Lyver and Thomas running to call 911. They, too, jumped into action.
“The big concern was obviously how to get to them,” said Cooper.
The foursome grabbed an aluminum boat resting on the shore, but, with no motor attached, Cooper and Pietryszyn threw some life-jackets in the boat and grabbed some paddles.
“Myself and Cory, we jumped in the boat and started battling the waves to get to them,” said Cooper, noting the wind made it difficult paddling to where two men were holding on to their capsized boat.
“The whole thought of losing them was the driving force,” he said, noting he’d been in the water for a few minutes earlier in the day and knew how cold it was.
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As they got closer, Cooper said, they saw both men were conscious and had their life-jackets on. After determining there was no one else with them, Cooper and Pietryszyn had to focus on getting the men into the aluminum boat without toppling in themselves.
“We were able to get the one guy in pretty easily, but the other guy was pretty antsy,” he said.
Despite one moment when he thought they were all going to end up in the water, they got the two men in the boat and headed back to shore, reassuring the men, who he said were as worried about their boats as anything else.
With the current working with them, Cooper said the trip back to shore was much quicker.
“By that time, the fire department and ambulance were there and they took over,” he said.
After being tended by emergency crews, the two men left no worse for their frosty dip.
Lyver said he found out later the men were reportedly from Toronto. He estimated they were in the water at least 15 minutes; Cooper said it seemed closer to 20.
“Another five minutes in the water, I think one of them would have been in trouble,” said Lyver.
With no other activity in the area yet, Lyver said if the men had ended up in the water mid-week, the ending might not have been such a good one because he has no idea when someone may have been around to help.
