Windsor woman unwillingly rescued by US coast guard

Article content

When her rescuers dropped from above through the deafening roar of spinning helicopter blades, Wanda Embury was relaxing on the beach eating a sandwich.

Article content

Embury was rescued from Peche Island on Wednesday by the US Coast Guard. The thing is, she said she didn’t need saving.

“Everybody else thought that, but I didn’t,” said Embury, who doesn’t know where the emergency call came from. “I did not need anyone to come and rescue me. But some things are out of our hands.”

Representatives of the US Coast Guard Air Station Detroit could not be reached for comment on Thursday. The Canadian Coast Guard also did not respond to a request for comment.

After more than 15 years of kayaking experience, conquering the mighty St. Lawrence and paddling many big lakes, Embury said this was a first.

I argued with the Canadian Coast Guard

“Getting airlifted isn’t usually part of my repertoire, but hey, it’s one of those things,” said Embury, who regularly paddles throughout the winter.

Article content

“Obviously I’m not keeping this from my mother now.”

She put her favorite sea kayak in the water around 1 pm at an area known as Kayak Cove. Just east of Lakeview Park Marina, it’s a little spot off the beach were people launch their boats for Peche Island.

Before heading out, she checked the water a couple times and surveyed what others were saying online about the conditions. Everything seemed fine.

But there was admittedly a tense moment after hitting the water, she said. There were some ice sheets below the surface. From the shore, they were hidden.

“I took one stroke, two strokes, I was like, uh-uh,” said Embury. “I started backing up. But the current had already caught me. I tried to back up and I recognized I was already past the break wall. Just calm down. Just be okay. I could get my paddle around the little ice circles. It wasn’t that bad.”

Article content

She saw an opening in the ice, turned her boat towards it, and stayed in the flow.

“I was basically paddling the entire time,” she said. “There was a couple times where I’d take a break because it’s a little hard trying to paddle through ice.”

She reached Peche Island around 1:45 pm

“I popped out, went to island and I thought everything was fine,” said Embury. “I took out my lunch and my book and I started to read.”

She was nibbling on some berries and a sandwich, her drysuit stretched out on sand next to the picnic table, when a drone dropped down in front of her.

“I’m like, okay, that’s interesting.”

Then a US Coast Guard helicopter with someone hanging from it appeared overhead. He landed and informed Embury they were there to rescue her. After some discussion, she was initially able to talk him out of it.

Article content

“I was actively caught in the ice but I was okay,” said Embury. “I didn’t feel I was in danger. People from the shore may have thought that I was. But he looked at all my gear, he asked me about my experience, he asked me about my plan, my phone, who knew I was there. And everything was taken care of. He gave me the OK.”

She said he headed back to the helicopter.

“Then he came back again and he said the Canadian Coast Guard won’t let us leave unless you come with us,” said Embury.

She called the Canadians. They told her they had it “on great authority” that ice sheets six inches thick could be heading her way from her.

“I argued with the Canadian Coast Guard,” said Embury. “The US was fine for me to go back on my own. They understood what I was planning. But it was the Canadian Coast Guard.”

Article content

It’s not that she isn’t grateful for the coast guard, police and others who were looking out for her safety.

“But I didn’t feel I was in an emergency,” said Embury. “Many people went out after I was, as far as I’m concerned, dragged off the water. The floes had diminished. There were people that did go across, people that went around Belle Isle all the time.”

But she said there are some lessons to be learned from the harrowing experience.

“Not panicking was probably the biggest lesson I went through,” said Embury. “Would I do it again? hell no. But you learn from lessons and hopefully it can be passed on to novice people, to understand even someone with as much as experience as I have in multiple settings, that anything can happen.”

She just wishes there was room on the helicopter for her kayak.

“I’m safe, I’m sound,” said Embury. “Now I just gotta go back and get my kayak. And hopefully no one steals it.”

[email protected]