Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary - Pacific
"Unit 1" - (Howe Sound)

We were based in Fishermans Cove, West Vancouver, BC for many years, but are currently in the process of transferring to our new operations center at the end of government dock in Horseshoe Bay (the shiny new red roofed building at the end of the dock). Our volunteer crews provide dedicated Marine Search and Rescue (SAR) services, 24h a day, 7 days a week. We cover the waters of Howe Sound through to the Lion's Gate Bridge. Our sister unit, Unit 2, based in Deep Cove covers the waters of Indian Arm, through Vancouver Harbour to the Lion's Gate Bridge. We are a part of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary - Pacific Region - about which, more below.

We Need Volunteers

If you would like to learn more about our unit before considering joining click Get CCGA Unit 1 Info, meet the people in our unit with surnames beginning with - A through I by clicking here , J through R by clicking here , or S through Z by clicking here
or if you want to get straight to the application details click Join CCGA Unit 1

Or come to a Unit meeting (see dates below). Prospective members can feel free to turn up at the West Van Yacht Club Sail Training building - on your right as you enter the car park.

Or, if you wish to support this activity, but cannot do so directly, consider donating funds to us via the North Shore Lifeboat Society



This web site is being changed continuously, so please check back in from time to time to see what we have done! For info on the latest changes, see the bottom of this page

THE News story! Part Four!!!!

This is a story which has built over the last weeks, so stay tuned to this site to be up to date - only days to go now.
 
On Saturday May 26th the Station is hosting a major event on the wharf and everyone is welcome. Eight marine search and rescue vessels will be converging on the Bay for our annual SAR exercise (SAREx 2012). This will run all day and be the largest marine exercise staged by the CCGA-P for many years. We expect over 80 SAR technicians to be participating in the on water exercises and over forty helping visitors around the pier and promenade, an open house of the new station, tours of the new vessel and, at noon, the inauguration and naming of the vessel. As if that wasn't enough, there will be a significant announcement made at the same time - so come and join the press to be the first to know! There is a strong rumor of a West Van celebrity attendee!

Clue - the gallery pictures at the end of this album should help.

Another Clue -
Their is a ROYAL connection!

Another Clue -
The celebrity is known by a word spelled like "MAJOR" (just change a central letter, and get three 'vowels' in a row!)

Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary - Pacific

The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary - Pacific (CCGA-P) is a volunteer organisation of over 1000 people from many backgrounds who give up a great deal of their time to train, be trained, and be on standby, in case they are needed to respond to a marine emergency. These volunteers have the use of modern well equipped rescue vessels that are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Here is some information about a recent year giving an idea of the scale of the CCGA-P effort - or you can learn more by clicking here , by visiting the CCGA-Pacific web site here, or by visiting the CCGA-National web site here, or download the monthly CCGA-P magazine "Compass" after registering here, or by visiting ccga-p's facebook page at here

Units	55	Assets (vessels)	70
Personnel (crew)	963	Personnel (non-crew)	71
SAR Missions	752	Person Hours	47549.35
People Assisted	823	People Saved	232

  

	Latest Site Changes
.

May 14th 2012 Updated the crew schedules on the Crew page, and added to the gallery
May 12th 2012   Updated the NEWS story.
May 5th 2012  Updated the heading story.
Apr 27th 2012 Updated News story, added pics of Aux 1B at Nanaimo.
Apr 17th 2012 Updated the News Story, added more AUX 1B pictures to the Boats / Unit 1 page, and for crew only, updated the SOP for Aux 1B and added the crew evaluation list.
Apr 1st (pm) 2012 New gallery pictures added and a new news thread started on this page
Mar 29th 2012 Unit meeting schedule updated
Mar 12th 2012  Crew schedule and roster updated
Feb 28th 2012 Added Rescue 1 draft SOP to the crew info page and the society name change acceptance to the society page (Crew only)
Feb 22nd 2012   Added new sub page to the "Crew Info" page (Accessible only to Crew members).
Feb 15, 16, 17 2012   New pictures added in most areas of the gallery, wording and stats on the ccga-p page updated, stats on the"about us" page updated.
Feb 6th 2012 The SOP updated again - new call procedure
Jan 6th 2012  The Private "Crew Info" page largelly redone with new info - SOP, training groups, schedule, HQ agrement
Jan 3rd 2012 "Donate" altered to correct misinformation.
Dec 12th 2011  "News" and "Donate" updated with info on our new home at Horseshoe Bay

Our new boat and new home together Not Rated category album image

On-line Gallery The image on the left was selected at random from the CCGA-1 gallery of Search and Rescue (SAR), training, event, and vessel photos. The gallery contains 145 photos that have been viewed 101321 times collectively. CCGA Photos