When Trinity Jezierski hit the water, she was braced for a second impact - a rock, or the seafloor, or part of the whale-watching boat she had just been thrown from - something heavy that would knock her unconscious.
Suddenly at the mercy of the Pacific Ocean, Jezierski momentarily expected to die. When she didn’t, her training kicked in, and she set about helping to make sure other people who had been on the boat didn’t die either.
On Saturday, Jezierski, her crewmate Etienne Herold, and eight other people who responded when a massive wave capsized the Leviathan II off the coast of Tofino last October, were honoured for their bravery during the tragedy.
The Lifesaving Society of British Columbia presented the 10 rescuers with the Governor’s Gold Medal for Bravery, awarded annually for the most heroic rescue of the year.
“I definitely feel grateful for what the lifesaving society does and how they recognize people,” Jezierski said. “It’s a really difficult thing that’s going to stay with me forever.”
In the midst of the crashing waves, Jezierski and Herold were able to find and deploy the boat’s life raft and start pulling people from the water - people they had been laughing and joking with just minutes before.
“You see all these different reactions around you - people are crying, people in shock, people don’t know what’s happening around them - and you just want to collect them and help them,” Herold said.
From the life raft, the pair saw a flare floating toward them. They paddled over to it, and Herold held Jezierski by the ankles while she leaned out of the boat to grab it.
The flare alerted nearby fishermen of the accident, including Carl Martin, who was also honoured on Saturday. Martin said he’s grateful for the recognition, but he was just doing what people who live on the water have always done.
“I never thought it would come to this, myself,” Martin said. “I’ve rescued other people on the water before, and this is a whole new thing. Like I said, if anybody was around there that day they probably would have helped too. And everybody did respond, we were just probably the closest ones.”
In all, 21 of the 27 people who were on the boat survived the disaster.
The deaths of the six who did not - five British nationals and one Australian man - still haunt Jezierski and Herold.
“It’s just something that you initially try to not think about,” Jezierski said of the feeling of being in the water that day and knowing not everyone was accounted for. “We knew that people didn’t make it, and that’s the hard truth of it.”
Both Jezierski and Herold wish they could have done more to save the others. But they also celebrate the lives they helped save.
“I was so grateful to work with Etienne that day, and have the training we did, to do what we could,” Jezierski said. “You don’t choose to be in those scenarios, but when you are, you do the best you can.”
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Scott Roberts
