Jacob Pawlawski (L) and Steven Kennedy were rescued on Lake Nipissing Monday by a North Bay resident. ___________________________________________________________
(Callander) Steven Kennedy was slipping into unconsciousness when Mike Williamson saved his life.
Kennedy and his lifelong pal Jacob Pawlawski had struggled for four hours to stay atop their canoe, which had capsized into Lake Nipissing Monday afternoon after being struck by a five-foot wave.
Losing conciousness Williamson and three of his friends came upon them in their boat, and the North Bay man jumped into the water with a rope.
“By that time I was losing consciousness, I couldn’t hold onto the boat. I would want to grip it but I couldn’t, I kept letting go, I was almost gone, my eyes kept closing, although I was trying to keep them open. It was the only time in my life I thought I was going to die,” said Kennedy Wednesday evening, after being released from the North Bay General Hospital where he was treated for severe hypothermia.
Pawlowski said their luck “definitely changed” when the boat Williamson and his friends Evan Brousseau, Rick and Pam Neil were in came around.
“Yeah, I think we saved their lives,” Williamson said modestly. “I don’t think Steve would have lasted much longer.”
Unfortunate decisions Pawlawski and Kennedy were staying at a rented cottage on Waltonian Drive, on the Lake Nipissing south shore, planning on four days of swimming, paddling and relaxation.
The two decided to canoe out to Rankin Island Monday morning and set out on a placid lake without, they admit, lifejackets, the first of several “unfortunate” decisions.
“We didn’t figure it was that far until a couple of hours into it. We kept paddling and it looked the same distance,” Kennedy said.
“We got on and stayed there for 15 minutes because we were tired from paddling.”
Legally blind After a bit of rest Pawlawski and Kennedy decided to head back to shore.
Around the same time Williamson and friends were heading toward Goose Island from the Lavase River, where Brousseau docks his 17-foot Silverline boat.
“We saw the canoers, and the lake was getting pretty rough then,” said Williamson, an unemployed construction worker who is considered legally blind, but has limited vision.
The water got even rougher halfway back to the cottage, Pawlawski said.
“Unfortunately we decided to keep going rather than turning back, just thought we’d go all the way and try to fight the waves, but we were wrong,” Pawlawski said.
“Our judgment was pretty bad, and a huge wave came out of nowhere, hit us sideways and we pretty much tipped.”
Propel themselves Pawlawski and Kennedy were unable to turn the canoe over and decided to cling onto it instead.
They also grabbed the two paddles, one of which, it turned out, would come in very handy later on during their ordeal.
Pawlawski and Kennedy, who have known each other for 17 years, started kicking, hoping they might be able to propel themselves toward land.
“But I kept looking back and we were the same distance from the island,” Kennedy said.
“We weren’t going anywhere.”
Blunter assessment The weather continued to deteriorate as the situation worsened. As well two boats had gone by but their passengers were “unable to hear our screams over the wind and waves,” Kennedy said.
Pawlawski and Kennedy kept up a conversation discussing strategy in the event the canoe turned upright. But as the minutes turned to hours, the outlook darkened.
That’s when, Pawlawski said, his life “started flashing before my eyes.”
Kennedy had a blunter assessment.
“I figured either a rescue or death, because at that time I was getting colder and colder,” Kennedy said.
“But I couldn’t imagine myself dying out there, although I could have easily let go and I would have been gone.”
Out of the water Fate intervened about 7 p.m., when Williamson and friends were heading back to the Lavase from Goose Island.
“I looked way up and saw the helicopter, and then kept my eyes open past the Manitous,” Brousseau said.
“That’s when I saw something sticking up out of the water.”
That something turned out to be a paddle Pawlawski thrust into the air when he spotted Brousseau’s vessel.
“Our luck definitely changed when that boat came by,” Pawlawski said, during an interview at the cottage he’s staying at.
Just about dead Brousseau said he threw the canoers a rope “a couple of times” but they were unable to reach it.
“They looked just about dead,” said Brousseau, 45, a bricklayer.
It was then that Williamson, literally, jumped into action.
“He’s the youngest, and he was also the strongest swimmer,” Brousseau, 45, said.
Williamson swam over with the rope and grabbed Kennedy first before going back for Pawlawski. At one point, he said, Brousseau’s boat rose up on a wave and came down, smacking him on the head.
“It disoriented me for a moment, but I had to keep going,” Williamson said.
Rescue vessel With Pawlawski and Kennedy now rescued, Williamson jumped back into the water and retrieved the canoe and brought it back to Brousseau’s boat.
“I didn’t want the rescuers to find the canoe and not see the two guys,” Williamson said.
The Chief Commando II spotted Brousseau’s boat because of the canoe and radioed the OPP Marine Unit.
A rescue vessel soon arrived at the scene.
Life savings Kennedy and Pawlawski, wearing dry clothes Williamson had given them, were transported to shore by the OPP and then taken to hospital by ambulance.
“I remember being rescued, I remember getting on their boat, and I remember getting onto the police boat,” said Kennedy.
“And the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital. So I must have blacked out.”
Brousseau said Kennedy thanked him for saving them "and he told me he wanted to give me his life savings."
Psychological wounds With their harrowing experience behind them, Pawlawski and Kennedy now marvel at the bravery of a total stranger.
“For him to do something like that, talk about courage,” said Pawlawski, a Durham College graduate in law enforcement.
“He actually put his life at risk, so we thank and respect the guy 110 per cent.”
Pawlawski said he and Kennedy haven’t been in the water since, and it will take them some time “for the psychological wounds to heal.”
Borrowed time Kennedy, who graduated from the tool and dye program at Centennial College, said the event took on almost metaphysical proportions for him in its aftermath.
“We were driving back to the cottage and it was weird, just looking at stuff, houses, people, and it didn’t seem right, like I wasn’t supposed to be here,” Kennedy said.
“Now it feels like a dream, like it didn’t happen, but at the time it was like ‘why am I here?’”
Still he’s glad their expiry dates hadn’t come up.
“I guess,” Kennedy laughed, “we’re on borrowed time.”
Another gift Before leaving Pawlawski and Kennedy met Williamson under more relaxed circumstances.
"They gave me $100, which I didn't want to take, but they insisted on it," Williamson said.
There was another gift as well, Williamson added: a cherrywood box containing a flask shaped as a pair of binoculaurs. The inscription on the box?
