After an act of kindness from a Yellowknife resident, Dan Hosfeld felt a rave review was in order.
Hosfeld posted in Yellowknife’s Rants and Raves group on Facebook about citizen Adrian Bell, who helped Hosfeld’s daughters after a minor incident on Prelude Lake involving a inflatable unicorn float toy.
The water toy was a birthday gift for Hosfeld’s eldest daughter.
“So,” said Hosfeld, “We live at Prelude Lake and we have 73 stairs down to the lake and to our dock and it’s a nice little swimming area, or you can go out boating.”
His daughters Avangelena and Aurora were playing in the lake with their 22-year-old cousin, Jared, when they noticed the floatie was drifting out into the lake.
Following a lack of noise from the kids, Hosfeld’s wife asked him to go out and check o the group.
“I opened up the curtains and I don’t see them down at the dock, I see a boat about halfway across our bay heading towards our house…my wife comes to the window and goes ‘is that person towing our paddle boat?’”
Hosfeld told Yellowknifer he took this as a good sign — saying that if it were serious Bell would be screaming about a missing person.
There was, in fact, someone towing their paddle boat — Bell and his wife had come to the rescue with their boat and were towing the craft containing the Hosfelds’ daughters and nephew.
After conferring with the boaters, Hosfeld said he learned they first noticed the floatie travel across across the outside of the lake.
His nephew and two daughters had jumped into the paddle boat in an attempt to collect the runaway inflatable, he said. Their rescue attempt was soon thwarted by high winds and big waves and they decided to return to shore.
“So they’re paddling back and I guess Adrian noticed that they were out there and saw the unicorn ashore. Saw them not making the greatest headway and he went and got his wife, they fired up their boat and threw the unicorn on it. Then they came across and picked up my daughters and nephew into their boat and they hooked on the paddle boat, pulled them back home safe and sound.”
Bell did not comment on the rescue.