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Post by yak on Mar 27, 2020 22:12:36 GMT -8
This is from Darin Guenette, reposted on a Hornby facebook page. It is from four days ago, and refers to the previous day's traffic. I imagine the numbers have dropped even more by now. Traffic yesterday was down approximately 65+% (passengers)/55+% (vehicles) down across all inter-island routes in our network. It was down on the Major routes (between V.Island/Sunshine Coast and Metro Vcr) closer to 80% (pass) and 65% (veh). These are all compared to the same time in 2019.Speaking anecdotally from what I've witnessed the last week Little River to Westview has progressively dropped off. A "busy" sailing last Friday was around 100 passengers and this Friday has been closer to 50. On lighter sailings the passenger counts are now generally in the low teens on a ferry licensed to carry 600 souls...
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Post by yak on Mar 15, 2020 19:27:33 GMT -8
Speaking from my own experience, I don’t think this is an uncommon thing. Reservation space on the ship is allocated based on the available space on that sailing. I’ve had about a 50/50 split with reservations being on Deck 4 or 2. Having a reservation does not guarantee you will be placed in a particular spot on the ship. Generally, if you want to be on Deck 4, you can request it at the booth and they’ll try to accommodate you, but no guarantees. I guess I have just been extremely lucky when we've had a reservation then because every other time before when we had a reservation, we were put on deck 4. Even without a reservation we have been put on deck 4 before. From experience as a loader I can say that Mike C is correct. The priority is a quick and efficient load. It is nice to accommodate reservations in "preferable" locations but it falls below those other two priorities (as long as they make it on the boat). An example would be on a Salish Class vessel during a heavy load with limited time in the dock. In that situation it is generally best to start with the lower car deck as it will save about 5 minutes of loading. Do we load reservations first, as they will end up on the lower deck and have to leave their cars? Do we load reservations later to ensure they are on the upper deck? I've had passengers in the latter category complain since they reserved (partially) to be loaded early and get in the line for hamburgers. It isn't necessarily cut-and-dry and that's why you see variation. My personal philosophy has been that an on-time departure is a customer service even if some reservations end up "downstairs".
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Post by yak on Mar 13, 2020 19:20:55 GMT -8
Does anyone know when the North Island Princess, because I was going to go on it this spring break but I am not sure if that is going to happen now due to the Coronavirus. I would like to know just on case I have to plan a trip to Powell River during April or May. If you add one critical word to your post, you might get some responses.... My best guess is he's asking when she'll be taken off the run ;-) My understanding is that it will likely be early May.
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Post by yak on Dec 10, 2019 20:54:05 GMT -8
Today, we can now plot a route to a destination, calculate how much time it will take to get there and God-willing, complete a voyage across all spheres of the globe and the space above it. The fact that early voyagers didn't have todays' technology however may have meant that some of their 'chance-discoveries' may have occurred much sooner or later than actually occurred, or maybe never. "There's an App for that" This reminds me of the number of times I tracked vessels on my phone to make sure I'd meet them before they reached my joining-on location (including Cristobal for the Orca). I am spending the week in the Departure Bay simulator with several bridge crew who are expected to be among the first trained on the Island Class. It is good to see how the company is laying the groundwork for some of these mariners who have been working on 60 year old "conventional" vessels before the new ships even make it to Canada. Getting valuable time wrapping their heads around azipods vs. twin screws will help shorten the adjustment period when the boats are here.
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Post by yak on Dec 3, 2019 0:03:25 GMT -8
We met her a couple of hours later and I checked her (slightly out of date) AIS to see where she was headed that night - it still said Horseshoe Bay. Thanks for confirming that she actually did stop in there...
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Post by yak on Oct 26, 2019 21:01:15 GMT -8
They continued to use the profile of the Burnaby is what I'd heard. In any event I think we can fairly conclude the ability of a ship to handle wind in the technical sense isn't what leads to a majority of weather related sailing cancellations. Why wouldn’t BC Ferries change to profile of Salish Class since they been in fleet for close to three years? I would hope the crews know how to handle the vessel in rough weather. Crews certainly do... The fact is that "passenger comfort" (ie. risk vs. reward) is the driving force behind most cancellations. The ship can definitely handle anything thrown at it in the Strait of Georgia but what about the 80 year old grandmother climbing the stairs? I've had to make that choice before while knowing what a Salish Class vessel can feel like in the open ocean during December (during the delivery cruise of the Orca). Weather Matrices give Masters a clear-cut go/no-go. Could I sail the Eagle out into 50kts of wind from the Southeast and be sure she'd be able to make the crossing to Powell River? Sure, I could... but the fact is that the ship can handle far more than the passengers. We deal with a cross section of the public and the limits are in place to be considerate of anyone who may be on board. The Little River - Westview route deals with much more fetch (the distance over which wind travels over water creating waves) than other runs down south and so the effects of weather can be much more pronounced.
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Post by yak on Aug 9, 2019 13:01:14 GMT -8
Thanks for this advisement. Thread has been renamed for the final time. Is this in addition to the "Island Sky class"? It looks like part of the solution will be to rename the Island Sky to something else. Also, every vessel will be named the "Island____" in line with the "Coastal" or "Salish" prefixes.
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Post by yak on Jul 11, 2019 15:37:37 GMT -8
It was a bit of a surprise to see her in Blubber Bay this morning; I did a double-take.
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Post by yak on May 20, 2019 11:37:39 GMT -8
Similar models are present at Little River as well. Purple Martins are the residents.
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Post by yak on Feb 18, 2019 9:15:56 GMT -8
I think that a bigger problem for the Coho isn't necessarily going to be maintenance but having to comply with ever stricter regulations around safety and environmental protection. Retrofitting old ships rather than investing in new technology becomes a game of diminishing returns. I think this will eventually catch up with that run.
However, counter to my point, if you look at the example of the coal burning SS Badger on Lake Michigan maybe they can simply have the Coho declared a "Historic Place" to bypass some of these requirements :-p
Also, to keep this post on topic, I was just going to mention that while I don't see a return to vehicle service between Victoria and Seattle the trip around 1994 was memorable for me. When I worked on the Queen of Burnaby for a short time in 2015 it was really nostalgic to walk around the crew area on the upper deck and still see some of the old chairs and carpet from that era.
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Post by yak on Feb 10, 2019 19:07:33 GMT -8
Salish Eagle in Little River, February 10th 2019. Full size image: LINK
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Post by yak on Dec 24, 2018 10:30:25 GMT -8
Although she is sailing in a completely different part of the world under a different name, her Bell from the Port Side Bridge wing is at least proudly displayed within the office at Long Harbour. Love live the Queen! flic.kr/p/2cnbe1gGood to see it ended up where it should have... There was a bit of a "special mission" on the last trip from Tsawwassen to Deas to ensure it ended up in the right hands...
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Post by yak on Oct 29, 2018 19:39:59 GMT -8
Thanks for the link Chris; we had a good time reading through it onboard the Raven last night. I have very fond memories of the Nanny but to say she ever "spoke the language of extravagance" may be a bit of a stretch...
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Post by yak on Oct 23, 2018 5:56:17 GMT -8
Since the 1960s, the fare structure of paying at Horseshoe Bay northbound, or Saltery Bay southbound, has taken into account either return fares to Langdale, or fares through to Saltery Bay. Why is ticketing needed at Langdale? Is there now some notion that people are going one way (without their car) with BC Ferries, and with another carrier the other way? I think it's likely that they are moving to a more formal "free ticket" paper trail process for foot passengers, allowing them a more accurate or easier count of passenger numbers for an upcoming sailing, rather than just counting as people step across the gangway. I don't know if that is the reason but it would make sense. Passenger counts are hugely important, especially in an emergency. An accurate headcount influences decisions around things like sending a fire team into a potentially dangerous situation. It has been more than a few times that seniors are found milling about the deck after arrival expecting a return trip without notifying anyone because it is "free".
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Post by yak on Oct 16, 2018 16:02:09 GMT -8
NSW in Deas this morning.. Between the Ex-Burnaby and the Queen of Coquitlam... And close up... The paint job is certainly looking spiffy
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Post by yak on Oct 8, 2018 20:01:26 GMT -8
Sometimes you just have to go... "huh?" I noticed that BC Ferries now has a new excuse (I mean 'reason') for delays ... I'm pretty sure that they have been dealing with multiple ships for better than half a century now.
I do know there were a number of times in the summer where Route 1 and Route 30 would interfere with the discharge of Route 9 in Tsawwassen. If there happened to be a ship from Victoria in at the same time as a ship from Nanaimo it wasn't unheard of for the Gulf Island boat to have to wait for the Nanaimo ship to finish discharging before we could let anyone off. The reason was that both the north and the south exits from the terminal were blocked with traffic. Even if Route 1 wasn't in yet but the terminal anticipated the arrival of a Route 1 ship while Route 30 was discharging Route 9 would be made to wait because they'd set up to send traffic out the south exit. Believe me, as a member of the deck crew, no delay was more frustrating after hustling to keep everything on time leaving the islands only to have to sit in the dock with a full load waiting to get off...
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Post by yak on Jul 23, 2018 11:56:43 GMT -8
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Post by yak on Jul 10, 2018 22:17:01 GMT -8
Sitting at Shingle Spit wondering why loading had ground to a halt with only ten or so cars on board, I was gnashing my teeth at the delay. A crewman walking by remarked, "people wonder why we're late, why we don't go faster... keys locked in car, dead batteries, missing children, people in the pub..." The schedule and the financing are the main issue, but I guess sometimes the travelling public contributes as well, and not just though their numbers. You'd be amazed how often a foot passenger with a walker and three golf bags shows up to the booth at sales cutoff...
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Post by yak on Jul 7, 2018 16:49:20 GMT -8
Would they retain the diesel generator/electric motor configuration? Could they run them on dual fuel in that configuration? I can't see why not... that's basically how the thrusters work on the Salish class - dual fuel generators providing electric power to propulsion system.
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Post by yak on Jun 26, 2018 20:27:05 GMT -8
BC Ferries recently had their annual "Symphony Cruise" to Powell River, as a sponsor of the PRISMA festival. I wonder if they played this song? (starts at 0:45 mark) Indeed... 400+ walk-ons made for an interesting change of pace on a Saturday morning. Happily the klaxons are now a little more subdued than they were in this video.... Coincidentally the "cruise" coincided with the lead-up to the sinking of the YOGN-82 on approach to Westview for an added bit of excitement for passengers and crew.
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Post by yak on Jun 26, 2018 9:56:06 GMT -8
Thanks for this advisement. Thread has been renamed for the final time. Is this in addition to the "Island Sky class"? It will be interesting to see what individual boats are named as the possibility of confusion crossed my mind as well.
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Post by yak on Jun 26, 2018 4:34:13 GMT -8
Just a heads up for thread naming - this class has now officially been deemed the "Island Class"
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Post by yak on Apr 18, 2018 7:35:31 GMT -8
Just an arbitrary placement of this post/question. I've often wondered why BC Ferries changed the crossing time for the Comox to Powell River route from 80 minutes to 90 minutes. I know the Queen of Burnaby was getting old, but even running her at fourteen knots didn't seem to make for more than an 80 minute crossing. I was watching the Salish Raven on vessel tracking this evening, on the latter part of her 5:15 sailing from Powell River, and her 7:15 sailing from Little River. According to vessel tracking, the 7:15 left at 7:10, and was said to be 'stopped' at Powell River at 8:22... a 72 minute crossing. She looked to have been making about fourteen knots most of the way. Has anyone been on board and actually timed the crossing on this route? I'm wondering if the vessel tracking page is actually accurate to the minute, in terms of arrivals and departures. Actual crossing time varies widely as the ship will usually aim for an ETA that is fuel efficient but there is reserve power if large loads are expected or the vessel falls behind schedule. I suspect the posted crossing time gives Route 17 this wiggle room.
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Post by yak on Feb 18, 2018 9:57:35 GMT -8
According to my Step-Dad (Who is an ERA on the SOVI, Cumby, and Coastal) that the Salish Orca was built improperly and there is too much weight to one side, so it is always tilted. He told me that it is the Orca and it is at Deas, but it's the Raven that is there so I'm not sure which one has this issue (Maybe Both?) Steel plates will be added to balance the vessel out. If I hear anything else I will keep you all updated The 3 degree Starboard list has been rectified... it was specific to the Orca.
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Post by yak on Jan 1, 2018 1:43:47 GMT -8
Colder than 2016... Something of a surprise snowfall for the Orca at Little River to end 2017
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