Doug
Voyager 
Lurking within...the car deck.
Posts: 2,213
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Post by Doug on Jul 8, 2006 15:33:18 GMT -8
Friday, July 07, 2006 VANCOUVER - B.C. Ferries has a rescue at sea to cheer about after the crew of the Queen of Vancouver plucked a party of eight from their sailboat as darkness was falling Wednesday. No one was injured and those rescued were not identified. The sailboat had lost power and was being tossed in choppy seas. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said a distress call was received from a position east of Saturna Island as the Vancouver was making its 8 p.m. run from Schwartz Bay to Tsawwassen. The ferry altered course and lowered its rescue boat before the Canadian Coast Guard arrived. Passenger Steve Ambruzs said the four children looked particularly relieved to be safely aboard a large, functioning vessel. ``The kids were definitely scared, and the two women aboard seemed happy,'' said Ambruzs, an American on his way to Nunavut. Two men stayed with the sailboat and were towed to port by the Coast Guard. It has been a difficult year for B.C. Ferries. The Queen of Oak Bay ran aground at Horseshoe Bay one year ago, and the Queen of the North sank off Gil Island March 22 with the loss of two lives. |
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Post by Mike C on Jul 8, 2006 15:49:04 GMT -8
Good for them! "bout time they put that aging V class fleet into some real use! Haven't seen the Esquimalt or Saanich do something like this in a while!
Funny how they mention the Queen of the North and Queen of Oak Bay accidents, this wasn't a disaster like the examples mentioned above, and the Oak Bay incedent didn't even happen this year!
Hee... Schwartz Bay...
Where did you find this?
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Post by kylefossett on Jul 8, 2006 16:04:23 GMT -8
Good for them! "bout time they put that aging V class fleet into some real use! Haven't seen the Esquimalt or Saanich do something like this in a while! quote] it is not that they have not sone something like this recently it is that they have had the good fortune to not HAVE to do this. The queen of vancouver was in the area at the right time. probably almost weekly a bc ferry will respond to an emergency call on the water. alot of times they are stood down by RCC as there might be another vessel closer |
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Post by nolonger on Jul 8, 2006 22:25:59 GMT -8
Thanks Kyle. "bout time we got to put down our coffee, put on a cruiser suit and go rescue someone in choppy seas in the darkness. Sheesh!
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Post by Airchime on Jul 9, 2006 6:30:37 GMT -8
Funny how they mention the Queen of the North and Queen of Oak Bay accidents, this wasn't a disaster like the examples mentioned above, and the Oak Bay incedent didn't even happen this year!
Hee... Schwartz Bay...
Where did you find this?
I thought the exact same thing! Too funny!
This article ran in this past Friday's issue of The Province newspaper.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 9, 2006 7:46:15 GMT -8
NML: If you want to, can you elaborate a bit on how frequent the ferries respond to distress calls?
I'm interested in knowing how many of these ferry-responses result in the ferry actually launching the rescue-boat, and how often the ferry is there "just in case", and then is asked to stand down.
ie. is it asked to stand-down approx 50% of the time, when the ferry responds to a call?
How far out of the way is the longest that a ferry of your's has gone, re a distress call?
Please share, if you wish......
thanks.
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Post by bcfcbccsscollector on Jul 9, 2006 21:49:05 GMT -8
Well,
I can recall an incident on a quiet Sunday morning in 2002 or 2003 where crossing from Gabriola, there was a pleasure craft upside down. The sailing was suspended and the rescue boat was dispatched, only to find no one aboard. I believe at the time, a life ring was retrieved from the Queen of Coqiutlam, filling in for the Alberni. Why it was there is anyones guess...........
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Post by nolonger on Jul 9, 2006 22:02:08 GMT -8
I can only relate my experiences. I have no figures about how often the entire fleet of ships respond to marine emergencies. One must always consider in these cases the distance away from your vessel, the schedule, inconvience to passengers, weather conditions, the risk involved to crew, passengers and the ship, other vessels in the area, and the degree of the emergency. Secondly, in any case like this there is always some degree of risk associated with launching a rescue boat and this has to be considered as well. The Master of the vessel has the final say as to weather or not to launch or just stand by.
In most cases help from marine assist or Coast Guard is already on the way or other vessels in the area have already arrived on scene. I consider myself fortunate. In my entire career, 35 years, I can count on two hands the number of emergencies I have been involved in. That's about 1 every 3 years. In all but 1 case we have just stood by until stood down. Thes are some of the incidents which have stood out in my challenged memory. I thank my lucky stars I wasn't on the New West when she had to attend the overturned seiner at Sand Heads a few years back when people, kids even were trapped inside.
about 1975, stood by as passengers were rescued from a burning pleasure craft by another vessel which arrived earlier. This incident occured about 8 miles from Porlier Pass and we were miles away on route to Dep. Bay from HSB. Stood down.
about 1984, rescued a fisherman from his burning fishboat. Mid Straits. Man and dingy safe. Fishboat sunk.
forget which year exactly, involved in search for persons in the water after the Queen of Cowichan collided with a pleasure craft in Howe Sound.
Early '90s, stood by a pleasure craft taking on water near Sand Heads. Vessel stopped taking on water as soon as he shut his engine off. There's a clue. Stood down.
Early '80s, involved in night time search for a person missing from a fishboat near Point Gray. This was quite a way off our track but we were called to the scene by VCG. Stood down after an hour or so of searching and the person was found. In their bunk. Drunk.
about 2003, launched rescue boat and stood by a vessel off Sand Heads at night, out of fuel, but lots of alcohol still onboard. Vessel assist from Steveston arrived to tow the happy partiers to shore.
There are other times as well. Mostly standing by some poor guy who's outta gas or can't figure out how to get the sails up. These are just the ones which stand out. Any help?
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 10, 2006 6:33:16 GMT -8
Thanks, Mr. N.M.L. I appreciate your detail.
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