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Post by kylefossett on Oct 13, 2006 14:12:23 GMT -8
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Post by Retrovision on Oct 13, 2006 16:37:08 GMT -8
It would be nice to see if we could work SPAREX 2006 into our group trip on Route 30 that same day.
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Post by kylefossett on Oct 13, 2006 17:02:12 GMT -8
You could if you were giving yourselves some more time. Cowichan Bay from Duke Point is about an hour or more driving time south
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Post by Retrovision on Oct 13, 2006 17:16:56 GMT -8
Mainlanders and people south of Nanaimo might think of stopping on the way. For mainlanders who haven't already made reservations for conflicting routes/times, and for any South-Islanders minus route 1, there's the option of taking a ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay and from Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay, not as far from Cowichan Bay as Duke Point terminal is.
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Koastal Karl
Voyager 
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Oct 14, 2006 20:15:49 GMT -8
I have been watching the Vessel Tracking for the last 10 mins and I am watching the Queen of Nanaimo as she in enroute to Swartz Bay it looks like. I bet she is staying there overnight then going for this excersise tommorrow morning. The vessel tracking dosent have the Queen of Tsawwassen listed though and the CC page says the 8:35pm sailing from TSA to the Gulf Island is delayed. But I dont think that is accurate.
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Oct 15, 2006 21:00:58 GMT -8
How come no members took part in this excersise??? Apparently it was on the news and said you could volunteer for this excersise. That would be been kinda neat.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2006 2:17:50 GMT -8
There was a picture in Monday's Times Colonist. The exercise took place at Patricia Bay, because of the rain. Patricia Bay is near the Victoria Airport.
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Post by Ferryman on Oct 18, 2006 7:59:43 GMT -8
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Oct 18, 2006 8:27:56 GMT -8
ah that's cool! www.pbase.com/kstapleton/image/68767454 according to this photo she was positioned just off Patracia Bay as someone mentioned. You can see in the upper left half of the photo that is the Victoria Airport. And there is also a spot there if anyone was there where you probably could of seen her sitting out there. If people could sign up for this excersise, how would you of done it? Who knew about this excersise??? |
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,311
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Post by Neil on Oct 18, 2006 10:13:07 GMT -8
Testing dangerous waters
By Angie Poss News Leader
Oct 18 2006
Pouring rain slashed against the windows of the Queen of Nanaimo as a voiced boomed over the loudspeaker from the bridge.
“We are aground. We are taking on water slowly.”
A mock explosion in the engine room of the BC Ferries’ vessel on Sunday disabled the Queen of Nanaimo, leaving it foundering on the rocks with 150 passengers aboard.
Over the next few hours passengers were gathered together and fitted with lifejackets and injured passengers and crew were evaluated and prioritized for evacuation.
A Search and Rescue Cormorant helicopter hovered mere feet above the deck of the ferry as its crew rappelled down. The most seriously injured crewmember was secured in a basket, guided up to the waiting helicopter and flown to hospital.
Though Sunday’s event was a dramatization, a training exercise, it was a glimpse into what a major ferry disaster along B.C.’s coast could look like.
The Queen of the North, which sunk in Wright Sound in March, was on people’s minds and on their lips during the day-long exercise, which involved nearly a dozen agencies including the Coast Guard, RCMP, B.C. Ambulance Service and Transportation Safety Board.
Though planning for this exercise began before the Queen of the North struck a reef and went down, the sinking was in everyone’s minds as the crew went through a trial of emergency procedures.
“Certainly it’s a lot more closer to our hearts given that we’ve had a real life incident,” said Deborah Marshall of BC Ferries.
Air and sea cadets acted as passengers and several civilians donned dramatic makeup to portray seriously injured crew and passengers. As the ferry ‘foundered’ 150 passengers were evacuated down an inflatable slide into waiting lifeboats.
The exercise became a little too real for two cadets who were evacuated to the Coast Guard hovercraft mid-day after one suffered an asthma attack and the other was struck in the face with a door. They were taken to hospital for treatment and released. A third cadet twisted an ankle on the evacuation slide but did not require medical attention.
Though parts of the exercise appeared slow and disorganized to an outside observer, organizers say there were pleased with the results.
“It was very successful,” said Dan Bate of the Coast Guard’s Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria.
“We were certainly very pleased with the way the crew reacted and with the way the slide deployed. It happened exactly as expected,” said Marshall.
Not everything went smoothly. Some BC Ferries staff, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they were unsure what they were supposed to be doing and one employee said they did not know how to launch the life rafts. That surprised Marshall.
“All of our crew has gone through training with respect to operating emergency equipment … our employees are well-versed in terms of emergency procedures,” she said Monday.
Every eight days BC Ferries crews do small mock exercises for fire, groundings, someone overboard or other scenarios, explained Marshall, but events like Sunday’s giant exercise are far more rare.
The last one took place in 1999 and this event took more than a year to plan.
It was initially to take place near Cowichan Bay but organizers moved it to Pat Bay due to poor weather.
The exercise also included a trial of a new system of numbering passengers as they leave the vessel. In a real emergency, that would give rescuers more information about whether people are trapped inside the vessel and whether everyone who left the vessel made it to dry land.
It could eliminate a repeat of confusion following the Queen of the North sinking when two passengers missing and presumed dead were initially thought to have made it to safety in Hartley Bay.
“If you think back to the Queen of the North, one of the issues was number of people evacuated, which was very difficult to track,” said Bate, explaining assigning passengers a number could solve that.
Evaluators will decide how well the system worked when they issue their final report, due Nov. 17.
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