Weather Delays this Morning

[Retrovision]

to save some time and effort, I've pasted here what I posted on Yahoo! Groups' bcferriesclub:

Some good news for BC Ferries customers
Feb, 04 2006 - 11:20 AM

VANCOUVER (CKNW/AM980) - BC Ferries spokesperson Betsy Terpsma says a
few of the runs are operating again after cancellations because of
this nasty storm.

The 11:00AM o'clock sailing from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay is running
however Terpsma says the vessel on the Swartz Bay side is not running.

She also says the Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay route will run at
12:30pm from Departure Bay and 3:00pm from Horseshoe Bay.

More high winds are predicted later in the day which could affect
service once again.

Terpsma adds the Tsawwassen to Duke Point run still has no sailings.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I was out getting some photos of the ferries contending with this
storm at Tsawwassen, and it certainly was touch-and-go for a while
there. In addition to the strong winds and wind gusts (Tsawwassen
reportedly recorded the highest gust-speed: 93km/h), the tide was
almost at its peak just as the first attempt at a departure was made.

It made for some fantastic picture taking, especially watching the
SOBC sliding along the fenders before using the the end of the jetty
to turn itself. The only television camera-person with these images
was CTV, btw, so be sure to tune into their local brodcasts tonight at
6pm and 11:30pm.

The impression that I was left with was that because of the Queen of
Saanich currently replacing the SOVI on route 1, only the SOBC would
be attempting the crossing. CKWX - NEWS 1130 (radio) was reporting
that once the SOBC came back to Tsawwassen, BC Ferries might not
attempt another round trip. And, although the electronic
upcoming-sailings displays at Tsawwassen terminal noted that the
12:45pm trip to Duke Pt. was cancelled and there was no cancellation
yet of what it showed as the Queen of Alberni sailing (when the New
West would norally sail out of TSA) at 3:15pm, it seems obvious from
news reports and BCFS themselves that route 30 would not be operating
today. (Note the BCFS statement above: "the Tsawwassen to Duke Point
run still has no sailings.")

-GJ-

Here are the current Service Notices listed on BCFerries.com (oldest to most recent):


Sailing Delays - Due to storm
Posted February 04, 2006

Due to the storm, the Tsawwassen to Southern Gulf Island sailing this morning is delayed.

The Queen of Nanaimo is returning to Long Harbour.

A further update will be provided later in the morning.


Sailing Delays – Due to Storm
Posted February 04, 2006

Due to the storm, the vessels will not sail at 7:00 am. The vessels will remain at Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen until weather conditions improve.


Sailing Delays – Due to Storm
Posted February 04, 2006

Due to extreme wind conditions this morning, vessels will remain at the dock in Tsawwassen and Duke Point. The vessels will not sail until weather conditions improve.


Sailing Delays Due to Storm
Posted February 04, 2006

The Spirit of British Columbia is loading to sail from Tsawwassen at 11:00 am to Swartz Bay.


The Queen of Saanich is still holding at Swartz Bay.

[Doug]

If you are uploading those photos I'd love to see them! ;D

[Retrovision]

I've had quite a lot on my plate lately (as you can see by my absense <sp?> lately from here), but once I (finally) hook up my new place to the internet, I'll be posting a whole bunch of photos including from today at TSA, our tour of the Garibaldi II, the newly reno'd Queen of Nanaimo, and more. Meanwhile, check out the rest of my pics online (address in my signature), for I might be getting rid of some or all of them (from that site, I'll still have them on my comp. to put up another time) in order to not have to start a new webshots site.

Cheers

-GJ-

[Ferryman]

dougubell said:

Well what I find weird is that the Horseshoe Bay Webcam shows either the Coquitlam or Cowichan in the berth but the Current Conditions page says they both left just over half hour ago. What's with that?

That camera gets stuck sometimes. That is the Coq in berth 3, or 1? Anyways, the berth closest to the marina. There is a date and time at the top of the image and it says 9:25 am. So that was a while ago. I know, I got confused with that too.

[Ferryman]

Looks like the Alberni is going to give it a try, and go for the 3:15. The Newwest is still sticking to the dock. It would be interesting to be on either the SOBC or the Alberni right now.

[Scott]

I went over to Wytecliff Park around lunchtime today. It was really blowing! While I was there, three tugboats towing barges came from between Bowen and Gambier Islands and headed out into Georgia Strait. You could actually see the waves breaking over the tugs and barges before you could see them as they rounded Bowen Island.

Around 1 oclock the Cowichan and Coquitlam left Horseshoe Bay at the same time and they both took the route towards Langdale.. I'm assuming the Cowichan took the more sheltered waters as much as possible before entering Georgia Strait. The Queen of Oak Bay came in about an hour later, the regular route (with the wind).

Here's something to think and talk about. Everyone knew this storm was coming 2 days ago, and it was predicted to be a pretty bad one. Would it have been a good idea if .. say last night, they moved the New Westminster and Alberni to Departure Bay (or one to Horseshoe Bay), and just run on the hour on route 2 instead of basically cancelling route 30 for the day. Just an idea... it might not work out if you take all the details into consideration. Just wondering if anyone has thought of that before?

[Balfour]

admin said:

Here's something to think and talk about. Everyone knew this storm was coming 2 days ago, and it was predicted to be a pretty bad one. Would it have been a good idea if .. say last night, they moved the New Westminster and Alberni to Departure Bay (or one to Horseshoe Bay), and just run on the hour on route 2 instead of basically cancelling route 30 for the day. Just an idea... it might not work out if you take all the details into consideration. Just wondering if anyone has thought of that before?

I've never actually thought of that before, but it sounds like a good idea. Making more frequency on the route with the sheltered terminals is better than shutting down another route.

[Koastal Karl]

Actually yeah this not a bad idea. Whould have to watch out though for conjestion though at Horseshoe Bay with 4 ships on route 2 and only 3 berths.

[Ferryman]

I could see them (if they had, and decided to) bring the Alberni to Departure Bay from Duke Point. But in a wind storm, it's hard to say if they would bring the Newwest to Horseshoe Bay though. It wouldn't really be a problem, because they have 6 ferries out of Horseshoe Bay in the summer, and that's not really a problem. They would just have to time it out right.

[hergfest]

Why would they move the Route 30 vessels to Route 2? That just doesn't make any sense to me at all. First off, Route 2 didn't even overload by much today. Second, there is no way to predict what the weather will do. This storm might not have been as bad as predicted, so they boats might have been able to run today. And don't even get me started on the crewing issues.

[Dane]

New West still wouldn't have made it on Route 2, either.

[Political Incorrectness]

The New West was actually on route two a few years ago, even one person got pics of it, I just wish his footopic site was still up.

[Doug]

John has a picture of the bridge from Horseshoe Bay.

[Ferryman]

ferrymaniac101 said:

The New West was actually on route two a few years ago, even one person got pics of it, I just wish his footopic site was still up.

Yeah, that was in 2003, and that was then the Surrey broke down the first time, and the Oak Bay went to replace the Surrey. So they took the Newwest off of route 30, and put it on route 2. Then they put the Esquimalt on route 30 in the place of the Newest. I sorta got a pic of it during spring break in 2003. But this is a screenshot of it from my video on the Cowichan.

But what Dane was refering to, is that the Newwest wouldn't be able to make it out of Tsawwassen to Horseshoe Bay in the High winds. The Alberni might be able to though.

[Dane]

ferrymaniac101 said:

The New West was actually on route two a few years ago, even one person got pics of it, I just wish his footopic site was still up.

I was referencing wind, sorry I should have been specific.

The S/V/B Class hulls are shallow...

[kylefossett]

ferryman said:

ferrymaniac101 said:

The New West was actually on route two a few years ago, even one person got pics of it, I just wish his footopic site was still up.

Yeah, that was in 2003, and that was then the Surrey broke down the first time, and the Oak Bay went to replace the Surrey. So they took the Newwest off of route 30, and put it on route 2. Then they put the Esquimalt on route 30 in the place of the Newest. I sorta got a pic of it during spring break in 2003.

.

they also took the burnaby and placed her on route 1 around that same period

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah I remember that. I remember seeing her arriving at Swartz Bay one day.

[Retrovision]

Burnaby on route 1? What a sight that would be.

[Political Incorrectness]

The Queen of Burnaby I think was on route 1 one or two years ago to fill in for the Queen of Vancouver which was filling in for the Queen of New Westminster.

[Curtis]

Hmmm I had a dream a short while ago that the Burnaby was on route 1 except the interior looked like was mixed between the Queen of Nanaimo and a C Class both before they had their interior upgrades a bit strange though. So the Burnaby was on route 1 at one point to fill in. Was that when she got out of her annual Refit? Cause I don't remember hearing that she was doing route 1 in these last few years??

[Koastal Karl]

The Burnaby was on route 1 for a while. This was when the Queen of Surrey had that fire and they had to move ships around. Also the Burnaby was also on route 30 to at one point as I saw a photo of her at Tsawwassen in service.

[Koastal Karl]

Due to high winds and unfavorable seas service to Sturdies Bay on Galiano has been suspended. I am assuming this is both ways from Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen. I guess the winds are too high to dock the Cumberland Mayne Queen and Nanaimo in there at this time till the winds die down. Apparently they havent been able to dock since Thursday afternoon there. Would hate to live on Galiano right now, lol!

[hergfest]

As of 8:30pm tonight, the last Route 1 sailing to the Island is already sold out. Looks like Route 1 is about half a hour behind schedule right now.

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah the lot at Swartz Bay was pretty much full at 7pm and the 5pm had just arrived and was unloading. Another busy night.

[Ferryman]

Here's a bit of a funny story....When I was on the Cowichan on Thursday afternoon (5pm sailing), there was really high winds coming from the North, and all of the docks were really taking a beating in Horseshoe Bay. Even the Cowichan was bobbing up and down like a toy boat in the dock. So we ended up leaving 15 mins late, and getting into Nanaimo on time (Going with the wind) and apparently it was still able to leave a minute early. Pics of it all to come later on today, after I go home on route 2 again.