Windy day in the Gulf islands

[koliver]

Queen of Nanaimo likely to be out of service for at least a week - BC | Globalnews.ca

High winds are blamed for the Queen of Nanaimo losing control and going ashore near the Village bay terminal. The above clip shows the private float damaged as the ferry swung around after deploying both anchors to avoid a more serious grounding. She was then towed from Village Bay, but proceeded more or less on her own to Long Harbour, where today's inspection by diver confirmed damage to one shaft, prop and a portion of the hull. The contact with the dock and with a portion of the ferry dock is not likely to have caused hull damage, so it looks like that can be attributed to a brief grounding.
All of the spares are in for refit, so service between Tsawwassen and the Gulf Islands will have to be via Vancouver Island while this vessel is out of service. That will be a PITA for those going to Galiano and Mayne, but of an inconvenience for those of us going to Saltspring or Pender

 

[Nomad Willy]

Keith,
It blew hard up here in Concrete and I'm sure more wind was in the islands.
For us here in Washington the winds we expect to come this winter will be rather gentle compared to our last 8 years on Clarence Strait in Alaska.

It's amazing how long those ferries last and how much service they provide. It's easy to see how they lost control w all that windage. Some boats on this forum can relate I'm sure.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

It blew real hard on the Columbia River. Sustained 35kt winds and we had a few 50kt gusts!

 

[Nomad Willy]

Today it was calm up here in Concrete on the Skagit River. No rain either. Got a big nasty project done and I'm quite pleased w myself.

 

[Edelweiss]

The Queen incident didn't even make the news here??

They were too busy beating up Obama and Rob Ford !!

 

[koliver]

Without the Q of N we returned to Saltspring today. BCF is trying to make it easy, and for Saltspring, they are doing a great job. By displaying our "Long Harbour" dashboard sign we were put in a centre lane, so we were the first off the ferry at Swartz bay and could get to the Fulford harbour ferry without risking a 2 hour wait in the terminal. Not as good as a direct run from Tsawwassen to Long harbour, but a great improvement over past policies on the Thru-Fare route.