Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Unit 20

 

What a grand day thought the skipper.  The weather was so clear that looking to the north across the rippled seas of Georgia Straits he could see the saw-toothed outline of the mountains north of Vancouver glistening whitely against the azure sky.  He and his two buddies had left the lower mainland early that morning in his 30 foot sail boat and had spent that sunny April day sailing around Mayne Island heaving-to only to pull up the crab traps that they had set earlier.  As the afternoon wore on he felt it was time to start the long sail back across the Straits and as he left Horton Bay he considered which route to take past Georgeson Island.  He tried to remember what he had seen on the charts.  There was a good but narrow channel to the northwest between Georgeson and Mayne but it was more direct go to the southeast of the island.  Scanning the water there were no obvious rocks near the surface and so he nosed the boat toward the open waters of Georgia Straits.  When the keel contacted the hidden rock it did not so much as grind into it but sort of slithered up on it.  Regardless the boat was fast aground.

There are several lessons to be learned from this true incident.  The first is never go into unfamiliar waters without first studying the charts to see where the underwater hazards lie.  If this unfortunate skipper had taken the time to look at the charts he would have quickly seen that there are a number of dangerous underwater rocks that stretch intermittently to the southeast all the way between Georgeson Island and the start of the Belle Chain of Islets.  If he had looked at the depths shown on the charts and consulted his tide tables he would have realized that there was too little water in many places along that stretch and would have gone though the northerly channel.

Fortunately for this skipper he grounded near low tide and his boat was floated clear as the tide began to rise.  There was some concern about potential hull damage but the skipper made the decision to make his way across Georgia Straits in the rapidly darkening skies of evening.  This may or may not have been a good decision but since we heard no more from this vessel we assume he made it back to his home base safely.

 

Bob Vergette