Rough sailing raises more questions over Chilliwack

 UPDATED Nov 23:  Questions over another harrowing sailing of BC Ferries’ Queen of Chilliwack are being raised by politicians and crew.

The 7 pm sailing from Comox to Powell River on the Queen of Chilliwack Wednesday, November 16, happened in rough weather and left passengers ill and scared.

An email sent by North Coast MLA and New Democratic Party BC Ferries critic Gary Coons contains forwarded emails from a Queen of Chilliwack crew member to Coons that describe the sailing as “like an episode from the show MASH.” The crew member, who remains anonymous, reports there was no discussion with crew before the decision to sail and the flood doors were not used.

The crew member describes being on the car deck for the first half of the trip and watching vehicles “jump” and a “semi with two full tanks of fuel lean over so much it was almost touching the upper ramp deck.” On the passenger deck the crew member describes the scene as “more passengers puking than not,” with at least three passengers having panic attacks and a pregnant passenger “bleeding.”

“I can tell you the look on all the passengers’ faces was fear,” reads the email to Coons. “We need your help up here please, winter has only just begun.”

Earlier in the day BC Ferries cancelled the 2:30 pm from Comox and 4:45 pm from Westview.

BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall assured that the weather for that sailing was within safety guidelines and the waves were not high enough to warrant the use of the watertight doors. She wrote that the suspension in tanker trucks is designed to allow swaying and that some passengers did experience sea sickness but not beyond what is occasionally found on other vessels on other routes.

“The Queen of Chilliwack is safe to sail on the Powell River-Comox route,” wrote Marshall. “The sailing in question was within our heavy weather guidelines.”

Coons and Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons have written a joint letter to Blair Lekstrom, minister of transportation and infrastructure, asking for a review of the sailing and questioning BC Ferries’ assertions earlier this year that the vessel is safe and suitable for the route.

“The public was told that the matter was appropriately dealt with,” reads the letter. “Yesterday’s fiasco suggests that some lessons were not learned. Would you please make all necessary inquiries about the decision-making process, and whether such processes need another review?”

Environment Canada weather reports show wind speeds at the Sisters Island weather station in the north Strait of Georgia at 65 kilometres per hour (km/h) at the time of the sailing. At the time of the cancelled 2:30 pm sailing from Comox the weather station shows a wind speed of 76 km/h. Marshall reported that at the time of sailing winds were at 26 knots (48 km/h) and wave height 1.6 metres. This is consistent with wind speeds recorded at Comox at the time.

Last November the Queen of Chilliwack took eight hours to cross from Powell River to Comox when it set sail in heavy weather. BC Ferries has said since then that new heavy weather procedures have been established for sailing and that the vessel is suitable for the route.