576 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

^ No but I will. Thanks.

 

Have they closed the road yet or do you have to pay?

[Mike K.]

With what you drive, you don't have to pay!

[todd]

that's amore: https://youtu.be/7Sq_qEni55w

[Sparky]

Colwood backs away from closing Esquimalt Lagoon road.

[LJ]

^ No but I will. Thanks.

 

Have they closed the road yet or do you have to pay?

The tolls are pandemic priced right now but should return to regular pricing sometime in July.

[todd]

Gyro Park has one but exclusive access.

”Truck briefly bogged down on Cadboro Bay beach”: https://www.oakbayne...boro-bay-beach/

Looks bigger than a truck?

Edited by todd, 09 July 2021 - 11:30 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Taxpayers are paying lots to dubious groups with no open bidding to remove boats that may or may not be of concern.


https://www.vicnews....in-coastal-b-c/

[Sparky]

So we were out last week to catch the last supper (so to speak) at the Marina Restaurant. Fantastic as always.

 

We happen to catch sight of this relatively nice boat all crunched up on the rocks. Almost a regular occurrence after winter storms. Such a shame to see. The boat obviously wasn't prepped well for winter as the sails were not stored below. Also looks like the scavengers have entered through the portside window.

 

 

I can't imagine anything worse for a boat owner....with the exception perhaps of the infamous "water cross". Look carefully.

 

 

[Victoria Watcher]

Fine for hazardous vessel in Saanich a first for Canadian Coast Guard

 

The vessel in Cadboro Bay has been determined to pose a hazard to marine environment and public safety by the Canadian Coast Guard.

https://www.timescol...t-guard-7254006

[Mike K.]

Whatever happened to all the live-aboards in the Gorge Waterway north of the Selkirk Trestle?

[Sparky]

They were gone the last time I walked the trestle.

[Victoria Watcher]

Man drowns in waters off Coles Bay Regional Park in North Saanich

Police say man was attempting to get to his boat when the incident occurred

https://www.vicnews....saanich-4386817

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 September 2023 - 08:59 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Man drowns in waters off Coles Bay Regional Park in North Saanich

Police say man was attempting to get to his boat when the incident occurred

https://www.vicnews....saanich-4386817

 

 

Police believe that the man was trying to retrieve his boat which drifted from the boat launch. It was reported that the man swam to the drifting boat but due to water temperatures he began to struggle. We are deeply saddened by the outcome of this event and our thoughts and condolences are with the family and the community. This incident should stand as a reminder to the public that even the strongest swimmer is at risk without proper flotation equipment in cold water. said Corporal Andres Sanchez of the Sidney North Saanich RCMP.

 

https://bc-cb.rcmp-g...contentId=81290

 

 

 

Oh my, what a way to die.

 

 

 

https://www.google.c...97483?entry=ttu

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 September 2023 - 05:26 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

‘This is my home’: Hope sinks for Greater Victoria derelict boat owner

Coast Guard ramping up fines to address derelicts, as owner says ‘liveaboards’ being targeted


https://www.vicnews....t-owner-7323949


But for those who call their boats home like Mark Crocker, it seems to be part of a concerted effort against “liveaboards” like him.

Crocker, 64, has spent 35 years living on various boats in the Greater Victoria area.

His home of the past seven years — a big, blue metal sailboat named Illusie — is stuck on a breakwater in North Saanich.

Crocker is in Ontario, unable to do anything about it after having left in September to take care of his ailing mother. Now he is making funeral arrangements.

He says the Coast Guard has cut the locks and is threatening to fine him $15,000 and seize the boat.

“This my home,” Crocker said. “Everything I own is on board, and as far as I know, it’s been looted and vandalized.”

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 February 2024 - 01:29 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A dilapidated 36-foot sailboat that’s been aground on Gonzales Beach since late last month is being monitored by the Canadian Coast Guard, which says it’s a “low hazard” for pollution.

 

The vessel was beached after a storm on March 27 and has been sitting near the pedestrian access to Gonzales Beach, firmly embedded in the sand.

 

Local residents say the vessel hasn’t moved despite higher tides over the past week and the owner continues to stay in the boat.

 

The coast guard said in a statement on Thursday it has made contact with the vessel owner and inspected the beached boat.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...t-guard-8589384

[Victoria Watcher]

Two beached boats are drawing attention in Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay, but aren’t anything new to residents in the region.


https://www.vicnews....y-beach-7343335

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 April 2024 - 11:08 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Nearly three weeks ago, the boat Ryan Brackenbury had been piloting inconveniently ran aground on the beach in Gonzales Bay. Brackenbury had been anchored in the area for about a month but heavy winds and a light anchor on a sandy, rocky bottom was no match for the high winds and high tide of that storm that pushed his boat in and left him stranded.

 

It’s become clear to people living in the neighbourhood that the boat, lying at a thirty-degree angle, perpendicular to the shore, is Brackenbury’s home.

 

Brackenbury, or ‘pirate Ryan’ as some locals have come to know him, leaves it periodically on his bicycle with a skateboard strapped to his pack. If the bike is gone, he isn’t there. If at first his arrival was a curiosity, his weeks-long presence on the beach has become an unnerving waiting game to see how the situation will be resolved.

 

This isn’t Ryan’s first time on Gilligan’s island. His reputation for running aground verges on the legendary.

 

In Dec 2018, Brackenbury was forced to run the 20ft fibreglass boat he was living on aground in McNeill Bay. He took on water and needed help but C-Tow service wasn’t called because the charge to lend him aid would have cost either Oak Bay or Brackenbury roughly $400 per hour.

 

______________________

 

According to his LinkedIn page, he is the CEO of the Ending Re-Offending Society (EROS), a “rehabilitation alternative to jail, teaching life skills giving the knowledge necessary to become a valued member of the community with opportunity of a hopeful future with the skills and tools necessary to end the cycle offending for the people stuck in the circle of repeatedly getting released from jails and institutions every few months.”

 

In very real terms, it’s a program he could have designed from experience. Ryan has been in touch with the law across several provinces and charged with crimes varying in degree of seriousness. He’s a man who, in his own words, is merely “passing along what I have learned from my own failures so others will have results with endless possibility’s [sic].”

 

There is something undeniably compelling about a person in the possession of a boat who, without exhibiting any obvious mastery of the craft, has caused a multi-jurisdictional ruckus that, as of Wednesday, no one outfit of authority has been able to resolve. He is a man operating fully outside of the laws of both the land and the sea. Some folks are here for it, insofar as they feel sorry for him but many just want the boat gone.

 

_________________________

 

Inoperable but not hazardous and with its keel cut along nearly its entire length—thanks to some handy work Brackenbury got up to with a chainsaw on Tuesday—the boat remains “home.” Essentially, Ryan is now camping in his leaning, damaged boat in the middle of Gonzales Beach. Enter City of Victoria Bylaw officers, three of whom came to speak with Brackenbury on Wednesday morning. Capital Daily was asked at that time, not to record the conversation and to remain a number of feet away while they spoke with the man.

 

The situation verges on the ludicrous if not the desolate. Brackenbury, has been resourceful enough, however dubiously, at making his way in it by repeatedly coming into the possession of an alternative housing option again and again. Until he wrecks it.

 

During the McNeill Bay incident, Brackenbury said “I’ve had my name on the BC Housing thing for a couple years now and I haven’t had any luck, so you know, this (living on boats) is the best option.” No one who would take more than a minute to look into the patterns of misfortune and misconduct that have plagued his life would doubt him when he says, “coming from my heart and walks of life as i have no idea the amount of work i have to do each day.” The daily slog for survival is something support organizations often hear from people who are unhoused.

 

Brackenbury is no pirate. He’s a beleaguered man whose luck has repeatedly run aground.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...-beach-1199318/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 April 2024 - 04:37 PM.