Vancouver – With the summer boating season approaching, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety, cautions all recreational boaters of the extreme hazard associated with going between a tug and its tow. An incident on April 8, 2001 highlights this concern. The Seaspan tug, Harmac Fir was on a passage through Howe Sound, with a boom containing 55 sections of logs in tow. Common practice in the B.C. towing industry is to tow these log booms a minimum of 200 meters astern. At 1205 PM, the Harmac Fir was near Grace Island, in Howe Sound when the crew observed an 8 meter white pleasure craft approaching at about 25 knots, from the direction of Gambier Island. The captain determined that the pleasure craft would pass between the Harmac Fir and the log boom and made several signals on the tug's whistle as a warning. When the pleasure craft continued to approach the gap between the tug and the boom, the captain took all power off the tug's engines, allowing the steel towline between the tug and the boom to go slack and sink in the water. The pleasure craft was able to pass over the towline without incident and continued towards Gibson, apparently unaware of its close call with disaster. The Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety is concerned that boaters may not recognize the particular lights and shapes exhibited by tugs towing barges and log booms. In many cases smaller vessels that run between a tug and its tow will contact the towline, capsize, and then be run down by the log boom or barge. On August 7, 1999, a similar incident at the Benson and Hedges Symphony of Fire in Vancouver Harbour resulted in the loss of five lives. The Canadian Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety commends the captain of the Harmac Fir for the quick action which most likely prevented serious injury or death to the occupants of the unidentified pleasure craft. -30-
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