A beached boat is off the water and destined for disposal in the wake of a partnership struck between the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and the District of Oak Bay.
Both organizations donated time and equipment to pull the derelict boat back to sea, tow it to the docks and load it into a bin bound for disposal.
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Folks at the yacht club were already working to remove the abandoned vessel near its marina on Cadboro Bay. Then the boat broke free and became beached, explained Oak Bay parks foreman Tim Roberts, who spearheaded the partnership.
“The wheels turn really slowly but this is a great case where everybody’s working together to clean up that beach,” he said.
The parks department cleaned up the debris – working with Jon Roe of the Veins of Life Watershed Society – but the vessel itself falls under federal jurisdiction and got tied up between the Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada – a not-unusual scenario.
In this case, Roberts used his position in parks to plead their case working through the system.
Oak Bay received approval from Transport Canada about three weeks ago to act on the vessel and stripped it down.
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Thursday (Feb. 29), the tides were finally in favour to push the hull into the water and yacht club members towed it to their docks for removal.
The sandy, heavy and awkward hull was pulled from the water using the yacht club crane and it was binned. Oak Bay parks staff brought in the equipment to crush it into the bin Friday (March 1) expected to be hauled away later that day.
“(It was) not only cost-effective but environmentally beneficial and a great opportunity to strengthen the relationship between all parties. Luckily we found a compassionate advocate at Transport Canada who was a great help in getting us the approval in a record-breaking two months,” Roberts said.
READ ALSO: Derelict boat clean up runs aground because of funding issues
