High winds and a mechanical issue have cancelled multiple sailings for B.C. Ferries Saturday.
The Coastal Renaissance faced its first cancellation at 7 a.m. between the Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay route after the discovery of an alternator issue.
This rendered the vessel unsafe to operate in adverse weather, and until winds calm down sailings on the vessel are cancelled.
The strong winds also caused the 8 a.m. sailing on the Queen of New Westminster, heading from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen, to turn around after reaching the adverse weather in Active Pass.
The vessel stayed in protected waters before returning to Swartz Bay three hours later. Passengers left the vessel and were able to wait for the next sailing or receive a refund.
“Saftey is our top priority, we made the decision being out on the water to come back to Swartz Bay,” said B.C. Ferries spokesperson Astrid Braunschmidt.
“We are keeping an eye on the weather with our colleagues from Environment Canada… they are advising us winds could change this afternoon.”
Multiple sailings were cancelled earlier in the afternoon, but around 3 p.m. some sailings were being brought back.
Updates can be found here.
The weather conditions will determine the scheduled for the remainder of the day.
A special weather statement was issued for Metro Vancouver, warning of a vigorous front that resulted in strong northwest winds of 60 km/h gusting to 80 through the Strait of Georgia.
“We apologize for the inconvenience,” said Braunschmidt.
“We advise our customers to keep an eye on our website or Twitter [for updates].”
CHEK News
