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Four were rescued after floathome broke free in windstorm

Last Thursday’s windstorm was not a great time for anybody to be on the water, but it was particularly bad for four people on a floathome that broke free from Maple Bay Marina.
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One of the floathomes that came loose at Maple Bay Marina during the Dec. 20 windstorm.

Last Thursday’s windstorm was not a great time for anybody to be on the water, but it was particularly bad for four people on a floathome that broke free from Maple Bay Marina.

Victoria’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre received a call from the marina at 11:28 a.m., along with a number of 911 calls from Maple Bay residents, and a mayday was issued.

The rescue centre dispatched the coast guard auxiliary from Vesuvius on Salt Spring Island, while a U.S. helicopter based in Port Angeles also responded.

Eight minutes after that first call, the rescue centre was contacted by someone on the floathome, said Dylan Carter, maritime search and rescue co-ordinator. “They said there were four people on board, two on the roof and two inside, no life-jackets and no boat.”

The Cape Naden, a 47-foot coast guard search-and-rescue boat from Ganges, and a fast-response Zodiac were sent to join the rescue effort.

At the same time, the marina reported more docks and boats being ripped off the floats at Maple Bay, said Carter. “The whole thing was just coming apart.”

At 11:45 a.m., the rescue centre asked the coast guard patrol vessel Captain Goddard to respond from Patricia Bay.

Just before noon, Duncan RCMP officers who had been sent to Maple Bay reported that they could see the floathome and it was five to 10 minutes from landing on rocks, said Carter. None of the other boats that had broken free appeared to have people on board.

A few minutes later, a Maple Bay man on a boat that was in the area rescued the people on board the float-home “just in time,” said Carter. By shortly after 1 p.m., they were all safely ashore.

Maple Bay resident Nenagh McCulloch was watching the storm from local pub The Lion Rampart after she lost power at home. While she didn’t see the floathome occupants being rescued, she did see a second floathome break loose.

“One floathome had already made its way down the strait and hit the rocks in the other bay,” said the 27-year-old, who has lived in Maple Bay all her life. “Another big vessel had also floated in and washed up against the rocks. Then this floathome just comes bombing down the bay.”

She watched as the coast guard brought the floathome back across the bay.

“They did a really good job navigating this 25,000-pound floathome. It was a giant sail, just a big broadside the way the wind was hitting it.”

Tilman Hainle, a member of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue in Mill Bay who drove to Maple Bay to assist his unit from land after getting the 11:30 a.m. mayday, said while activity was concentrated on the water, there was also a dangerous situation on the dock.

A larger vessel had broken free, along with some of the dock, and had pushed up against the fuel dock where float planes tie up.

“It was pushing the fuel dock out and there was obvious concern about possible fuel spillage,” he said.

Hainle said the wind was gusting at about 50 knots and he almost got blown into the water.

“My priority was to get everybody off the docks, including the people who are living there full time,” said Hainle.

“My job was to go through the marina and convince the liveaboards to come off. Everyone that I found on a vessel said OK, they would leave.”

A week after the storm, Dave Messier, manager of the Maple Bay Marina, said no one was injured and the floathomes were back the next day.

“It was quite an event and rattled a whole bunch of cages, but I’m sure we’ll put the pieces back together again,” said Messier.

“The worst thing that happened to us — a bunch of our older boatsheds got absolutely shattered. It is amazing to see. It looks like the Guggenheim Museum in Spain.”

ldickson@timescolonist.com