This letter was send to West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky MP John Weston and copied to The Chief for publication.
This is an email discussing my concern regarding the Mamquam Blind Channel in the Squamish Harbour.
As a owner of a 22-foot boat which I moor at the Squamish Government Dock during the summer months I have a concern about the Mamquam Blind Channel.
The concern being the depth of the channel at a medium to low level tide.
As I head out into Howe Sound for a day out on my boat I have to be extremely careful when leaving at a medium to low level tide. I basically have to hug the log booms and watch ever so closely my depth sounder.
I can be driving along watching my surroundings and depth sounder when I suddenly have only a matter of a foot of water under my prop and that is right beside the log booms. If I was to venture into the middle of the channel I would get stuck, which has almost happened several times.
I have seen sailboats stuck in the muck for hours. It is really sad to see the look of frustration on the faces of people who do get stuck. I feel for them as I too have been stuck in a boat in the muck at low tide in the Tofino area.
I know of people who have boats bigger than mine who only go out in a medium to high tide in fears of getting stuck at a lower tide when coming back into the dock.
Us boaters should have the right to be able to come and go as we feel fit. We should not be restricted to when we can leave and enter the Mamquam Blind Channel.
And it is not just us pleasure craft owners -it is also the people who rely on the channel for business purposes too.
We need the Mamquam Blind Channel dredged from the channel markers all the way to past the hwy bridge. This will create a much safer and enjoyable ride in our boats.
It would also bring more tourists to our area via their boats, which is really needed. We could charge them with an overnight moorage charge which could be used to help pay for the dredging.
It would also bring in small cruise ships too. I can remember as a kid taking a small cruise ship from downtown Vancouver to Squamish on a ship that I think was called the Britannia in the morning, getting off the ship and then getting on the Royal Hudson for the trip back in the afternoon. You could do the trip vice versa if you wanted too.
You can't do that anymore, why? Because of the channel depth. It is not deep enough to allow small cruise ships to enter. If the channel was dredged perhaps the owners of the Rockey Mountaineer day train could reinstate something like we had years ago.
I have been told by lifelong locals that it has been 40 to 50 years since the channel was last dredged.
Could you please find the much needed federal money for dredging. I know it would be paid back ten fold with tourist dollars.
On behalf of the boaters, thanks for taking the time to look into our concern.
Gord Gunner
Squamish
