English Bay Ships horns constantly being blasted by Pilots

[pescador]

I'm quite close to the beach and have been hearing ships horns sounding constantly over the last week. More than normal. Lots of 5 in a rows. Yesterday while fishing off the north arm I noticed a couple of large ships coming in and guys fishing right in their path slowly trolling out of their way. I hope we are no going to **** off the port authority and have them put restrictions on us. I'm not sure about you but I watch the horizon for any commercial guys and stay the f#ck out of their way. They're working and some courtesy goes a long way to ensuring they are civil with us and we've got continued unfettered access to the resource.

 

[Dogbreath]

Heard that from shore in Kits as well wondering WTH?

 

[Whitebuck]

A lot of the times when they are fueling up, the horns are a signal to the fuel barge to shut off the fuel transfer. This however only applies to the boats at anchorage.

 

[Tugcapitan]

A lot of the times when they are fueling up, the horns are a signal to the fuel barge to shut off the fuel transfer. This however only applies to the boats at anchorage.

Negative
Almost all fueling operations in the Harbour are conducted on UHF intrinsically safe radios. Horn blasts are reserved for loss of communication or emergency situations which are rare.

 

[Tugcapitan]

There are a ton of sailboats, fishing boats, jet skis, paddle boards, kayaks Ect out there. Although it may SOUND like the guy blowing his whistle is pissed, it is more likely that the pilot is worried about your safety, and the safety of those around you. In Vancouver Harbour it can be very difficult to steer around one guy, without jeopardizing three other guys.
Like has been said above, it's best to watch out for commercial traffic, know whether or not you are in the lanes, and stay out of the way!
I get the feeling though that most users of this forum already know all this, preaching to the choir

 

[agentaqua]

Negative

you mean this, don't you TC:

 

[agentaqua]

and if you wish to confirm that they are in fact fueling - you should see this hanging from the yard arms on the mast:

 

[agentaqua]

I'm quite close to the beach and have been hearing ships horns sounding constantly over the last week. More than normal. Lots of 5 in a rows. ...

Five (or more) short, rapid blasts signal danger or signal that you do not understand or that you disagree with the other boater's intentions.

 

[Tugcapitan]

you mean this, don't you TC:

Haha!
You are correct about the bravo flag though, and a red all round light at night on the bunker barge and the ship.

 

[Old Blue]

Heard that from shore in Kits as well wondering WTH?

Heard it too and thought yup it's a sunday and all the goof balls are out

 

[Tugcapitan]

One other thing worth mentioning in English Bay especially, is that when a ship leaves the lanes to anchor in any of the designated spots, it seems many people have trouble distinguishing between ships already at anchor and ships that are traveling very slowly approaching their anchorage.

 

[Gong Show]

One other thing worth mentioning in English Bay especially, is that when a ship leaves the lanes to anchor in any of the designated spots, it seems many people have trouble distinguishing between ships already at anchor and ships that are traveling very slowly approaching their anchorage.

I find when they rumble a few links out the hawse pipe it gets peoples' attention!
You feel it when you hear it.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

We saw this issue going on at the Fraser mouth yesterday at Steveston too. Ships blasting their horn cause some sporties were clogging up the transport lane. In one instance two sporties had to motor quickly out of the way with their riggers and lines down cause they had no idea what was going on till the last minute. Their rigger cables were completely horizontal out the back as they sped out of the way of a large commercial vessel. Won't be long before DFO/Coast Guard closes a buffer area around there to sporties if that continues.

Also saw a sport cruiser with a load of teenagers with no life jackets on going the top speed their boat could go flying over Spanish banks so far inside the shallow markers that we couldn't believe they didn't beach their boat and all go flying into the windshield at 40 mph. They had to be in about 3 ft of water. Lot's of unsafe stuff going on out there. IMO the boating course shouldn't be an online test that anyone can pass by googling the answers. Should be an on the water test and/or class room test with a practical part of it to confirm the person knows what's up.

 

[agentaqua]

Contenders for the Darwin Awards....

 

[ziggy]

Only problem with your idea about harder testing and a practical phase is I've driven in Vancouver. It doesn't appear to work

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Saturday afternoons in Vancouver harbor