
The Tragedy at Tofino, B.C.: Inside the Sinking of Leviathan II - curtis
https://www.macleans.ca/sinking-of-leviathan-ii/
======
sandworm101
I live in BC and work for an organization that regularly responds to maydays.
These things happen all the time. It is rare for so many deaths to be
involved, but I hear the story of a small boat suddenly overturning on a
weekly basis. The BC coast is littered with islands that make waves do strange
things. We aren't Alaska, but the water is still cold and help is always far
away. There are airforce helicopters in Comox and Victoria, but they are at
least an hour away from most of the BC coast.

Don't go out in a small boat unless you are ready to fall off that boat.
Either put on an immersion suit (the big yellow drysuits used by the fast
whale watching boats) or make sure you have and know how to use a 6/10-man
inflatable raft. Even then, take a plunge. Go to a polar bear swim (new years
day in canada) and get a feel for real ocean water. And learn to swim. Not
splashing around in your neighbour's pool. Imho if you cannot do a hundred
meters in a lap pool you shouldn't be in any small boat. In rough seas that
10-15 feet to the raft, and then hauling yourself into the raft, isn't easy.
If you are in your 80s and want to see sea lions up close, get a big TV and
download an Attenbourough documentary.

------
walrus01
Two things stood out to me from a radio/communications point of view:

First, that a vessel carrying that many people wasn't required to be equipped
with AIS, and indeed was not AIS-equipped. There are a number of water taxi
and small ferries in BC which are smaller than this which _are_ AIS equipped,
such as the water taxis you can hire to go from Vancouver to Gambier Island
and other locations in Howe Sound.

Second, this part from the TC report, which seems to indicate that the
government is taking more seriously the concept of requiring EPIRBs on this
class of passenger vessel. Since modern EPIRBs are a lot less costly than they
used to be, I don't think it's a huge burden for operators.

"In response, TC has proposed to expand requirements to carry an EPIRB. At the
national Canadian Marine Advisory Council meeting in April 2016, TC updated
industry on the proposed Navigation Safety Regulations, which are expected to
be completed in 2018. Under the revised regulations, which would consolidate
the Ship Station (Radio) Regulations 1999, among others, vessels would be
required to carry EPIRBs when operating outside of sheltered waters if the
vessel is more than 8 m in length, is carrying more than 6 passengers, or is a
tug/tow boat."

~~~
patja
I just got back from a week on my sailboat in Barkley Sound, which is the
sound just to the south of Tofino on the west side of Vancouver Island. Maybe
it is a local culture thing, but I was very surprised by how few boats had AIS
transponders on the west side of Vancouver Island, especially now that the
price of a transponder is well below $1000.

Then again, while AIS and EPIRB can save your bacon, they can also give a
sense of false security especially if help is more than an hour away. Self-
reliance comes first on the water.

~~~
walrus01
Absolutely, I have only ever thought of modern aids like AIS and satellite
EPIRBs as part of a belt + suspenders approach to safety and planning.

------
dzdt
The Transportation Safety Board report is at [http://www.bst-
tsb.gc.ca/eng/enquetes-investigations/marine/...](http://www.bst-
tsb.gc.ca/eng/enquetes-investigations/marine/2015/m15p0347/m15p0347.asp)

They recommend improved safety planning requirements and automated beacons for
such commercial vessels operating outside sheltered waters.

~~~
sandworm101
Automated beacons are great, but nothing would have gotten rescuers onto this
scene any faster. Thirty minutes or an hour is an amazing response time.
Unless you are 10-15 miles from Comox, even an airforce helicopter could not
have gotten their any faster.

~~~
JamesCoyne
The "Findings" section of the report indicates 45 minutes elapsed before
authorities were aware of the capsizing. In this case, a beacon may have cut
that time down.

In a location where hypothermia is a risk, this is important.

> _Approximately 45 minutes elapsed before search-and-rescue (SAR) resources
> became aware of the capsizing, as the crew did not have time to transmit a
> distress call before the capsizing, nor did the vessel have a means to
> automatically send a distress call._

~~~
trhway
the temperature-to-survival time table:

[http://www.ussartf.org/cold_water_survival.htm](http://www.ussartf.org/cold_water_survival.htm)

In this case water was 14C, so while such water may be very unpleasant
(depends on overall weather - on a nice summer day it is very nice to go into
water at Half Moon Bay where water today for example is 14.5C, and where i
originally come from we have 17C, at best, water in summer and everybody
enjoys it immensely), it isn't such an imminent danger on its own if one has
flotation vest on, as one can survive for several hours in it, yet
unfortunately most people wouldn't be really able to actively maintain
flotation on their own without the vest, less swim, for duration longer than
may be 10 minutes. Basically having vest on or off is the critical juncture.

------
isolli
For anyone interested in maritime tragedies:
[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04/inside-el-faro-
the-w...](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04/inside-el-faro-the-worst-us-
maritime-disaster-in-decades)

Spoiler alert: it's a sad story and no one survived.

------
chewyland
I have nothing to add to this story but I've been on this boat many years ago.
Tofino and Ucluelet were my second homes for many years.

Cheers from Bulgaria.

------
pschlump
I (with my family) lived 5 years on a 13 m sailboat. I added AIS and EPIRB to
the boat as we had many off-shore passages. AIS (class b) costs about $500 (US
$). EPIRB is about $400 with a $200 every 24 month cost.

------
DenisM
What I take from this story is that I should always carry an inflatable life
vest when boating about. There are some small models that wrap around your
waist and don't get in the way until you need them.

------
ggm
A story I kinda wished I hadn't read, 7 days before heading out into The St
Lawrence, Q for a whale-watching trip (gulp)

------
hackeraccount
Something about the pagination of this story was awful.

