The ripple effect from the Dec. 20 windstorm that battered B.C.’s south coast is still being felt.
In Howe Sound, it hit the Britannia Beach community dock particularly hard, causing “substantial damage to the breakwater, access point, gangway and main float of the dock,” according to Chantelle Nicholls, harbourmaster of the dock.
“This has probably been one of the worst years for us at the docks, weather-wise," she said. “We’ve had two boats sink, one almost sank... The amount of damage and the number of claims that have happened there this year just due to the adverse weather is shocking.”
The dock is managed by the Britannia Beach Community Association and is maintained by dock members.
Work on the facility is funded through moorage fees and sweat equity in the form of members’ volunteer hours.
While they have a $20,000 contingency for repairs, the work needed to get the dock back to what it was before the recent storm could easily be $40,000 to $50,000.
Nicholls launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to rebuild the dock.
“We are in dire need of emergency funds to return the facility back to its pre-storm condition,” reads the Help Save the Britannia Beach Community Dock online campaign.
A few years ago, those who manage the dock spent about $15,000 to beef it up, but now those upgrades have been destroyed.
“The anchoring system is gone,” Nicholls said. “Any protection we did have against winds is now gone.”
Over the last years, the private facility has been opened up to outside boaters who would dock and then run across the street to grab a bite to eat or collect supplies.
“We’ve had really tremendous support from all sorts of boaters who have been able to utilize the dock in the last year, so it is pretty sad for me to think that all that hard work that we have done – money and time – is just gone in one storm. It is heartbreaking.”
