Annual Report of TIMA - the
Thetis Island Marine Association
- April 29, 2011
Just over two years ago 29 of you asked us, unanimously, to organise a Society which would look into the worrying problem of accumulating nuisances around our island coast and in our harbours. The result of this request was the incorporation of the Thetis Island Marine Association (TIMA) as a Society of British Columbia --and it gives me great pleasure when reporting back to you about TIMA's impressive progress during those two inaugural years, albeit with a extremely scant volunteer force.
Nuisance number one on the list was to clean up obvious environmental and navigational hazards which existed in Telegraph Harbour: and there were plenty of them!
A disintegrating sunken wreck, a 34 foot sailboat, appropriately named “Wits End” which had been brashly abandoned. Partly constructed of glass fibre, still laden with old mattresses, paint cans, a legacy of abandoned and polluted detritus. TIMA rose to the occasion and a small band of helpers worked for a week, often during the wee hours, accommodating the ever changing tides in an effort to beach the mess - together with two abandoned semi-submerged rafts, again loaded with garbage.
Diving duo Peter Luckham and Andy Lamb practically lived underwater, securing flotation bags and ropes while Wayne Loiselle, Alexander Luckham, Kevin Hughes and Chris Rennie (accompanied by his two young sons, Mac, 7, and Gryphon, 9) ably supported the venture. Rick lent us his air bags to float the wreck and I noticed Bill Dickie there on the beach quietly helping to clean and evaluate the boats fittings (unfortunately the vessel's keel was not pure bronze).
To achieve this noteworthy feat we received official support from Transport Canada in the person of Bob Gowe, Manager of the Navigable Waters Protection Programme who paid us a flying visit and offered financial assistance to transport the final two huge dumpsters of soggy, disgusting refuse off island. Without his encouragement and financial assistance we could not have accomplished the task.
While I am on the subject of helpers I thank JoEllen Schoblom and Suzanne Sarioglu for making sure that the public in general knew of our activities; Simone Luckham twinning with Petra Accipiter and crunching numbers to keep us in order; and Lynda Poirier who helped with buoy selection and acquisition and, together with a giant red octopus, organised a TIMA float in the 2010 Summer Thetis Island parade. And I thank Veronica Shelford for starting us off on the www so that all and sundry can see what we are up to.
And where would we have been without the ongoing hard work and sensibilities of Petra? She was always there, digging into files and answering queries, making coffee and cookies - a stalwart performance! Finally, still on the subject of helpers, we thank Chris Kelsey who was always in the background ready to advise on legal issues.
Nuisance number two came in the shape of broken navigation marks in the “Cut” and Harbour. We informed Transport Canada who soon organised Coastguard hovercraft which thundered up the harbour to install brand new marks. We began to feel safe!!
Other nuisances appeared: rogue buoys in the main channel dropped there by people who had no affiliation whatever with Thetis Island or Canada for that matter - a recipe for disaster particularly when vessel routeing and daily, regular scheduled floatplanes needed an adequate water runway. It was clear that something had to be done to establish a sense of order in the harbour. (You will learn more about how we propose to further this in the following report).
However, it hasn't been all graft, concern, beaurocrats, dumpsters, worrying nights and hard decision making. From the outset we determined that ongoing TIMA members and the Community at large should enjoy themselves - for after all we were a club with common interests - so, to this end, we decided that, for light relief, we would put on winter programmes of interesting presentations on the last Friday of every winter month, from September to April. And so it was!
Gradually our numbers of potential adventurers grew until a regular 30 plus citizens spurned “Hawaii Five - O”, “Two and a half Men” and other fantasies and gathered to enjoy real adventure, complete with Nan's “Pot Of Gold” coffee and goodies which Petra, Maureen and helpers always seemed to materialise.
We “sailed” round Cape Horn, braving storms on a classic windjammer, the Peking of the “Flying P” line. We enjoyed small boat cruising in the Caribbean and Bahamas and related to huge marine iguanas: Helped to renovate a classic Paddle wheeler while rushing for gold in the Yukon: appreciated the culture, the grass skirt gyrations of the Polynesian girls and, en route, indulged in the ambiance of the South Seas. And as a contrast to warmth visited the end of the earth, the Arctic, a stunning presentation. But we always returned home and relished the delights of our own coast, diving beneath the steel blue surface to witness the gyrations of the convoluting “Spanish Dancer” and trying to catch a glimpse of a “Grunt Sculpin” the little, spikey guy on our logo.
The RCMP became involved and “showed the flag” on a visit to Thetis. Corporal Cal Keir brought the RCMP catamaran over and we climbed in it and on it and Sergeant Anne Clarke of the RCMP “Coastal Watch Programme” of the Marine Security Operations Centre gave us a presentation of their work of protecting our shores. We'll feel much safer!
However, to round of this report I leave the most important feature to the end. Namely that of receiving FORMAL RECOGNITION by Transport Canada, under the aegis of the Navigable Waters Protection Act, for TIMA to manage the waters of Telegraph Harbour so that YOU NOW HAVE THE WHEREWITHAL TO SHAPE THE FUTURE WELFARE OF YOUR MARINE ENVIRONMENT. Grids of buoyage, locations and regulation standards, and other elements of our marine environment, wrecks, rafts - violation in any shape or form of your Community Planned Water Zones, can henceforth be directed under YOUR CONTROL AND INITIATIVE through TIMA and if required, upon advice from TIMA, be enforced by Transport Canada.
IT'S YOUR CALL!! WELCOME ABOARD!
Gerry Smith