Savage Double Salvage

I always tell people to head to the beach because you never know when your ship will come in.  I have an 8' Livingston tender that floated here from Oregon, which I recovered from Crescent Rock beach over 20 years ago.  Around 15 years ago I helped to organize a cleanup of the shoreline from Kwomais Point to Crescent Beach to recover a 26' wooden pleasure boat that got washed against the rocks and destroyed by a winter storm.  Kudos to the BNSF Railway, the City of Surrey, Super Save Group and a large group of volunteers who helped out with that debris recovery.  Last weekend my wife and I were down at Crescent Rock beach when I noticed a strange sight in the distance not too far from the recently opened 1001 Steps staircase.  When I went to investigate, I discovered much to my dismay that it was a huge log boom with over 80 pieces in it that was hung up on an offshore boulder. 

I quickly realized that this massive raft of logs that someone had lost would likely hit the beach, break apart and scatter its load along the shoreline all the way to Crescent Beach and beyond to Mud Bay.  I knew that I needed to do something about it and reached out to my friend Mike who captains a large fuel tug asked him if he knew anyone with a salvage license who could help.  He put me in touch with a beachcomber named Duncan who I told of my find and came out to inspect the load of logs.  For a marine salvage expert, finding a lost log boom is basically the holy grail and he was immediately interested.  He came out the next night at high tide to check on whether the logs could be simply pulled off or if the boom chains that were over the boulder would need to be cut.  The logs floated high enough that he felt it would come off with a big pull and we took measurements of the water depth to ensure the boat used would not get stuck.  Because of the weight involved, he decided to bring in his friends Jay and Stewart who own the Iron Horse tug that by chance was involved with the White Rock Pier cleanup after the Dec. 2018 storm.

On Thursday night, a group of salty pirates descended on the Crescent Rock beach shoreline with a plan in place to remove the stuck log boom.  It took six hours for the boats to get there from New Westminster and hook up to the raft of logs.  The Iron Horse pulled the boom off the boulder that kept it off the beach without any problem and after re-rigging, they were off for home at 9 p.m. just as the sun was setting.  The plan was to go around Point Roberts and dock at Tsawwassen to wait for the tides and winds to improve.  Unfortunately just past Point Roberts it was noticed that the Zodiac skiff that was used in the operation had come untied from Duncan's pleasure boat and floated away under the cover of darkness.  At first light they continued out around the Sand Heads and entered the Fraser River.  Because of the weight of the logs and with the freshet still running, they were making little headway and had to call in a second tug, The Logger, that came out to help with the pull up the mighty Fraser.  After a total of 35 gruelling hours the boom was tied up safely in New Westminster.

While most of this operation went relatively smoothly, the loss of the 10" Zodiac skiff with a 15 hp Suzuki motor put a real damper on any celebration.  Undeterred, Duncan filed a missing boat report with the Canadian and American Coast Guards plus the Delta, Surrey and Blaine police departments.  I took it upon myself to post a description of the lost boat in community Facebook pages around Boundary Bay trying to locate it.  I even reached out to Global News who had their Chopper 1 on the lookout for the skiff as it flew in and out of Boundary Bay airport (CZBB).  On Saturday morning I spent several hours with a spotting scope looking for the skiff around the northern shores of Mud Bay where many floating pleasure boats end up being blown.  It was later that day when my wife alerted me to a message from a young man named Jason in Point Roberts who had located the Zodiac and recovered it not far from Lily Point.  Needless to say, Duncan was quickly on his way to the Point to pick up his lost boat with a $100 cash for Jason being so honest and helpful.  Considering that it happened to be his birthday, the reward was rather well received.  

This whole saga has been quite an adventure from beginning to end.  Myself and the merry band of naturists who frequent this rugged and secluded shore work together to keep the beach free of garbage, flotsam and debris on a constant basis.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would come across a stranded log boom that needed to be removed from Surrey's nude beach.  A fortunate high tide allowed us to move quickly with the recovery to ensure that the logs did not get spilled across Crescent Beach or hopelessly trapped in Mud Bay.  I'm left with some enjoyable memories from this salvage operation, some new beachcomber friends, and a raft of great pictures. 

For me it truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget and hopefully never have to repeat.

Naturally yours,

Don Pitcairn

I wish to acknowledge we live work and play on the traditional lands of the Semiahmoo People

National Drowning Prevention Week is next week, July 20–26!

Join us in White Rock for a week of FREE water safety and CPR classes for all ages - kids, youth, and adults!

Locations: White Rock Community Centre & West Beach

Register online at https://tinyurl.com/3y3cnnkp or by phone at 604-541-2199

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