The new SeaBus does a rescue exercise!
The new SeaBus does a rescue exercise!
I got to participate in a rescue exercise with the new SeaBus yesterday morning!
SeaBus staff ran through its man overboard procedures, and ran a huge group of people through its emergency evacuation process. All the SeaBuses do these exercises every year! And we all were quite thankful for sunny weather yesterday, since we all had to sit in a rubber raft and get towed to shore.
The new SeaBus will hopefully be in service this December — it’s awaiting certification from Transport Canada, and this exercise was part of the federal tests.
Here’s some photos of the day, and a sneak peek of the new SeaBus interiors!
Staff from TransLink and CMBC volunteered for the exercise, and a big group of students from BCIT’s Marine Campus also joined in. Here we are meeting near one of the docks in the North Terminal.
A video of us boarding the new SeaBus! The seats are lovely!
The centre of the SeaBus features two long rows of seats now.
We were asked to put these plastic booties on. I think it was so we wouldn’t puncture the raft.
The seats at the front of the SeaBus. Notice the “Exit This Side” LED displays!
We sailed around in circles for a little while. An inspector from Transport Canada was on board, inspecting the engines and other things.
By the way, all the materials that go into making the SeaBus need to be approved by Transport Canada – the inspector who was on board approved its composition as it was being built in Victoria. It all has to meet very strict safety standards. Fun fact: apparently the seat material comes from Australia!
One of the SeaBus folks explained that a small boat is kept on shore to help out when a SeaBus has any issues. For this exercise, the boat was following the new SeaBus, and it towed our life raft to shore when we all evacuated.
SeaBus staff performed a man overboard exercise. (Nobody actually went overboard, but they did run through the procedures.) The marine attendant was hooked to the SeaBus via an anchor in the doorway. I also saw blankets pulled out on board to warm up the person overboard once they were pulled in.
Then marine attendants guided us through the evacuation routine, and we all pulled out our life jackets from under the seats. They needed a bit of tugging but we got them out!
You just pop your head through the vest! Then you’ve got a set of ties to tie around your neck, and a set around your waist. I felt like the vest was keeping my neck up: I guess that’s part of the point.
Each life vest has a whistle too, so you can signal if needed.
SeaBus staff opened one of the roll-up doors on the side, and there was a big sploosh as the raft got dropped down. Then we all slid down into the raft!
You had to grab the bar and propel yourself down the slide into the life raft. Then once you landed, staff helped you steady yourself and you had to scramble for a seat. I ended up sitting on one side, crammed into the middle. The raft was rated to carry 150 people total, if you’re curious.
You have to get cozy on rafts.
More coziness. As I said before, thank heaven it was a nice day out!
Eventually, we got towed to the north shore and everybody leaped off the boat. It was a bit slippy getting off but SeaBus staff was super helpful pulling you out.
The little boat who towed us to shore!
A panoramic photo showing the life raft and the new SeaBus in the distance. Click to see a much larger version!
And at the end, everybody returned their life vests to the North Terminal. The end of a successful rescue! Thanks to everyone at SeaBus for having us on board!
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Wow – looks like someone’s rammed the hull of the new Seabus even before it gets into service!
Wow, I don’t know what it is, but that thing looks HUGE inside!
(too bad it’s already beat up pretty badly on the outside :s )
Wow the seabus looks good on the inside and the outside. Maybe one day I might want to take videos of how it looks like inside. My youtube account is skytrainboy22.
I can’t wait to ride the new SeaBus!!! The seats look super comfy, but the outside is already pretty scratched up… -_-“
I remember doing a similar exercise for the New Westminster Casino (Royal City Star) many years ago. Going that down chute, having someone grab you to the other side of the raft as someone is rushing down behind. With seawater in the raft, everyone got new socks out of the deal.
Looking at the pictures…. someone is really brave to bring a DSLR in all that salt water.
Looking at a previous story… I wonder if there is opportunity to run the Pacific Breeze for a December cruise to the public (up the Indian Arm?), but turn it food bank fundraiser (imagine 10 (or 20) cans of food for admission to a once in a lifetime 3hr cruise) as part of its grand opening sea trials. Just think of all the crowds that showed interest at the Golden Ears or Canada Line. Now imagine just a small percentage bringing in food. How much bigger would cans of food be compared to the picture of life preservers.
;-):
I’ve passed along your Food Bank idea! I don’t think we can do a long Indian Arm cruise, but it certainly is doable to stuff the SeaBus with food for its debut. I’ll keep you posted.
Wow! can’t wait to ride the new SeaBus!! :) When is the new SeaBus expected to enter service?
zack: December sometime — Transport Canada has to certify her still. I’ll keep you posted on the launch date :)
I think Air Canada does charity sightseeing flights to raise funds, why not a brand new Seabus?
The reason I suggested the upper Indian Arm is that it’s a very remote location. Harbour ferries runs a 4hr lunch cruise during the summer. But it’s a kewl part of Vancouver that very few have explored as it is inaccessible by land. There are two waterfalls that make it look grand. Surely this would be a great way to raise some funds (cans) for a Translink charity.
Then again 4 hours without a bathroom break for a fully loaded 400 passenger ferry without bathrooms would get very interesting. Towing a portable potty wouldn’t be a practical solution either–especially for the strong currents under the 2nd Narrows bridge.
;-)
It’s the cost of the fuel really. Running a SeaBus for that long would be very expensive. And yes, there’s no bathrooms on board!
PS:
About the scratches on the SeaBus — those come from the dock, and it just shows up more on the Pacific Breeze because the paint is blue. SeaBus will likely touch up the paint before its opening though, and the dock will get some protection so it doesn’t scratch up the boat so much. Guess that’s just what happens though.