Bremerton Ferry Riders: Leave Your Car at Home
Photo of this morning's damage sent to me by an associate.
Before I get into the logistical aspect of this nightmare, let's revisit this morning's "wind damage," as WSF has called it.
The captain of the Yakima put in his log, according to WSF Communication Director Marta Coursey, that "he was concerned about his first approach, so he was backing away and was pushed by the winds into the breakwater." The breakwater is part of Bremerton's new marina, pictured above. WSF and the Coast Guard are launching independent investigations.
The captain's story doesn't seem right to me. Let me get this out of the way, first: It was dark, and I couldn't see anything. But, I do know that the boat seemed to be cruising along famously when it struck the first item. I didn't feel any backing up at first, just cruising along and smashing into something. We then started backing up, and hit/rubbed something else, which I assume was one of the pileons, which a WSF crew member told me they had rubbed against.
I'm more than interested to see what these investigations turn up.
Here's the info-box version of what's happening on the battered WSF run between Bremerton and Seattle:
— The Yakima ferry, damaged early this morning, is out of commission for the time being, leaving Bremerton with only one ferry.
— Today's scheduled 6:45 p.m. sailing will be handled by the Snohomish, which y'all remember as the passenger-only ferry that was smashed with huge waves twice this week, and has been in the shop once.
— This weekend, the Chelan boat (w/cars) will be yanked from the triangle run of Vashon-Southworth-Fauntleroy, which will go down to two boats.
— Next week: WSF Communication Director Marta Coursey says they are about to announce the solution, which will likely include contracting passenger-only service to Bremerton. This is very bad news for every daily user of the Bremerton run (including myself), but particularly bad for those who take their car on every day. We'll bring more details on scheduling, etc., when they become available.
It should be noted that when I asked Coursey if WSF had considered moving one of the larger boats from the Bainbridge run to Bremerton to ease the pain, she said "no, that's not a consideration at this juncture."
2 comment(s)
Tamara says:
Hi there. I am usually on the 7:20 to Seattle and, lately, the 6:45 back to B-town. Dont know if I\'ve ever seen you or shared a seat with you. This is a note I just sent to my boss about the mess....Maybe you will be the one to report the \"real\" story if it ever comes out.
\"We finally got our regular boat back last Monday after it was repaired. The Coast Guard had required it to be out of service because it was unsafe. The WSF was aware of the safety concerns, but deemed it safe enough for Bremerton folks all summer long till the Coast Guard layed down the law. All that discussion happened in secret so the people who might end up drowning did not know about it. While it was being repaired, we had a smaller slower boat from the Vashon run, called the Tillikum, which is why I started coming in late and working late.
A few weeks ago, the WSF gave us a boat removed from service in the San Juans because it was unsafe (but it was deemed safe enough for us Bremerton folks). They crashed it last night in the windstorm making a hole in the hull. Twice this week I rode it and experienced crash landings, so the damage may have been cumulative, but they are not saying that. The notice they sent out about the cancellation attributed the cancellation to \"mechanical problems\" which is apparently ferry-speak for \"we crashed the dang boat.\".
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/feb/08/crash-into-breakwater-puts-another-ferry-on-the/
Glad I wasn\'t trying to come in Friday morning, because the people from cancelled 640 a.m. sailing (the most crowded) had to join us on the 720 a.m. sailing (the second most crowded). There was 810 passengers, plus the cars. Lots of people had their work and daycare and medical visits messed up, and most had no advance notice about it.
For the evening run, they placed the passenger-only ferry Snohomish on the run. The Snohomish was deemed unsafe to serve the people from Pt Townsend earlier this week after it got swamped by rogue waves twice in a one week period. (It is apparently safe enough for us Bremerton folks.)
As an aside, all the Bainbridge boats are big and new and fast and comfortable and safe enough to pass inspection. There are rumors of flat screen televisions and fresh biscotti in the snack bar. Well there was that one day that they shut Bainbridge down because a ferry worker found a marijuana pipe made out of PVC and thought it was a bomb. But Bremerton was also shut down that day, because they found the \"bomb threat\" when it was docked in Seattle.
Do you detect a theme? Do they think people who live in a down and out military blue collar community are just better swimmers than doctors and lawyers and such?
-- Tamara
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 8 2008 @ 7:30PM
Bryan Shrader says:
What the heck is a pileon? Did you mean dolphin--a cluster of pilings? Also, the correct phrase is \"ferry Yakima\". \"Yakima\" ferry implies there is a ferry to Yakima.
Posted On: Monday, Feb. 11 2008 @ 9:43PM