Coast Guard aware of sinking Sutherland Bay vessels

Capsized vessels are a concern for the Canadian Coast Guard.

That includes a pair of boats in Okanagan Lake.

In Sutherland Bay near the old Tolko mill site, two boats appear to be sinking.

One of the vessels is a houseboat named ‘Free Spirit,’ and appears to belong to a local party boat and rental company under the same name. The other is a sailboat named ‘Morning Glory.’

“It’s a polluter pays principle – the vessel is always the responsibility of the owner,” Paul Barrett, with the Canadian Coast Guard, told Kelowna10.

Barrett said they have received reports about the sinking vessels and are working to track down the owners and find out what their intent is. If they refuse to remove the vessel, the coast guard may contract workers to remove it – with cost to the owners.

“Regardless of whether the owner wants to pay now, or pay later, they are going to pay. Someone will come after them,” Barrett explained.

There are a number of different factors that can result in boats capsizing in the lake when they aren’t docked at a marina. Barrett said the most common one is batteries failing, making the pumps unavailable, and in turn causing the boat to be unstable.

The process of removing boats from the water is often done with salvage contractors.

Usually, they will put the boat onto a barge to bring it to shore, or they will have divers put float bags under the boat to bring it up to the surface so they can drain the water and tow it to shore.

Barrett said the key issue is poor seamanship and proper maintenance of the vessels. He recommends that boats be kept at a marina if staying in the water over the winter.

“Mooring vessels long term just isn’t a good solution because people aren’t in contact with that boat all the time,” he said.