paters m

iSS Wave

data from lighthouse

Wave-measuring buoy may be the answer

By tan Noble
News Reporter

A bouncing buoy
could be the Canadian
Coast Guard’s solution
to mariner worries
about inadequate sea
reports.

The mariners’ concerns
have been prompted by the
Coast Guard’s controversial
automation of Point Atkinson
lighthouse and others in.B.C.

The automated lighthouses
provide information on wind

speed and direction, air pres-

sure, temperature, precipita-
tion and the dew point.

But Tom Hammond, a
boater for 35 years in the area
and a former member of the
power squadron, said informa-
tion is not given on the sea’s
wave pattern — whether it’s a
chop or swell — and how high
the seas are; “They are not giv-
ing you the good .. things

boaters rely on,” he said.

Until lightkeepers were
removed from Point Atkinson
in the first phase of the coast
guard's automation plan May

» they provided sea-srate
rors

Now, no one does. “It’s
safety factor,” said Hammond.
“Eventually someone will cap-
size or get swamped. There
could be a fatality and it is
because they are not providing
information to the boating
public.”

Coast guard spokesman
Laureen Kinney said the
agency is looking at putting in
a wave-measuring buoy in the

south end of Georgia Strait.

The coast guard would
locate it between Point
Atkinson and Tsawwassen,

She added the buoys are
moored in deep water and can
provide accurate readings for
water 16 to 24 kilometres (10
to 15 miles) away if buoys are
placed in an open area.

The buoys the coast guard

is studying would cost approx:
imately $45,000 and provide
wave height and direction.

Hammond said the buoys
are a step in the right diree-
tion, but he would prefer the
federal agency leave lightkeep-
ers in their lighthouses. The
coast guard said it expects to
save S34 million annually
through its automation pro-
gram,

Meanwhile, the — coast
guard announced Monday
that in an effort to improve
weather reports and forecasts,
the coast guard and
Environment Canada will set
up a program to encourage all
mariners, including commer
cial and pleasure boaters, to
voluntarily participate ina
marine weather observations
program.

"MEWS shoto Cincy Goodman

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material wares at the Harmony Aris Festival in West Vancouver.

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