James Uukwaqum Swan is left scratching his head and out-of-pocket after his water taxi Pegasus experienced a hit-and-run at Tofino’s First Street Dock on July 10.
Pegasus, a 22-foot Hewescraft boat used to shuttle folks to places like Hot Springs Cove in the northwestern part of Clayoquot Sound, was knocked so hard in the bow it suffered a crack about 10-inches wide and a quarter inch thick.
“I didn’t think it was that bad at first, I thought it was a dent, like a scratch. But it was an all the way through crack. It’s like somebody backed-up into it pretty hard. It was kind of choppy out, but we all know how to handle boats in rough weather,” said Swan, a corporal in the Canadian Armed Forces and Grade 8 teacher in Victoria.
In a written statement, the boat’s captain, Trevor Titian, said he brought his son to the hospital for a medical emergency and was at Tofino General for about five hours. When he returned to the First Street Dock, Pegasus had been moved from the middle of the dock to the end towards the ramp – and there was a crack in the bow above the waterline.
“We knew we had to take it out of service until we fixed the problem. I couldn’t transport people with a crack in it. We parked it,” Swan told the Ha-Shilth-Sa.
Swan reached out to Dennis at D.A.S.T. Welding Inc. in Port Alberni to patch his vessel on July 26.
“I slept in Walmart parking lot in my boat; brought it down at 8 a.m. in the morning. Les Doiron brought me breakfast,” Swan chuckled.
“You could hardly even tell after they welded the crack. They did a really good job on it. I commend them for their hard work,” he continued.
RCMP West Coast Marine constable David Kokesch says these types of incidences generally go unreported.
“These things will happen sometimes, whether it be for wind or current or you lose control of your boat or whatever, if it happens, as we say, leave your name and leave the name of your vessel for the other operator so at least they know who it was and they can work things out,” const. Kokesch said.
He went on to add that under the Canadian Shipping Act, failing to provide your contact information after a collision can result in a $288 fine.
Tofino’s First Street Dock is not equipped with surveillance cameras, so it’s unlikely Swan will ever find out who dinged Pegasus… unless someone owns up to the boat bender.
“We have really good skippers on the West Coast. Accidents like this don’t happen often and weather was probably the culprit in this one. I’m not looking for anyone to blame. I’d just like someone to say, ‘Sorry, I hit your boat.’ I know accidents happen, just be careful and learn from your mistakes,” Swan said.
