Annapolis Sinking Update

April 24, 2010 Annapolis Sinking Update - While many divers from around the world have been eagerly awaiting the sinking of the former HMCS Annapolis near Vancouver this summer, recent reports in the press indicate the Government may have sunk the deal at the 11th hour.

After years of hard work by members of the ARSBC and the many volunteers who have been carefully prepping her to be sunk, it seems pressure by some local residents of Halkett Bay have stopped the project.

While we haven't seen official confirmation yet, we're keeping our fingers crossed that any issues can be peacefully and successfully resolved.

Comments and links can be found on the Scubaboard forum site ...

Annapolis Sinking

Earlier Annapolis Sinking Update...

The following Annapolis Sinking Update was recently sent out by the dedicated group overseeing the preparation of the HMCS Annapolis for sinking in Howe Sound, near Vancouver British Columbia.

Message To Our Volunteers February 27, 2010

Operations Time Line

With the Olympics coming to a close this weekend, many of us will be back to our daily routines and hopefully that will include time for more to sign up for work details aboard the Annapolis. For those of you who watched the hockey game last night between the Canadians and Slovaks and felt the anxiety to finish with a win, you will understand the parity of being in a race to ready the Annapolis for inspection. It’s the same intense feeling.

In project terms, we are 5 minutes into the 3rd period and do not want to go overtime so all efforts now focus on the following spaces:

• Engine room 50% complete • Boiler room 60% complete • Steering room 70% complete

This does not include the vast amounts of materials that need to be collected, moved, sorted, and rendered down. At some point soon we will be heading into the mop-up phase where teams will be needed to wipe, vacuum, and sweep every corner of every room of every deck. If we are to have any chance of sinking the ship in 2010 all volunteers need to understand the time line we are facing.

End of April = target completion for ship inspection This gives us 8 weeks of intensified onboard activities. The productivity that comes from this is entirely dependant on consistent numbers of volunteers coming together every Saturday and Sunday and for those available during the week, we go out on Wednesdays.

End of May = final environmental report submitted and the government process carries forward for review leading to permitting.

Federal Process As in all previous projects, you must allow for the bureaucracy to work and that takes months. After the inspection report, the government needs to consult internally with departments, the public, first nations, and more. It is not a process we can control and keep in mind that when this happens, we are entering into summer when politicians may take their vacations. So, it is in our best interest to ensure the ship is ready in time for the inspection in order to give the government the processing time it needs to review the project. With a permit in hand, we can immediately set the sink date and broadcast it. This is when the big count down begins. We need your help to get there.

Weather conditions I think all of us can agree the more summer time we have to enjoy diving the ship the better, but we cannot go beyond October to sink Annapolis due to deteriorating weather. As a result it becomes more clear why we need to be ready for inspection. Going over this time line will have implications on several levels that are severe and will jeopardize the outcome. We need your help to avoid this.

The past several weekends have been extremely light on volunteers from a base of over 700+ names from dive stores, to clubs to meet-up groups and others we only get a handful. Today for example we had only one single volunteer and so we had to cancel a work day. I am hopeful that after the Olympics this will change.

I’ve heard comments that many won’t volunteer because they don’t have tools. If you are concerned that you don’t have tools, don’t let that stop you from volunteering. In fact if all you have is a multi screw diver even with pieces missing we’ll take you! If you come with two tools we will treat you better than the person with the one screw driver. If you come with 4 tools of your choice you will be carried up the plank to the main deck, (if you believe that). A full set of tools and you get to sit in Wes’s 1978 wardroom sofa with features including original Annapolis dust, worn cushions and designer fabric rips. Incentive enough? Oh yeah there is also the contest to win a draw to dive the ship before its open to the public if anyone is interested

Please contract Deirdre and help us make the sinking of the Annapolis in 2010 as our Olympic style achievement and above all, my thanks to all who have contributed their time and effort.

Sincerely,

Howard Robins President ARSBC

For more Annapolis Sinking Updates, and to be on our list for diving the Annapolis once she is available to the public, go to our Annapolis Sinking Update sign up page or fill in the form below: