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BOATING WITH BARB: Problems at town boat launch ‘not insurmountable’ according to Comox CAO

BY BARB THOMSON
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BY BARB THOMSON

Special to Black Press

Sometimes being on the other side of the fence changes how you see things.

For example, on Aug. 12, 2022, a 16-foot low tide exchange left most of the Comox Harbour boat launch ramp high and dry. I saw boats waiting to come out of the water and trucks with trailered boats waiting to get into the water. It was gridlock, or rather, a drydock. No one could get in or out. At about this same time, a city backhoe rumbled down the boat ramp with a crew to drop off a load of rocks into gaps between the concrete slabs. Passersby stopped to watch; people were consulting. You could have sold tickets, popcorn, and tide guides.

The boat ramp is a seasonal 40-foot-wide bottleneck with a sharp right-angle turn past docks jutting into the passageway. Once past the turn, boaters then navigate a two-way gauntlet of moored and moving vessels, kayakers, paddleboarders, and excited little children learning how to sail. On that sunny Friday afternoon, I was struck by the bigger picture, the frustration of private and public interests, all competing for their watery footprint inside the Comox Harbour.

I asked myself the question: What could anyone do to make this better?

Jordan Wall is the chief administrative officer for the Town of Comox, the person I went to see about the harbour congestion. Wall confirmed the “greatest limit is geography.”

He explained, “To the south, we’re limited by a drop off in the ocean floor – we can’t move the breakwater. To the west, by a privately owned marina, and east, by the Harbour Authority’s land.”

Optimistically, he said the problems were “not insurmountable,” and confirmed the planned dock extension allowing more boats to tie up, as well as the possibility of moving the dock finger constricting the turn into the passageway.

As for general accessibility to the harbour, Wall felt that perhaps Campbell River had done a better job of developing their waterfront as an “inviting place,” whereas our fences and locked gates had the feel of a “closed private club.”

Yet as Wall spoke, I could hear his positive enthusiasm, not only to open a wider passageway for boaters, but to open the waterfront with its beauty and possibilities to everyone. Somehow now, the line of tall white boat masts across the harbour view from Wall’s office window looked like a closed picket fence.

Barb Thomson is a boating enthusiast who writes regular columns for the Comox Valley Record.