Dragon boaters call for False Creek mooring ban

More than 1,000 people have signed up for an online petition to demand the City of Vancouver turn False Creek into moorage-free waters.

The petition, started by Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival Society, follows years of conflict between dragon boaters and private owners of boats moored on False Creek.

"We need a very clear race course to ensure that all the boats keep a safe distance from each other and don't get interrupted by other vessels," said Anita Webster, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival.

The festival attracts over 5,000 participants from all over the world each year. It takes place on the east side of False Creek, where boats can be anchored for up to 14 days using a free permit from the city.

Races at risk

Failure to remove private vessels on the dragon boat race course, according to Webster, may cause some races to be cancelled during the festival, which is scheduled to run from June 17 to June 19. There are dozens of races in total during the event.

"This is a possibility that's always there," said paddler Suzanne Williams. "It takes one boat not to move to cancel the race, and it would be a massive loss for the festival and all the dragon boat lovers who come here from all over the world." 

Having vessels on the course is not safe for the paddlers, dragon boats and the vessels themselves, according to Williams.

"It's okay when we are doing practices, but it's not safe at all when we are having races. Dragon boats are big and heavy and are not designed to turn quickly," she added.

A large barge-like vessel drifted on the race course during a regatta a week ago and forced some of the teams to navigate around it while they were competing in the game.

Contacting boat owners difficult

To clear the race course and waters in preparation areas, organizers have to reach every owner of a vessel and persuade them to move their boat away.

Notes are put on decks and sent out to vessels ahead of the race. Some owners are reached through contact information given by the city. If that doesn't work, social media posts are the last hope. 

"It is a challenge because the owners are often not with the boat. Some of them have been travelling away and some have incomplete contact information," said Webster.

The owner of a barge-like vessel was finally found through Facebook after the teams had tried to contact him for weeks without success.

Last week, a sailboat was not removed from the course until the day before the start of the qualification regatta, which caused some frustrations.

"Luckily most boat owners are great and move their boats away, although we've had a few boat owners who refused to do it," said Webster.

"By asking for a mooring ban in False Creek, we hope to resolve the problem long-term."