Members of the Lower Mainland Yacht Co-op (LMYC) say they’re unfairly shouldering the blame for White Rock’s damaged pier.
Former LMYC commodore Susan Manz contacted Peace Arch News Monday to respond to comments made on PAN‘s letters-to-the-editor page, as well as to news coverage of the Dec. 20 storm.
“All the news reports and a lot of the personal things that are posted on the internet are that the boats broke the pier, and that’s not accurate,” Manz said, adding that the pier was damaged after the float to the west of the pier came loose and carried the sailboats to the pier.
“The fact that the boats were attached to the dock, with the pilings still attached, it was the force of the dock that broke (the pier),” Manz said.
“The boats by themselves – if they had been not attached to the dock – are fibreglass boats. They would have just broken up, as they did anyway.”
The co-op had seven boats stored at the pier, all of which were destroyed.
“Three of our boats ended up on the beach, one of them in particular… was still attached to the dock,” Manz said.
Manz said that two of their boats were fully insured, while the others had liability insurance.
“That will pay for the salvage operation, the clean-up operation.”
Manz also took issue with a letter-to-the-editor written by Ole Nygaard and published Friday in PAN.
“That letter also referred that the boat owners also own the dock, which is also inaccurate. It’s quite frustrating to see that, that we’re being blamed for that,” Manz said, adding that the City of White Rock owns the dock.
City communications manager Farnaz Farrokhi confirmed to PAN that the city owns the west wharf, and it’s operated by White Rock Harbour Board.
