# 3 navy sailors in hospital after crash at CFB Esquimalt



## Eye In The Sky (18 May 2020)

I didn't see this posted.  Hopes for full, quick recoveries.

Article Link

3 navy sailors in hospital after crash at CFB Esquimalt

VICTORIA -- Three navy sailors at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt are in hospital after a small vessel crashed into a buoy near Victoria on Friday.
The collision happened before noon when the specialized rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) the sailors were travelling in struck a Royal Canadian Navy mooring buoy outside Esquimalt Harbour.
"All three crew members sustained injuries, the degree of which are not known at this time, but are not life-threatening," said Maritime Forces Pacific spokesperson Lt.-Cmdr. Tony Wright.

The twin-engine RHIB returned to CFB Esquimalt and the crew members were taken to hospital by the BC Ambulance Service for treatment and observation.

The vessel belongs to CFB Esquimalt's Naval Security Team and was crewed by its members at the time of the crash.

The Naval Security Team has a core membership of 20 personnel, primarily naval reservists with some regular force members added when required.

The crew members were conducting a routine trip on the RHIB to ensure it was in working order when the collision occurred.

Wright said investigators are still assessing damage to the craft, but added it did not take on water in the crash.

Friday’s collision was the second incident in a month involving a RHIB from CFB Esquimalt.

On April 15, a RHIB belonging to Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Calgary ran aground at low tide in Cordova Bay, north of Victoria.  The vessel was stranded on a sand bar for several hours before the rising tide lifted it free and it returned to the Calgary.


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## Jarnhamar (18 May 2020)

Wonder how buy the bouy was.


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## Humphrey Bogart (18 May 2020)

Jarnhamar said:
			
		

> Wonder how buy the bouy was.



I heard it was the mooring buoy which are pretty BIG.  Sailing too close to the sun.... again.


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## brihard (18 May 2020)

Humphrey Bogart said:
			
		

> I heard it was the mooring buoy which are pretty BIG.  Sailing too close to the sun.... again.



When you say 'sailing too close to the sun', do you mean in the sense of the sun being right to your front and blinding you to hazards?


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## Humphrey Bogart (18 May 2020)

Brihard said:
			
		

> When you say 'sailing too close to the sun', do you mean in the sense of the sun being right to your front and blinding you to hazards?



Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus' father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea's dampness would not clog his wings nor the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignored his father's instructions not to fly too close to the sun; when the wax in his wings melted he tumbled out of the sky and fell into the sea where he drowned, sparking the idiom "don't fly too close to the sun".

My guess is the sailors were probably driving the RHIB like they stole it, tried to do a high speed drive by of the mooring buoy and miss timed it.  Whoops!

You don't get good at driving RHIBs by driving them like a Victoria driver but they can be very dangerous if a mistake is made.


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## Colin Parkinson (18 May 2020)

Problem with RHIB's is that most people have two speeds, go as fast as possible and stop. Most modern RHIB's go faster than the average person can navigate them. Teaching people to cruise in a RHIB is really important. I suspect a lot of "yea I know this harbour like the back of my hand" followed about a illuminating discussion girlfriends anatomy instead of concentrating on the task at hand.

The CCG has a week long course at Bamfield where you have to learn how to navigate for day and night. Back in my day we did the navigation with compass, stop watch and rpm=speed card. Lot's of fun picking your way through the Broken Group without Radar at night. 

Still people lose of track of where they were and where they are at and where they are going to be and then this happens.





 https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/four-taken-to-hospital-after-rescue-vessel-runs-aground-during-training-1.23628740


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## Ralph (20 May 2020)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> Wright said investigators are still assessing damage to the craft, but added it did not take on water in the crash.
> 
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> ...



Nope, taking on water likely the least of their problems...


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## CBH99 (20 May 2020)

I was just about to ask about something that was touched on above...

As the security team for the area, aren't they extremely familiar with the area?  Especially where there is chunks of land like that, and where there isn't?    ???


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## Colin Parkinson (21 May 2020)

This was a mooring buoy they hit, one of the big ones, being complacent and/or distracted at 35+ kts is a great way to get into trouble.


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## TCM621 (22 May 2020)

At least it wasn't doing donuts in the harbour again.


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## AbdullahD (22 May 2020)

Tcm621 said:
			
		

> At least it wasn't doing donuts in the harbour again.



Okay, I ain't going to lie.. that sounds like a lot of fun... off to google to find the incident haha

Abdullah


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