Capilano Squadron
Capilano Squadron
The annual HSBC Celebration of Light is one of Vancouver's truly spectacular events. We have watched it from the West Vancouver shore , from an office in Kits, from 3rd beach and from the boat and by far the most enjoyable was watching from the boat. You don't have to contend with rowdy crowds and, if you pick the right spot, nothing obstructs your view. Believe me - if you have not seen the fireworks from your boat, you have not seen the best of the fireworks.
Dropping the anchor for the show is pretty straight forward as the bottom is sand and holding is good. The best spot to anchor is on the South/East side (False Creek, close to shore) because it affords a view of the front of the barge. Wind and tide may however dictate your swing at anchor, which may affect your decision. There is a 1200 foot (365 meter) safe perimeter around the fireworks barge, marked with buoys (See official web site above).
The shows start at 10pm and lasts 25 minutes. See above link for the participating countries and details.
It is still too far out to determine what the weather is going to look like but I have never had rain on a Fireworks night and you could probably bet on being able to enjoy the show. Prevailing winds for the evenings are usually from the North/West. Tides for the period varies but high/low tides for the shows are as follows. You will notice that the tide changes for almost the whole period are very little which will make for excellent conditions and minimal swing caused by currents.
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July 26 - high is at 8:39 so the current will flow out of English Bay during the show. The following low is not extreme so current will be small. Wind will probably have more of an effect. |
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July 29 - high at 9:48. Same conditions as July 26. |
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August 2 - High at 11:16, so expect inflow, but not much as the preceding low is not extreme. |
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August 5 - High at 8:05 with an almost flat curve till 1:25 am with only a 1ft drop in tide. |
Kuredu will be cruising to the Fireworks on all but the last evening. We usually leave Horseshow Bay at around 6pm to reach False Creek by 7pm and our preferred spot is on the False Creek side, close to shore and on the safe perimeter line. We prefer to be there early and get a good spot and once hooked, relax and make an evening of it. After the show we will wait for a while and let the boat traffic dissipate before making our way home very slowly. There are, on average, a 1000 boats watching and some of the boaters simply have no clue what they are doing so you have to be aware of what is happening around you at all times. Being early and leaving 30 minutes later helps avoid issues and we have never had any real problems on these cruises.
We are not designating any specific evening to the Squadron cruise and if you would like to join up on any evening, simply email me at etienne@kuredu.info and we will arrange to meet up. We will also monitor VHF ch16 if you make a late decision and would still like to cruise out and meet up. Be aware however that the area around the safe zone fills up quite quickly and you may not be able to join us if you cruise out later. We can also cruise back together which, for us, will be at a very slow hull speed - we really don't want to hit that big deadhead lurking out there. You may also want to rather cruise into False Creek and drop the hook there for the evening and make it an evening out cruise. Take note of the new regulations regarding overnight stays in False Creek though, which come into effect on August 1. See the bottom of this page.
I look forward to seeing you out there!