Organizers of the Concord Pacific Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival are renewing their call to limit boat traffic in False Creek after an uninvited entry crashed the competition this weekend.
A large charter vessel ran right into the middle of the course during a 2,000-metre race on Saturday.
“Unfortunately during our final race of the day, the women’s Guts & Glory, a local charter operator, chose to power across the course even when given the opportunity to get out of the way of our athletes,” Dragon Boat BC wrote on their Facebook page.
Fortunately no one was injured.
Festival organizers filed a police complaint against the charter operator.
“We think that his actions were reckless,” Anita Webster of the Concord Pacific Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival said.
“On the waterways…the right of way goes to the non-motorized vessel. He was in the thick of a lot of non-motorized vessels and not obeying the rules of the road.”
Charter captain Andre Filimonov agreed that dragon boats have the right of way, but said the way the festival has taken over the channel also breaks the rules.
“All lanes are blocked,” he said.
“We’re just looking for a safe window to pass through.”
Dragon boaters recently launched a petition to ban moorage in the eastern part of False Creek in order to keep a small area safe for regattas and other non-motorized water sports.
Some dragon boat fans vented their frustrations online, posting negative reviews on the Yelp page for Golden Eagle Boat Charters, the owners of the boat involved in Saturday’s mishap.
A second Dragon Boat BC Facebook post said the Vancouver Police Department is looking for witnesses who were on the water at the time of the incident.