Columbia 30

Feb 21, 2018
8
Columbia 30 Channel Islands Harbor
I recently purchased a 1972 Columbia 30, Hull #101. I went to the Columbia Yacht Owners Association website, but I suspect it is no longer being maintained. Anyway, would like to get an email list of those of you who may own the old C-30 to share info about our boats.
 
Apr 12, 2019
9
Columbia 30 Point Roberts
Cool - we usually go through the Gulf Islands for our 2 week summer cruise stopping in at Bedwell Harbour for our customs entry point and of course we pass Saturna on the way.

Great to connect with you !
 
Jan 5, 2017
2,263
Beneteau First 38 Lyall Harbour Saturna Island
We are getting ready for our summer cruise. Will be away May1 'til Sept. sometime. Mid - coast again this year.
 
Jan 5, 2017
2,263
Beneteau First 38 Lyall Harbour Saturna Island
@Gordon Foster you would save a trip to Bedwell with a Nexus Card. It's great to check in by phone. Don't forget the Saturna Lamb BBQ. July 1. Slip into Winter Cove through Boat or Georgeson Passages.
 
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May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
+1 on Nexus. It’s nice not to tie up at a port of entry. Hit the redline and CANPASS or CBP ROAM depending on direction of travel. Saved hours going Montague to Anacortes on Thursday.
 
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Apr 12, 2019
9
Columbia 30 Point Roberts
Sorry for sounding confused, but I have for a long time had Nexus and do call in by phone. Canada makes us report to an official telephone reporting point on entering Canada, and most of the time there's nobody there. So, after arriving there, they just allow us to enter.
The USA, on the other hand just clear us right in on the phone call and we are not asked to report to the physical reporting location. The boat is Canadian licensed and kept permanently on a permit issued for Wa. state.

Canada customs wastes our time every year by making us go to the reporting station as if somebody will meet us there and there never is. Very annoying when you want to go up the sunshine coast or even up to Bowen Island or Gibsons directly, only to be detoured to RVYC at Jericho just to be told, nobody is coming and we are free to continue (after a totally needless detour to the east of our track)
Or have things changed since last summer? Is this what CBP Roam is all about. Does it work in both directions?
 
Jan 5, 2017
2,263
Beneteau First 38 Lyall Harbour Saturna Island
I have never had that problem in either direction. Just been given a number over the phone. Mind you we have gone north the last 3 years so thing may have changed. Kept our E-28+ in Blaine without problems.
 
Apr 12, 2019
9
Columbia 30 Point Roberts
FINAL ANSWER ON THE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS IN CANADA
wasted
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/nexus/marine-maritime-eng.html

You will see from this documentation that you must proceed to an officially designated point of entry into Canada, whereupon you may or may not be met by a customs official. If nobody is there at the designated time of arrival you are free to proceed to your final destination.

We have never been met by anyone in the last 4 years and feel like our time and efforts to comply are totally wasted as we have to go many miles, often in entirely the wrong direction just to avoid the risk of losing our NEXUS status. If they know they will not have anyone there to meet you, and you are already in Canadian waters why cant they simply place a device at all Canadian docks which you can photograph and text to them immediately on arriving at any port, like a barcode or a QR code?

It's even more ridiculous when you have just left Canada a few hundred yards away from your US marina just to get in your boat again and pass through the same border a few hundred yards up the Georgia Strait again.
 
Jan 5, 2017
2,263
Beneteau First 38 Lyall Harbour Saturna Island
Last time I checked (3 years ago) Cabbage Island ( Gulf Islands National Park) and Horton Bay (Mayne Island) were designated SUMMER time sites. Has that changed?
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
I just call in from near the Canadian POE and say I’m xx Minutes from POE they ask questions and give me an entry number. I don’t dock unless they ask me to.
 
Apr 12, 2019
9
Columbia 30 Point Roberts
2 years ago we were told we MUST go to the designated site, but that there was a likelihood of nobody being there to meet us. When I asked if I could proceed into Canada I was told "I cannot tell you to do that" Do you really want to risk losing your NEXUS trusted traveller status - I don't think so. They have telephones on all the designated docks so they know if you didn't arrive there and make the call. Seems like they need to find a new system ! I'm fed up with the wasted time. If nobody is going to be there why waste a boater's time ? I never lie to these people but if they don't come they will never know who is smuggling contraband (or not)
 
Apr 12, 2019
9
Columbia 30 Point Roberts
Michael Davis,

Don't know, never been into either one of those, but still no good if I am heading north to Howe Sound area or Sunshine Coast
 
Jan 5, 2017
2,263
Beneteau First 38 Lyall Harbour Saturna Island
True. It's a fair distance into Vancouver Harbour to detour as well. May have to move your boat over to the islands. The ferry may be faster than the detour!
 
Apr 12, 2019
9
Columbia 30 Point Roberts
We would like to be home ported back in Canada, but you cannot beat Pt. Roberts for location, price, or facilities available, even with the present lousy exchange rate - there is nothing that comes close for value for money. Plus it is only a very short drive for us as we live in the south end of Richmond, close to the Massey Tunnel.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
They have telephones on all the designated docks so they know if you didn't arrive there and make the call.
That changed, too. Story goes: some govt. number cruncher found that the regs did not require them to keep the phones there, so they removed them. The phone booth at Van Isle, for example, remains, but the "pay phone" is gone. Van Isle Marina put in an inexpensive desk phone! I haven't been back to Sidney since to find out what's there.
BION, I do not have a phone. This makes going to the physical spot necessary for me.
But, Gordon, remember, you are calling an 888 number, which could be a bunker in the middle of Alberta, and most likely is.
Every time you call, you are not talking to a local number.
I don't know if they have cameras on the docks to confirm if you are actually where you say you are, standing on dock XXX in marina ABC. I doubt it.
Unless there's something on your record.
It is a pain to have to go out of your way to check in or back in.
And other Canadian friends of mine have made note of how much easier it is to go in one direction than the other.
Les has it right and it worked for him.
May not as a Canadian.
 
Apr 12, 2019
9
Columbia 30 Point Roberts
Doesn't matter how much of a pain it is - I never lie to them and I do exactly what they ask me to. And, yes, the lady I spoke with last time was on the east coast of Canada and had not a clue of Canada's west coast geography. To them it looks like you just have to go around the corner to another reporting POE if one is closed.
Time for a fresh and up to date solution to this time wasting nonsense.
 
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