Day 1 (34km): Disaster Strikes!!

We had initially planned to take the first ferry from Long Harbour to Tsawwassen, but after I went comatose at around 7pm the previous night we decided to have a bit of a sleep in and get a better handle on the packing. It was raining outside, but my uncle Rob assured me that it was going to clear up in the afternoon. 

So the team: Mr. Bump, Little Miss Daredevil and Mr. Happy headed off for the 1:50pm ferry from Fulford. 

Graham: Mr. Bump

Naomi: Little Miss Daredevil

Alberto: Mr. Happy

By the time we were docking at Swartz Bay the sun was shining and things were looking up. The super ferry was not in the terminal yet so making the connection was going to be a breeze. Our plan was to make it to Hope, or possibly farther, light permitting. 

On the ferry

That's what we signed up for

 

We arrived at the Swartz bay ferry terminal. My dad had paid and was going down the lane to the front of the line. Alberto and I were at the booth paying when the unthinkable happened. My mom was recently in a motorcycle accident (she slid off HWY 1 near Chilliwack totaling her bike and scraping her knee and arm). And while having that incident described to me was pretty scary, it was nothing compared to watching a lady drive down my father with her car!

Damage to the front. I doubt that piece will be cheap. 

The incident: My dad is driving down the empty lane to go to the front of the line (a common practice for motorbikes on BC Ferries). I am waiting at the booth to pay, so I am looking straight ahead, where I can see my dad. I see a white car ahead of him and he is stopped behind it. Then I see the white car start to reverse.... and then accelerate! The car smashes into my dad, I see him go flying and the car is still accelerating. Meanwhile I am screaming in my helmet, What the f*ck, What the f*ck, and then Oh my god, Oh my god! I was in shock that what was happening was happening. Alberto goes around me and drives down to the scene, and I just drop my bike and go running down. My first instinct was to go off on the lady since I'm pretty sensitive about car drivers being oblivious of motorcyclists. So I start yelling at this lady, and I think one of her passengers took me away telling me to calm down. Mostly I just wanted the lady to understand how serious what just happened was, cause she seemed a little dozzy and unphased.

My dad's bike received a few injuries and could not be driven and what did Mr. Bump have to say for himself? 
Bystander: "How do you feel?"
Mr. Bump: "I'm really f*cking pissed off"
Apparently the lady in the car pressed the accelerator instead of the brake once my dad started honking his horn. You'd think you would stop after the initial impact of hitting my dad's bike. It's not a small bike, but no she continued into a truck in the full lane beside us.

To demonstrate how far the lady pushed my dad and his bike!

Anyways, the lady "was in a hurry to catch the ferry" so she took off. The police weren't interested because my dad wasn't significantly hurt. So we were left all alone, everyone boarded the ferry and we were standing in the empty parking lot. We phoned ICBC, private insurance, dispatched my sister to come get us in a car, called a tow truck... The BC Ferries staff were excellent throughout the whole accident. They were very helpful and immediately responded. 


A tow truck eventually came and picked up my dad's bike. We will have to go over tomorrow and deliver it to the BMW dealer. So we all returned back to Salt Spring for the night (we had to pay for the ferry AGAIN!).

An unplanned start to our trip

34km driven, on my way back home.