Almost a dozen sailboats fully or partially submerged in Okanagan Lake amid cold snap

Sailboat partially sunk in Okanagan Lake.

The extreme cold weather has had an impact on everything from people to businesses to road conditions, but it’s also unexpectedly having an impact on sailboats.

About a dozen sailboats are partially or fully submerged in Okanagan Lake in the Manhattan Point area of Kelowna.

“When the winds come up it gets rough and nasty. You get all that water and splashing and spraying it freezes against the hulls you end up with thousands of pounds of ice and they reach their limits where they sink,” said Manhattan Point resident, Mike Bernhardt.

This has become a common issue in the Manhattan Point area, but according to Bernhardt this is the most sailboats he’s seen go down.

“Every year now for the past eight years since we’ve lived here, it’s kind of like clockwork every winter storm that comes we’re seeing multiple vessels fill up with ice and sink to the bottom of the lake,” said Bernhardt.

It’s estimated about six to eight sailboats are struggling to stay afloat, however, Bernhardt says it appears a few of them have completely submerged.

“I counted three or four when I went out Saturday on my kayak when it was calm out there,” said Bernhardt. “They are below the water line, you can see there are a few more out here where the masts are just sticking up above in about 10 or 12 feet of water.”

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Bernhardt is now concerned about how the sunken sailboats might impact the water.

“Although they are sailboats they still have motors on them and fuel tanks. When the water is calm you can see a rainbow around where some of the petroleum products float up,” said Bernhardt.

Bernhardt says it appears these boats are sitting illegally on the water.

In a statement to Global News the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change said, “Under the Navigation Protection Act, if any vessel is sunk, partially sunk, lying ashore, grounded or abandoned in navigable waters, Transport Canada may authorize any person to remove the vessel or parts of it for their own benefit.”