Update 9 pm

According to the county ferry twitter feed, the Lummi Island ferry went back into service at 7 pm this evening.  That is good news.  And hopefully all will go well during the rest of the holidays. This sort of down time should not be happening with a ferry that is sea worthy.  

Posted 3 p.m., Wed, Dec 30

The Whatcom County owned, and Public Works managed, Lummi Island ferry stopped service about 9 p.m. Tuesday evening due to a malfunctioning rudder control unit. Riders on Tuesday afternoon ferry runs reported serious and strange vibrations of the entire boat. By late evening, service had stopped.

As of 2:40 Wednesday afternoon, the ferry was still out and it was unknown when service would resume, according to public works information. A new control unit, which is part of the rudder gear providing interface between the controls and the operating mechanism, was being installed this afternoon. We have also learned that a standby control unit was installed this morning but failed during testing. So the question now is - will the new unit work or is the problem bigger than the control unit?

The Whatcom Chief is 54 years old. In September - three months ago - it went into dry dock and had over half-a-million dollars of work done. County officials continue to maintain the ferry is in great shape and good for many more years of service.

In the mean time, the county may go to passenger-only service if the Whatcom Chief cannot be quickly repaired. Until then, a local pastor is providing free passenger service with his Boston Whaler.

Posted 3:30 p.m.

In a related issue, it was fortunate the ferry was not out of service the preceding night when the sheriff’s office responded to a 911 call of a rape and beating on Lummi Island at 2 am on Tuesday morning. Sheriff’s deputies woke the ferry crew and were taken to the island with three patrol cars and deputies. The victim was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Bellingham via the ferry and the alleged attacker was arrested and transported to jail. If the ferry had been down, a helicopter would have been needed; a more expensive alternative.