Capital Daily for Tuesday, June 30

A fishing charter carrying 10 people sank in the Strait of Georgia off Richmond on Sunday around noon, and six of them are now presumed drowned.

The boat began taking on water near Roberts Bank around 11:45 a.m. before a civilian vessel called it in, triggering a search run out of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria. A CH-149 Cormorant and a CC-295 Kingfisher flew up from 19 Wing Comox, and the coast guard hovercraft Siyay, Ganges lifeboats, RCMP vessels and B.C. Ferries all converged. Four people were pulled from the water hypothermic within an hour. The search was suspended at 9:45 p.m. and handed to the RCMP.

The four survivors owe their lives in part to Brian Angus and Dorothy Stauffer, a married couple sailing their yacht Malaika from Vancouver to Saturna when they spotted people lying flat in the water. Angus, a former Air Canada pilot, said he had to choose which three to reach as two others drifted 100 to 200 yards off. None wore life-jackets, and they refused to let go of their phones.

Major Gregory Clarke of the rescue centre said a person in a flotation device can survive five to 10 hours; without one, the odds are "cut very short." An RCMP underwater recovery team is now searching for the vessel, believed to have sunk in 150 to 180 metres of water. The Transportation Safety Board deployed a team on Tuesday.

The fireworks go off over the Inner Harbour at 10:20 p.m., and the City says it's the biggest show Victoria has put on since the Canada 150 celebrations in 2017.

Before that, the day fills the downtown core. Food trucks start serving at 11 a.m. around the Inner Harbour, the Busking Showcase runs at Ship Point until 4 p.m., and the main stage on the legislature lawns opens at 4:30 with the lək̓ʷəŋən Traditional Dancers, then Linggo, Bučan Bučan, Covers in a Dangerous Time, and DJ Boitano & Friends. There's a public citizenship affirmation at 5 p.m.

If downtown crowds aren't your thing, the Gorge has the laid-back version: a pancake breakfast from 8:30 a.m. and the family parade at 9. Sidney already ran its firework display the night before and keeps going with a parade at 11:30. And over at UVic, the Ring Road Challenge starts at 9 a.m. for anyone who'd rather run a few two-kilometre loops than eat pancakes.

Belleville between Government and Menzies is closed all day. Parking is free at all five City parkades and on-street meters, and BC Transit runs a Saturday schedule with extra buses after the fireworks.