Would you like some Frazil Ice with your Rum and Coke?

From Wikipedia:

Frazil ice is a collection of loose, randomly oriented, plate or discoid ice crystals formed in super-cooled turbulent water. Frazil ice is notorious for blocking water intakes as crystals accumulate and build up on the intake trash rack. Such blockages negatively impact water supply facilities, hydro-power plants, nuclear power facilities, and vessels navigating in cold waters, and can lead to unexpected shut downs of the facility or even collapse of the trash rack.

Though somewhat rare considering the plethora of dams in the northern latitudes of Canada, Frazil ice can impact a dam's water intake systems and build up tons of ice in just a few hours.

The folks at Yukon Energy know this situation well and have a well developed attack plan for when resources must be quickly deployed else the dam will be shut down for a lengthy period of time.

Cranes, Steam trucks and experienced divers are marshaled to arrive at the dam quickly which for this project, was contacting us Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon, we had a full team of divers, supervisor and support personnel with their gear, on a flight from Vancouver. CANPAC maintains an inventory of emergency equipment on standby in the Yukon for just these sorts of events.

Upon arrival, equipment checks and safety meetings, the divers dove down the front of the dam in the super-cooled water to see how bad the Frazil ice buildup was.

It was bad! From the divers helmet camera's, we could see a buildup on the intake racks of close to 45 inches of ice.  

The divers started cutting into the ice with high pressure steam wands. Cutting the ice into manageable blocks with each block weighing approximately 1000 lbs or half a ton.

Like all ice cubes, once the block was cut away, it would float to the surface ready for other teams to have the cranes lift the blocks out of the dam flow area.

Next image, beginning to see the racks! The divers are successfully cutting away the ice for the middle trash racks

Ice removal in progress, approximately 40 inches thick.

Crane drops basket into water for the divers to load a block at a time for lifting out of dam site. Each block is at least 1,000 pounds in weight.

This is a hazardous job completed safely and efficiently by highly trained diving, steam truck and crane crews guided by the experienced Yukon Energy management team.

Job well done, all the ice has been removed from all the trash racks!

Now it's time for that Rum and Coke!!!

Almost 40 years young!

Ah, the 1980's! 

• The first Space Shuttle, Columbia takes off
• USA and Russia end the "Cold War", leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall
• IBM Personal computer was released
• Radioactive debris from the Chernobyl disaster circles the world
• Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00.00 UTC
• Rubic's Cube is introduced at a toy convention in UK!
• Pierre Trudeau starts the decade as Canada's Prime Minister

And.....

CANPAC Divers is incorporated by Glen Costello in Vancouver, BC!

Now, almost 40 years later, we are proud to continue the CANPAC legacy with a recognition that not only are we committed to delivering the highest quality of commercial diving expertise to the global market we serve, but also recognize the much broader range of services we deliver to our customers, thus, a slight change to the name!

To celebrate, here is a recent ad we ran in the wonderful magazine:  CADC - Canadian Association of Diving Contractors

As we start 2019, it is always good to look back at how we got here and what our goals are going forward. In a business that is seeing dramatic change, one thing remains the same from the day, we opened our doors almost 40 years ago and that is to meet and exceed our customers expectations in service while being competitive in price and with an absolute commitment to safety!

Ah, the future is certainly exciting!!!!

Vintage Divers go old school at Vancouver Aquarium

Since the early 2000's, a group of vintage divers have been part of the annual Divers Weekend being held at the Vancouver Aquarium. This year, it is the last Saturday and Sunday of January, (26th and 27th). https://www.vanaqua.org/events/public-events/divers-weekend

In this picture, Hard Hat Diving enthusiast Chris Casavant interacts with the audience while swimming with the sharks in the shark tank! The vintage suit has a brass and copper helmet and breastplate from the 1940's.

In addition to the live, "in tank" presentation, members of the Heritage Hard Hat Divers will be on hand to answer questions and discuss, diver equipment from the by-gone days and how it was used.

In addition, the audience will be able to put on one of the old helmets and have their picture taken.

On hand will be dive equipment from the early 1910's through to the 1950's! There will be dive helmets as an example from all around the world.

Please plan to take the kids and the parents to this wonderful weekend at the Aquarium and lean abot the "good ole days" of the diving industry in Canada and around the world from some of the most experienced divers you can meet!

CanPac Marine Services News

CanPac Marine Services Inc has started this news medium to be able to let our customers know what we are doing as one of the leading underwater services companies on the North America west coast.

Here is a picture from one of our many cable laying projects we do each year, this one across the dangerous Sechelt Narrows near Egmont, British Columbia where average currents run around 13-15 knots.

We look forward to posting updates on our companies activities and challenging projects throughout North America.