Let them be launched!

Nakusp residents are poised to celebrate, as the construction of the boat ramp down at the Nakusp Marina is finally complete.

Construction on the ramp originally began in 2012, but there was a period where the reservoir had high water levels, whichmade it very challenging to build because the ramp is quite a low elevation ramp.

“We had to do the construction in stages,” said Jen Walker-Larsen, communications advisor with BC Hydro. “Last year was thethird driest year on record for the Columbia Basin, so water levels were unusually low. That really helped the project and allowedus to get it down to its final depth.”

Nakusp mayor Karen Hamling was very happy with the work done.

‘We are very happy to see the completion of the boat ramp project,” she said. “Thank you to BC Hydro for our ramp andLandmark Solutions for their hard work and dedication in building it. I am sure that it will see many happy users.”

While many people are happy the ramp is finally complete, some were wishing it could have been done sooner.

The annual Blue Knuckle Derby took place last month, and for the last couple of years, organizers have had to find a differentlocation for the derby launch.

The Nakusp Rod and Gun Club, in particular, is very happy to see the ramp completed. Because recreational sport fishing is a bigpart of what members of the Rod and Gun Club do, not having any access to the water was a big issue.

“We’ve been involved with many meetings in how it should be designed, and where it should be,” said Hank Scown, president ofthe Rod and Gun Club. “We’re really pleased to see that they finally have got it fixed, we’re really pleased to see it finished.”

Scown said when the marina was first built, boats were usually around 16 feet long. Boats these days are usually much larger.

“One of the complaints we’ve heard for a long time is you could back your boat into the water, and if your boat wasn’t too heavy,and your trailer wasn’t too big, you could sort of make do,” he said. “That doesn’t work with these bigger boats. You can’t beputting them into shallow places.”

Scown thinks the ramp is a big success. There were already three boats waiting to get in the water on Monday morning.

“It should be serviceable at all future water levels, and that’s exactly what we wanted. We wanted something that could be usedall year long, because local people, they like to fish in the winter.”