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 Safari Ridge Adventure Paintball - West Kelowna, BC Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 49° 52.434 W 119° 32.761
11U E 317067 N 5527719
This paintball and laser tag park sits along Highway 97 in West Kelowna where Horizon drive meets it from the north.
Waymark Code: WMGKTP
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 03/17/2013
Views: 3
With 250 members today, the yacht club is housed in a very interesting clubhouse, the M.V. Pendozi, a former car ferry which plied the waters of Okanagan Lake between Kelowna and the Westside until 1958, then the first floating bridge was built. The Pendozi was named after Father Pandosy, the first resident of Kelowna, who was responsible for the construction of Pandosy Mission in 1859 in East Kelowna. Note the difference in spelling of the M.V. Pendozi. It is said that it is unlucky to change the name of a boat, so when the mistake was discovered, it was left as is.
Though moorage fees, and all other fees are listed at the club's website, there is no mention of launch fees. Though the club has no "on the hard" storage, there are heated indoor boat storage facilities in Westbank.
Originally the Westbank Yacht Club, in 2010 the club was renamed to the West Kelowna Yacht Club when The Westside took on the name of West Kelowna. As former residents of Westbank, it will always be Westbank to us and to many residents of the town. AAMOF, there is still a movement afoot to rechange the name to Westbank.
See a history of the yacht club and of the M.V. Pendozi below.
The History of the Pendozi
The West Kelowna Yacht Club’s Club House the M.V. Pendozi was designed in 1938 by Mr. T. Halliday, a naval Architect from Vancouver. It is 122 feet long, with a beam of 41’ 4” and a draft of 6’2”. When used as a ferry it had a capacity of 30 cars and 150 passengers. It had two 160 h.p. Vivian Diesel Engines.
The original cost to build it was $123,000.00 in 1938. It was launched, Thursday, May 8, 1939. The fare for a Passenger was .10 and for a car and driver it was .75. Trucks were $1.00 and up.
The MV Pendozi worked continuously during the war. There was no relief vessel and no possibility of building one, due to the war. Repairs were made at night or while under way using only one engine. There was no ferry slips available for hull inspections. In 1944 plans were drawn up for a slip to be built at a cost of $36,000.00. Work commenced on the slipway in 1944 but was hampered by a shortage of materials.
In addition to its regular schedule, the MV Pendozi made special trips for group organizations, troops, hauling loads of sheep and at 3:27 am December 13, 1944 was even called out for a maternity case.
With the end of the war and the end of gas rationing, ferry traffic continued to increase and in May 1946, tenders were called for a second vessel similar to the Pendozi except it would have steel bulwarks and superstructure. This vessel was called “Lequime” in honor of an early settler. Both ferries operated during peak traffic times and refitting was accomplished by laying up one vessel during the winter.
Due to ever increasing traffic volume, a third vessel named the “MV Lloyd-Jones” was built in 1950, and all vessels were used during heavy traffic seasons.
The last day of Kelowna – Westbank ferry service (10 minute crossing) occurred on July 20, 1958. All three ferries carried a total of 534,371 vehicles during their last year of service.
All vessels became surplus with the opening of the bridge in 1958 and the MV Pendozi was turned over to the City of Kelowna who later sold it as the Clubhouse for the West Kelowna Yacht Club.
From the West Kelowna Yacht Club
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How it all began...
It all started when the Department of Transport built a breakwater in Gellatly Bay for the moorage of pleasure boats for the Westbank area. A local group was required, such as a Yacht Club to take care of the moorage and build a walkway to connect the breakwater to the shore.
In 1962, thirteen enthusiastic boaters gathered to form the Westbank Yacht Club.
Permission was received from the Parks Board to use a small house located in the park directly across the road from the breakwater, for the club house. The members painted the exterior and fixed up the interior a little but the members were not happy with the old house.
On New Year's Day in 1965 the M.V. Pendozi sank at the C.N. wharf in Kelowna. It was a clear day, slightly below zero with a strong wind creating waves to wash onto the car deck and turn to ice, weighting the ship lower in the water. The engines had been removed from the engine room but the cooling discharge ports were left open. Water poured in and it quietly sank.
The M.V. Pendozi had been retired in 1958 and sold to the City of Kelowna for one dollar. The old car ferry had been a moorage problem to the City for the past six years. The idea came to Alan McLeod (Past Commodore) that this troublesome vessel would make an ideal clubhouse for the Westbank Yacht Club. Waiting until the Pendozi was raised, Alan McLeod and Clare Small approached Kelowna Mayor Dick Parkinson at the Laurel Packing House. He was told that the Westbank Yacht Club needed a club house and the ferry would solve this problem and the club would pay the city double what they had paid for the ferry – two dollars.
Mayor Parkinson took the offer to council and on February 8, 1965 the city donated the M.V Pendozi to the Westbank Yacht Club. Now to find a place to beach the vessel! It was decided to beach it in front of the old house in the park at the north end of the breakwater. If it was beached there the club wouldn’t get into too much trouble and the ferry would most likely be able to stay there.
A drag line was rented, on a Sunday, from the Kelowna dump. Lorne Dobbin hauled it over and a channel was dredged to bring the Pendozi into shore. Unfortunately the channel was not dredged out far enough and when Mr. Simpson’s boom tug towed the ferry down to Westbank (free) on March 1st, it got hung up on a gravel bar two hundred feet out. The tug could not budge it. One of Lorne’s big bulldozers hooked on a winch but that did not work – it all but broke the cables. The next day, John Brown phoned the C.P.R. in Kelowna and one of their tugs was just leaving to go come south with two barges of freight cars. The skipper said, “No problem” he would drop by and give it a shove. When he arrived, he put one of the barges that he had alongside against the stern of the ferry and gave the tug one shot of power. The ferry came into shore like a dart. For a moment it was thought it was going to come right up on the road but it settled down and that is where it sits today.
Alan McLeod’s brother-in-law, Bill Reid, a naval architect from Vancouver designed the renovations. Many Westbank and area people contributed their skills and labor. Syd Saunders and Bert Longley tackled the restoration of the hull; Jack Maddock built the railings and converted the old boiler room plates into bases for tables in the bar and lounge; Charlie Hoskins did the wiring, and Clare Small re-conditioned the plumbing. Most of those who worked hard on all phases of the renovation were Charter Members. The result of all this loyal effort was the transformation of the old car ferry into a beautiful, smartly nautical clubhouse.
The clubhouse had a large lounge, paneled in mahogany and knotty pine, a similarly decorated boardroom, a roomy open-air dance floor (with a roof), a kitchen complete with fridge, stoves and plenty of counters and cupboards; refreshment bar, washroom facilities and lockers. This was all topped with a sundeck large enough to accommodate 250 people.
All of the alterations necessary to turn the Pendozi into a functional clubhouse were accomplished without losing the original shipboard atmosphere. The project was financed through the sale of $100 ten-year debentures. As the Pendozi neared completion, membership grew to 127 paid-up members, including a few from the coast.
From the West Kelowna Yacht Club
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Describe fees that may be charged: $14.99 - Play all day. See photo in gallery for complete fees schedule.
Are there supplies available on site?: Yes - no offsite ammunition allowed.
Field web site: [Web Link]
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