BC Time clock

In the surf-swept communities of Vancouver Island’s west coast, such as Tofino and Ucluelet, time has literally slowed down.

Electric clocks are running up to fifteen minutes behind thanks to a system upgrade being conducted by BC Hydro.

You could say they are now officially on Island time.

Tofino mayor Josie Osborne said the locals always joke about being on “Tofino time” but then two days ago, her neighbour noticed that all her clocks were behind.

“Now they actually have a valid excuse for being late to work, ” she said, then joked: “Not at municipal hall though, of course.”

Osborne said while cellphones and computers are not affected, she has noticed that the clock on her oven is 13 minutes behind.

She said she reached out to BC Hydro to explain what was happening, and staff told her that BC Hydro is switching individual areas off the main grid to a local power generator.

“They call it islanding. It’s funny. I think some people were worried that their freezers wouldn’t work or that this would fry their computers but it doesn’t. It only affects clocks that are plugged in, ” she said.

She said the work should be completed on Sept. 24, and then the clocks will return to normal, but for now residents are going to enjoy the idea of time slowing down.

“Now we are in the know. Tofino time is real.”

Osborne said Tofino has experienced this before, but only for a few minutes at a time, and not enough to notice. But she added this is the first time they will experience a 10-day stretch where time is running behind.

Simi Heer, a spokeswoman for BC Hydro, said the time delay is related to a $52 million project to reinforce the transmission system on the west coast. She said instead of planned power outages, crews instead “island, ” the communities by taking them off the grid and feeding them through the Ash River generating system.

“Normally the frequency is 60 hertz, and so when an area is islanded, it operates at just under 60 hertz so that means the clocks run a bit slower, ” she said.

Heer said the clocks will run behind between five and fifteen minutes per day until next Thursday.

The frequency will not damage electronics, she added.

At Live to Surf, Tofino’s oldest surf shop, staff member Mark McKeough said he didn’t think it was much of an issue for people because “we are already happy with the pace of life as it is.”

He said after a hectic summer tourist season, they were already enjoying the fact time was slowing down again.

MORE TO COME

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