PORT ANGELES — The Coast Guard rescued two people and two dogs from a boat taking on water in the Strait of Juan de Fuca this morning.
A man and woman wearing lifejackets were aboard a 19-foot boat with their dogs when they began taking on water.
The crew of the cutter Wahoo, an 87-foot patrol boat based in Port Angeles, was already underway in the area and a boat crew from Coast Guard Station Port Angeles launched aboard a 45-foot medium response boat
A boat crew from the Wahoo removed the woman and both dogs from the vessel. A crew member from the Wahoo stayed aboard the boat with the man and the medium response boat provided a dewatering pump. Using the pump, the man and Wahoo crew member were able to return to the public boat ramp on Ediz Hook in Port Angeles Harbor.
The Coast Guard did not identify the pair or the boat name.
“Without the Coast Guard there they would have sank and been in the water with two dogs, so having their life jackets on was an important safety measure,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeremy Higgins, coxswain of the response boat.
“Having the Wahoo’s crew there and getting the passenger and dogs off allowed us to pass them a pump so they could safely dewater the vessel and make it back to shore.”
Watch-standers at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, in Seattle, were notified at 8:42 a.m. by civilian dispatchers after the woman aboard the vessel called 9-1-1 on a cellphone to report the boat taking on water.
