Recently, Alyeska, a 111-foot midwater trawler that hails from Neah Bay, pulled into the Port Angeles Boat Haven for a load of diesel fuel prior to her departure for the Bering Sea.
In late February 2009, the vessel was operating in the Bering Sea when she was hit by a rogue wave that destroyed most of the windows in the pilot house, allowing a voluminous amount of water into the vessel, which saturated all of the electronic equipment with the exception of a lone VHF radio, their sole link to the outside world.
Absent any navigational equipment, the Seattle-based stern trawler Pacific Challenger came to the stricken vessel’s aid and safely escorted her to Dutch Harbor.
I understand that repairs and replacement of the electronics cost the owner in the neighborhood of $2 million.
Yacht central
For much of the month of September, the eastern portion of the Port Angeles marina seemed to be clogged with all manner of yachts.
Last week, four of those yachts went to Nanaimo, B.C., where they were put aboard Thorco Isadora, a 485-foot cargo ship, for transport to their owners in Florida.
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, hauled out Pokagon, a 106-foot harbor tug that is based in Everett.
I was told the tug weighed nearly 487 tons, and as a consequence, Westport Shipyards LLC was asked to use its 550-ton TraveLift to hoist the vessel out of the water.
I understand contractors will be replacing the onboard generators that operate the fore and aft deck winches.
Platypus also hauled out Enterprise, a 34-foot Delta out of Oregon that fishes for tuna and crab.
When the vessel is not otherwise engaged, she is often chartered out to the Oregon Department of Natural Resources.
I understand personnel will refurbish the deck with a new non-skid surface.
Platypus is wrapping up a six-month contract it entered into to refurbish the six 36-foot moose boats used by the security forces at the sub base at Kitsap Bangor.
The final boat in the contract is currently having its bottom painted and jet drives refurbished.
Secure vessels
Coast Guard officials are urging vessel and paddle-craft owners to properly secure and label their craft in anticipation of fall storms.
Coast Guard crews treat every unmanned and adrift vessel as a search and rescue case and immediately launch a search for people potentially in distress.
In 2014, Coast Guard search and rescue controllers received 91 reports of unmanned, vessels that were adrift in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which set in motion hundreds of hours of needless searches.
In the majority of cases, officials were unable to locate or contact an owner for the vessel.
“When an unmanned and adrift vessel is reported, we assume the missing operator is in distress and we are duty-bound to respond,” said Capt. Joe Raymond, commander of Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound in Seattle and Captain of the Port.
“These types of false alerts divert resources from actual emergencies and can possibly cause our responders to become complacent. So far, we have spent more than $800,000 this year searching on over 60 separate reports of adrift vessels in the greater Puget Sound area,” Raymond said.
Additionally, Coast Guard crews encourage all paddle-craft owners to write their name and phone number or driver’s license number on their kayak, canoe, paddleboard or other craft.
In the event that the vessel is lost, crews can use that information to contact the owner and avoid launching an unnecessary search.
Vessel owners can obtain free Paddle Smart stickers at http://tinyurl.com/nmwrx5s.
If the owner of a vessel is unable to be located after a reasonable amount of time, Coast Guard crews will destroy the vessel or turn it over to the state for disposal.
A mariner who believes his vessel has drifted into open water is encouraged to report it by calling the Coast Guard 13th District Command Center at 206-220-7001.
Happenings in harbor
On Saturday, Tesoro Petroleum provided bunkers to Four Butterfly, a 590-foot bulk cargo ship that is flagged in the Cayman Islands.
Today, Tesoro is scheduled to bunker Uruguay Star, a 495-foot reefer ship that is making her way to Port Angeles from Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts and boat yards.
Items and questions involving boating, marina and industrial activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. News announcements about boating groups, including yacht clubs and squadrons, are welcome as well.
Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
