PHOTO RELEASE: Coast Guard tows disabled vessel, crew to Yakutat, Alaska

News Release

Sept. 12, 2017 U.S. Coast Guard 17th District Alaska Contact: 17th District Public Affairs Office: (907) 428-4181 After Hours: (907) 321-4513

 

Coast Guard tows disabled vessel, crew to Yakutat, Alaska

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur tows the 36-foot vessel Ruby Dawn and its crew after it became disabled southwest of Icy Bay while transiting from Whittier, Alaska, to Juneau, Alaska, Sept. 12, 2017. The crew of the Chandeleur towed the vessel into Yakutat, Alaska. U.S. Coast Guard photo

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JUNEAU, Alaska— The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur towed the 36-foot vessel Ruby Dawn and its crew to Yakutat, Alaska, Tuesday.

 

The crew of the Chandeleur responded after the vessel became disabled southwest of Icy Bay while transiting from Whittier to Juneau.

 

Coast Guard Seventeenth District watchstanders received a report from a friend of the two people aboard the Ruby Dawn that the vessel was disabled. The friend had been contacted by the crew through an inReach device. The case was tranferred Sector Anchorage watchstanders who issued a marine assistance request broadcast and requested the launch of the Chandeleur crew. The Yakutat harbormaster delivered parts to the crew of the Ruby Dawn who were able to make temporary repairs.

 

“Thankfully the boaters were able to call for help with an inReach device in a location where VHF radio was not reliable,” said Petty Officer 1^st Class Aaron Gardner, a Sector Anchorage watchstander. “Having multiple forms of communication on remote Alaskan waters is important and ultimately allowed us to help get these boaters to Yakutat safely.”

 

InReach is a technology that integrates GPS and satellites providing the ability to send and receive text messages anywhere in the world, including when beyond cell phone range, by using the Iridium satellite constellation.