Submitted by the U.S. Coast Guard 13th District Pacific Northwest

Over the weekend of July 14 and 15, the U.S. Coast Guard made two rescues near the San Juans.

Couple medevaced after boat runs aground

A Coast Guard aircrew medically evacuated two boaters from Friday Harbor, the night of Sunday, July 15, after they sustained severe injuries when their vessel ran aground.

The Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles aircrew, aboard a helicopter, transported the two from Friday Harbor to Harbor View Hospital in Seattle for further medical care.

Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound watchstanders received a call at about 6:30 p.m. reporting a 47-foot sailing vessel, with four people on board, had run aground and began taking on water.

A Seattle-based boat crew from the Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team, aboard a 25-foot response boat, was the first to arrive on the scene and assisted in dewatering the sailing vessel. Crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Sea Lion were in the area and diverted to the scene. After patching the sailing vessel’s hull and pumping water out of the bilge, the Sea Lion crew escorted the sailing vessel back to Friday Harbor.

The MSST crew took the injured boaters, a female and her husband, aboard their vessel and transported them to Friday Harbor to get checked out by awaiting Emergency Medical Technicians.

Once the vessels made it to shore, the Coast Guard helo crew medevaced the injured boaters and transported them to the Harbor View Hospital. The cause of the incident is currently under investigation.

Kayakers rescued

A Coast Guard Station Bellingham boat crew rescued two kayakers from the water near the San Juan Islands, the evening of Saturday, July 14.

The boat crew arrived in their 45-foot response boat, located and recovered the kayakers and then transferred them to a Bellingham Fire and Rescue Boat crew, where an Emergency Medical Technician began the initial treatment for hypothermia. The fire and rescue boat crew transferred the kayakers to awaiting Emergency Medical Service personnel at Gooseberry Point.

Initially, a Whatcom County Sheriff deputy received a 911 call from a third kayaker, stating his friends’ kayaks had capsized and that they fell into the water and drifted north of Clark Island. The third kayaker had made it to shore on Clark Island when he placed the 911 call and was later recovered by the fire and rescue boat crew.

The deputy contacted Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound Command Center watchstanders at about 6 p.m. and relayed the information. The kayakers were both wearing life jackets at the time of the rescue and no serious injuries were reported.