The Coast Guard rescued an overdue boater today in Lazy Bay at the south end of Kodiak Island.
The master of the fishing vessel Stormie B contacted watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Anchorage command center at 12:36 a.m., notifying them of an overdue crewmember in an inflatable boat powered by two oars. The Stormie B had reportedly spent two hours searching for the missing crewmember without results.
An aircrew from Air Station Kodiak and the Coast Guard Cutter Naushon were directed to respond. The aircrew was able to locate the overdue crewmember, who was wearing a survival suit with a strobe light activated. The helicopter crew deployed a rescue swimmer, hoisted the boater and transported him safely to the local cannery.
Lt. Rachel Post, an Air Station Kodiak operations duty officer said: “We want to stress the importance of having proper survival gear on board in case of emergencies. In this case, the boater had a personal flotation device, survival suit and a strobe light. Without that equipment on board, we wouldn’t have been able to locate him due to the low visibility.”
On scene weather had less than 1-mile of visibility.