A distress call from a local fishing vessel near the mouth of Grays Harbor with its rudder disabled turned a regular day of training into something else for the Coast Guardsmen of Station Grays Harbor on Tuesday.

Fouled by a crab pot, the fishing boat with three aboard lost steering just a few miles from the bar, a dangerous place to be adrift, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Thomas Lewandowski, coxswain of the vessel that relieved them.

“They hailed us over the radio to let us know they were disabled and adrift,” Lewandowski said in a phone interview. “Their rudder was jammed over to port.”

Already underway for an exercise, the crew of the motor life boat made their way to the drifting vessel, about four miles from the bar.

“Especially when they’re in the (regulated navigation areas), we treat it as (search and rescue),” Lewandowski said. “Anywhere near the bar, there’s a lot of different dangers when they’re disabled and drifting.”

Taking the fishing boat in a stern tow, the Coast Guardsmen then had to constantly correct for the disabled rudder.

“It was a challenging tow yesterday because of their jammed up rudder,” Lewandowski said. “They wanted to veer to port the whole way. No fun at all.”

The maneuver was complicated as they made their way through the seawall to the harbor, Lewandowski said.

“Even with a short 50 foot stern tow, you have to do things that are a little unorthodox, a little outside the box, to make sure they don’t run into the seawall,” Lewandowski said. “They were happy with the results of us getting safely to the pier. They realized it was a challenging tow for us.”

The constellations of crab pots pose a difficulty for boats on the water near them, Lewandowski said.

“It’s a common thing either getting their props fouled up or rudder fouled up. It happens out here with these commercial boats because there’s so many crab pots out here,” Lewandowski said. “That can present a pretty significant hazard for them, especially near the bar. When that happens, we respond as quick as possible to get on scene with the disabled vessel.”

Reaching out to the Coast Guard quickly can prevent a bad situation from worsening.

“We’d like to make sure if this kind of thing happens mariners are reaching out to us on VHF channel 16,” Lewandowski said. “They can always call our station directly.”

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.

Coast Guardsmen get tow ropes ready.

A Coast Guard vessel hooks up to a fishing boat in distress.