Pan Pan Pan - Currently Under Tow by the US Coast Guard

At approximately 2030 on Saturday night: Lara was asleep (preparing for her 2330 shift) when a loud clunk/thud was heard as something hit the boat.

Location 10 NM south of Cape Flattery, Washington Coast.

Lara came running upstairs as Jim was assessing the situation. Jim was evaluating the status of the mechanical systems and Lara conducted an exterior perimeter check. She found a crab pot bouy dragging tightly to the boat with its rope pointed directly to the prop shaft. Here is the bouy with the name "BILE" on it. Aptly named.

We immediately took a rope (with Lara on the Port side and Jim on the Starboard side), pulled it up tight under the boat and basically scraped it along the underside of the boat (we saw this on Deadliest Catch when they fouled their prop) starting from the bow and back to the stern.

The good news is that the line ran free (meaning there was no crab pot attached). The bad news is that the bouy was still attached - tightly to the prop.

Jim cut the line to the bouy loose and then ran the boat in both forward and reverse, also in variety of speeds. It was apparent that, any speed over idle, we had a problem. Here is Jim with his Life Vest On - we have an emergency drill that starts with the Life Vest On before going out in Seas and certainly after dark.

We were just off a notorious Cape, water temperature 55 deg F, it was getting dark and we are dead in the water.

Jim contacted the Coast Guard to report a "Pan-Pan-Pan" which lets them know that we have a non life threatening problem (and puts us on their "radar screens" - literally).

We were about 90 miles from the closest town to the south and about 16 miles from Neah Bay (to the North). We were in no immediate danger and at idle speed, we could make it back around the Cape and to Neah Bay in about 6-8 hours.

We assessed our options.

Option One: Putting Jim in a tropical weight wet suit, over the side in 4' seas and 55 deg F water. Very dangerous if we have other options.

Option Two: We had determed that we could travel near 2-3 knots at an idle speed. The issue with the limp option was that the tidal currents at the Cape at 1 am would be a problem. We might not be able to make any progress at idle speed against the current at that time.

Option Three: Vessel Assist. While Jim was reporting the Pan-Pan-Pan, Lara was on the phone with Vessel Assist (this is a service like AAA for Automobiles; we became members just before this voyage). Vessel Assist was more than 8 hours away hailing from Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands.

Option Four: Limp to shallower water, drop an anchor and wait until the light of day (keeping up watches all night with our horn bellowing at intervals to make notification of our location)

Meanwhile, the Port Angeles Coast Guard handed us off to the Neah Bay Coast Guard. After a series of radio communications, the Coast Guard stated that they would be "deploying an asset".
Huh? I didn't know the Coast Guard towed you unless you were sinking or on fire. Did they know something we didn't?

We accepted their generous offer. Lara put "Vessel Assist" on standby for the night.

About an hour later the Coast Guard showed up in a 47' Motor Life Boat. An aluminum monster boat that is outfitted for some serious business. See this photo (done without a flash... I didn't want to damage their night vision)

They hooked us up and we are now being towed to Neah Bay, ETA 1 am.

Thank God for the Coast Guard. More tomorrow....