U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Sierra Division 11

Author: Jack Leth- North Lake Tahoe Flotilla 11-01 Operations Officer

We have resumed two-boat training with Station Tahoe after standing down for the Holiday Season. On Sunday, 10-Jan-2010 we finished up with a review of the training we had just done. Here we are tied up to the pier at the Hyatt Regency-Incline Village doing our de-brief.

From time to time during this type of training we have Auxiliarists ride the Coast Guard boat for us to better understand their procedures and to get to know the personnel stationed at Coast Guard Station Lake Tahoe. This afternoon our Flotilla Commander, Tom Henderson, got on the Coast Guard boat for the ride back to our slip. As we were passing just south of Stateline Point we heard a Mayday on the VHF-Marine Emergency Channel (Channel 16): MAYDAY! MAYDAY! We're taking on water... All the training we've been doing kicked in and off we went to their reported location off Deadman's Point. The boat in distress was quickly located, and after we made sure all the occupants were OK and in life jackets, it was taken in a side tow.

It was determined that they had about 10 inches of water in the bilge and they couldn't handle it with their bilge pump, so the decision was made to pump it out with the gasoline driven high GPM pump carried on the Coast Guard boat.

Auxiliarist Tom Henderson (on the left) and Coast Guardsman ME3 Aaron Demucha quickly set about getting it ready. It didn't take long for the pump to make short work of the water in the bilge! Once the situation was stabilized the decision was made to tow the boat to the nearest safe haven, Cave Rock. While the Coast Guard boat was enroute with the tow, we on the Auxiliary boat went on ahead to make sure the dock would be clear, that the ramp would still be open (it normally closes at 1600) and that we could put two of our crew on the pier to help with handling lines.

The Quagga Mussel inspector (on the dock in the photo above) assured us there would be no problem staying open until the boat in distress was safely on its trailer and off the ramp. Putting the boat alongside the dock was uneventful (just like training!).

Once we were done it was time to leave Cave Rock and RTB (Return to Base).

Lesson learned from this SAR event: When you've done it in training more times than you can count, the real thing seems easy. Everyone just did what they do in training and we ended up with a job well done, much to the appreciation of the folks on the boat that had been taking on water.

Photos by D. Walter, Reno Flotilla 11-03