Courtesy Photo| <span class='IDappliedStyle' title='InDesign: Demi'>sue oldham</span>                                The U.S. Coast Guard inspects the small cruise ship Alaska Dawn, aground near Alaska, making sure everyone gets off safely.

Courtesy Photo| sue oldham The U.S. Coast Guard inspects the small cruise ship Alaska Dawn, aground near Alaska, making sure everyone gets off safely.

Summer boating: Adrift, aground, flipped, sunk

It was a sunny beautiful day and my parents and I took my brother Jamie’s little boys, Sterling and Ethan, over to the small bay near us where we always held our picnics.

Robin was visiting from Ketchikan and he and Jamie were out in my dad’s 13-foot Boston Whaler visiting my Aunt Marion and Uncle Rory, a few miles to the north. They were supposed to meet up with us at the picnic area.

We began to worry, though, when the wind steadily picked up and white caps formed on Union Bay. We heard the outboard laboring as it climbed the stacked swells before we saw them. My mom and I were aghast that they’d even attempt crossing the bay in that weather.

My mom snatched up the camera and put in on them, muttering, “This time I’m going to take a picture and show them what kind of lunatic weather they go around in.”

They tended to mock her concerns, but this time she’d have proof.

As the skiff took a pounding, my dad shook his head and ticked off all the things his sons had destroyed of his over the years. As he was midway down the count, as my mom held the camera to her eye with her finger poised to click a shot of the skiff as it topped a huge crest— one of the figures suddenly jumped overboard and the skiff flipped.

My mom was so horrified she flung the camera away without taking the shot. My dad said, pensively, “They’ve never done that before.”

We saw the overturned skiff rise up on a wave and to our relief we saw two heads next to it. The tide was out and our other skiff was dry so we couldn’t go to their rescue. I raced through the woods to get back to the house and the VHF marine radio and called the Coast Guard. When they didn’t answer immediately, I called Rory and Marion and recounted what had happened, concluding, “We can see Jamie and Robin in the water next to the skiff.”

As soon as I could get free of the radio I ran back over to the picnic beach and to my shock, bumped into my cousin LeAnn, who was soaking wet and shivering. “Where did you come from?” I exclaimed.

Unbeknownst to me she’d been in the skiff with my brothers. Rory and Marion knew it and were anxious when I didn’t mention seeing her. They tore up the turbulent bay in their skiff, along with their neighbor Brad Johnson in his skiff, all of them taking a vicious pounding and getting soaked in salt spray.

Here’s my brother Robin’s account: “Jamie and I were visiting Rory and Marion in the Blow Hole and LeAnn wanted to go back with us to have a barbecue at Mom and Dad’s. We ended up heading up the bay as a northwesterly picked up and the Whaler bucked into it, going slow. We were in sight of our destination when a wave came over the stern and swamped the outboard, killing it and half-filling the skiff. As Jamie reached for an oar to keep us nosed into the waves, I saw that the next wave coming up on the stern would finish sawmping us and flip us. I looked back at the other two and said, ‘I’m outa here!’ and dove overboard.”

When he surfaced, the skiff was upside down. Since we’d all grown up swimming in these waters they adapted quickly and hung on as the waves pushed them toward shore. The main danger turned out to be the thousands of rounds of ammunition Robin had in his jacket. He was dragged under and swallowed half the ocean before he could get free of the jacket.

They were fairly close to shore, with the deep surge pushing them toward the rocks, when my aunt and uncle showed up. Marion, nowhere near Robin’s six-foot-one-inch size, jerked him straight out of the water and into their skiff, shouting, “Where’s my daughter?”

By then LeAnn was already safe on the rocks, wrapped in my mom’s sweater.

The only casualties turned out to be Jamie’s guns and the ammo. Jamie managed to save Robin’s gun, and determinedly stayed in the water, holding the skiff away from the rocks to save our dad’s skiff from being shredded, until it could be safely beached and turned right side up.

Summers in Southeast Alaska produce a constant litany of boating misadventures.


• Tara Neilson grew up in a burned cannery in a remote area of Southeast Alaska. She still lives in the wilderness, in a floathouse near Meyers Chuck. She blogs at www.alaskaforreal.com and readers can reach her at alaskaforreal.tara@gmail.com.


Non-local boat misled by a drifting buoy marker. (Robin Neilson | Capital City Weekly)

Non-local boat misled by a drifting buoy marker. (Robin Neilson | Capital City Weekly)

Tourist aground at the entrance to Meyers Chuck. (Robin Neilson | For the Capital City Weekly)

Tourist aground at the entrance to Meyers Chuck. (Robin Neilson | For the Capital City Weekly)

Tourists inspect their aground boat as the tide retreats, hoping it’s undamaged. (Robin Neilson | For the Capital City Weekly)

Tourists inspect their aground boat as the tide retreats, hoping it’s undamaged. (Robin Neilson | For the Capital City Weekly)

COURTESY PHOTO | <span class='IDappliedStyle' title='InDesign: Demi'>U.S. COAST GUARD</span>                                Seine boat sunk at the entrance to Thorne Bay.

COURTESY PHOTO | U.S. COAST GUARD Seine boat sunk at the entrance to Thorne Bay.

More in Neighbors

A clean home is a cozy home. (Photo by Peggy McKee Barnhill)
Gimme A Smile: Procrasti-cleaning anyone?

I just wiped off the tops of my washer and dryer, and… Continue reading

Priest Maxim Gibson is the rector at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Juneau. (Photo provided by Maxim Gibson)
Living and Growing: Restored icons — image and likeness

This past month at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, we had the… Continue reading

Roger Wharton is former Episcopal priest in Juneau. (Courtesy photo)
Living and Growing: 10 things you can do to be happy

What is happiness? What makes you happy? Can you increase your happiness?… Continue reading

Adam Bauer of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Bahá’ís of Juneau.
Living and Growing: Environmental stewardship — a Baha’i perspective

To begin, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that… Continue reading

Cars and homes flooded by the break of Suicide Basin’s ice dam in August. (Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management photo)
Living and Growing: After the flood

It is Ordinary Time, the Season of Increase, the Season of Creation.… Continue reading

Kueni Ma’ake, Ofeina Kivalu, Jaime and Alanna Zellhuber, Aubrey Neuffer and Mary Fitzgerald of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Juneau serve meals to those affected by this month’s flooding of the Mendenhall River. (Photo provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Juneau)
Living and Growing: A life hack for happiness in a flooding river of change

Fall is upon us and with it change. School is starting, leaves… Continue reading

Roasting marshmallows over a campfire. (U.S. Forest Service photo)
Gimme A Smile: Enjoy the ritual of the campfire

The campfire is a summer tradition. Who doesn’t love sitting on a… Continue reading

An artistic depiction of The Last Supper. (Photo by Gina Del Rosario)
Living and Growing: The Eucharist

If you hear about a place where the purest and most precious… Continue reading

Curried rice artichoke salad ready to serve. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Cooking for Pleasure: Curried rice artichoke salad

One of my family’s favorite picnic salads is this one with curried… Continue reading

(Photo by Gina Del Rosario)
Living and Growing: Forgiveness

Has someone you deeply care about and trust done something that hurt… Continue reading