SBS JUNEAU IN COLD WATER ACTION

USCG Station Juneau patrols Icy Strait

JUNEAU - The Coast Guard deployed a small boat for a boating safety enforcement patrol in Icy Strait earlier this month. The small boat crew from Station Juneau boarded 31 vessels during their eight-day patrol. hey patrolled in the vicinity of Glacier Bay and Icy strait for a total of 340 nautical miles in a 25-foot boat. The crew launched from Auke Bay on June 2 and returned June 10.

The most common safety infraction's the small boat crew came across were violations of throwable type 4 portable floatation devices (PFD) and expired flares.

A throwable type 4 PFD is a Coast Guard approved device such as a buoyant cushion, ring buoy or horseshoe buoy designed to be thrown onto water.

"We were definitely the first Coast Guard RBS (Rigid Hull Inflatable) small boat to patrol in that area," said Chief Petty Officer Ryan O'Meara, [Vincennes Student] officer-in-charge, Station Juneau.

During the eight-day patrol the small boat crew rested in the towns of Hoonah, Gustaveus and Pelican.