A collision early Thursday morning between a 20-foot Tolman skiff and the Archimandritof Shoal buoy -- commonly called "the Green Can" -- threw two men into Kachemak Bay. Despite an hour-long ordeal, with one man clinging to the buoy, both men survived after being rescued by a Homer harbor officer and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Saved were Tyson Alward and Bradley Sekulick.
Photo by Michael Armstrong
US Coast Guard Auxiliary members Dan Cole and Jim Richards stand by Tyson Allward's 20-foot Tolman skiff at the Homer Harbor
"A couple of the luckiest men I know," Homer Harbormaster Bryan Hawkins called the two men. The right bow of Alward's wooden skiff hit the can, putting a boulder-sized hole in it. Both men wound up in the water. Hawkins did not know if they wore personal floatation devices, but the boat did have PFDs. Alward swam back to the boat and Sekulick clung to the buoy. At about 1:10 a.m., Homer Police received a 911 call of flares being fired off the Spit. Harbor officer Chris Dabney went out in the harbor tug to search for source of the flares, Hawkins said. Hawkins said when he stood on the beach he could hear men screaming. "They kept each other going. They kept yelling back and forth," he said. Another skiff from the F/V Lucky Star also searched, and they found Alward in the boat and Sekulick on the buoy. Hawkins said Sekulick was severely hypothermic. He estimated Sekulick had been wet or in the water for about an hour. Dabney and a Good Samaritan pulled Sekulick from the water. The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary SAFE Boat also responded, said Coxswain Michael Coffing. Coffing said he and auxiliarists Jim Richards and Dan Cole covered Sekulick with blankets and took him back in the heated SAFE boat. Alward returned in the harbor tug with Dabney, who also towed the skiff to port. Both men were treated by Homer Volunteer Fire Department medics and released at the scene.
Photo by Michael Armstrong
Green paint on the starboard bow of Tyson Allward's 20-foot Tolman skiff shows where it hit the Archimandritof Shoals buoy � commonly called "the green can."
Although the Tolman had a smart car-sized hole in its bow, an air compartment between the deck and hull wasn't breached, and it remained afloat. Alward's family hauled the skiff out of the water Thursday afternoon. Alward and Sekulick could not be reached by press time. Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
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Homer Alaska - News -
Story last updated at
8:41 PM on
Friday, August 29, 2008
Harbor officer, Coast Guard auxiliary rescue boaters
Tolman skiff hits Green Can
By Michael Armstrong
Staff Writer
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