The 219 gt fishing vessel Lady Gudny became disabled in heavy seas 230 miles southeast of Kodiak, Alaska. The Lady Gudny went adrift after it’s engine had failed. The crew could not restart the engine after they had exhausted all the fuel filters on board. The crew sent out a distress call requesting additional filters. A Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched and attempted to deliver additional filters, but conditions made it impossible to deliver them. With waves reaching 22 feet and wind gusts up to 50 mph, the Coast Guard decided to dispatch a cutter to take the Lady Gudny under tow.
The 225 foot long cutter SPAR arrived on scene the next day. The SPAR was able to pass a towline over to the Lady Gudny and began towing the fishing vessel back to port. However, the towline parted and became entangled with the SPAR’s propeller.
With both the Lady Gudny and cutter SPAR disabled, the Coast Guard dispatched the cutters Hickory, Alex Haley and Douglas Munro to assist the disabled vessels. A Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched and was able to hoist all four crew off the Lady Gudny. No reports of injures.
The Lady Gudny (IMO 7948407) was built in 1979 at Mobile, Alabama.
