Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Charter boat capsized out of Sitka

Another explanation would be steering failure at 25kts. A sharp turn in rough seas would roll the boat.

Those boats are heavy, well built boats. They don’t go down easy.

Their 32 footer looks like a Bristol Bay gillnetter.

If so, they are typically round bottomed and more so designed for running the shallow waters there in the bay.

An inherently buoyant PFD is always the best route. Some people complain that they are hot, uncomfortable, confining, restrictive etc. Inflatable belt PFDs defeat all of those excuses.

Please add an EPIRB. I'd go so far as to suggest that you put together a comprehensive ditch kit that you keep out on deck in a float free location. When you hit the water in Alaska, a fast moving clock starts ticking. Without the ability to get out some kind of distress alert, you are doomed. This is a picture of my kayak ditch kit. All of this is a drop in the bucket of overall boating expense. My handheld floating waterproof VHF radio is old. When I replace it, I will replace it with a GPS enabled radio so that I can take advantage of the DSC distress alert feature. I hope all of you have the DSC distress system on your installed radios configured. If you have 5 seconds in an emergency, that can save your life.

I'll go further and opine that no fish is even worth being miserable for, let alone dying for.

This seems so simple and common sensical, but the answer is also simple, if not also tragic: It's our modern American lifestyle. The clients likely booked the trip well before the weather conditions were known. They arranged days off from work. They prepped for the trip. The charter operation likely has the boat booked for days afterwards, making a makeup trip difficult to easily rearrange. They're trying to salvage the good time they've been looking forward to.

Being retired now, I have the luxury of just saying no. And I do, especially since I go alone more than not........another practice commonly cited as suicidal. But several of my brushes with death have been at the hands of companions. I've been shot on two different occasions while hunting.

I've almost gotten killed on fishing and hunting trips several times. I try to be careful, too. It's just really easy to get dead out there.

That was my first thought, but we may never know.
Getting pulled down by the stern is something always on my mind when I'm anchor fishing.
It's over in seconds.

Charter boats have been fishing off the cape in foul weather for 30 years without incident. No safety gear would have most likely prevented it and if boats only fished on nice days, they wouldn't fish much at all. In fact, the LAMP area in Sitka forces the charter boats to fish out in the ocean on rough days. The lodge has some questions to answer about check in times and policy for reporting overdue boats, but again, that wouldn't have likely changed the outcome. It's common practice for boats to run in pairs too should an incident arise.

Lets see if the coasties can come up with a cause for this one. They have the boat. For all we know the boat had a whale land on it.

If boaters would condition themselves to push the little red button the instant they get that "oh schidt" feeling, many of these tragedies can be averted.

Or a whale gets tangled in the anchor line. When I fished out of Sitka the skipper was real nervous when whales breached nearby. No idea how often that would happen but it wouldn't be good...

A whale tangled in an anchor line from the Raven out of Kodiak a number of years ago. Two guys sitting there eating breakfast and the boat does a handstand. A whole lot of thrashing continued for quite a while. The whale finally expired but they could not shake it free. They ended up buoying off the anchor line and coming back some time later to recover it. They had to make at least two trips before they finally got it free.

The Raven is a limit seiner, many times the size of a 6-pack boat.

A few more update tid bits from multiple sources..


The person found was less than 100 yards from the boat, no PFD, male, 50s.

The boat had no obvious damage.

Salvage Company towing the boat back to Sitka today (tue. 5/30)

It was definitely small craft advisory weather all weekend around Juneau. I will often run to the cabin (31 miles one-way) for the extended Memorial Day weekend. I did not even consider it looking at the 3-day fcst, plus I'm retired now and can go whenever I want - and that's when it's sunny and calm. There's an FAA webcam half way down. It was whitecapping every time I looked.

I'm guessing there were multiple contributing factors and the SHTF fast and furious. RIP cap'n and fishermen.

I have cold water immersion suits and Mustang work suits because I fish with family and friends and I ALONE AM RESPONSIBLE for their safety.

This is a a big gut punch! I’m torn between feeling grateful that it wasn’t my friend but that doesn’t assuage my sadness for the souls lost! May they RIP.

Denial, especially for many male egos, is difficult to overcome in the situation, and for many reasons. But it's often easily discerned outside of the moment. And this is why it's the first of the seven steps to cold water survival taught by AMSEA (Alaska Marine Safety Education Association). But you're right. It needs to happen sooner than it often does.

It's such a tough call for the captains and the guests to make. A trip like that is often a year or more in the planning and there can be considerable expense in just getting to Sitka. You HAVE to do the right thing though. RIP.

My buddy and I took a humpback ride one afternoon and that was enough for me to be extremely cautious when a lot of whale activity is in the area. It lifted our Grady completely out of the water and then we listed hard to starboard before being set back down. The motor was shut down instantly and the outboard was raised so the whale was uninjured. It stayed by us for a few minutes as if to apologize and then continued along the coast. It was cool but not something I wish to repeat.

In the investigation, the position of engine controls ,radio knobs, PFD storage, panel switches will tell a lot.

Far fetched cause, trying to land large Halibut every one in the corner and they took a wave over the stern

I'm very surprised that a charter boat isn't required to have a life raft and epirb. None of this makes any sense. RIP

Which is why I won't set an anchor to fish in salt!

Bad deal. I don't get out on the salt much, but when I do am always amazed at how small I feel. Last time I was out the little boat was pitching around pretty hard. Kinda makes you think about what all could go off the rails. We were cruising along and a rogue wave hit from the side and we were rolling up along the trough for a ways. It was the similar deal, planned trip, bad weather, but figured what the heck, make the most of it. No halibut, couple salmon and got soaked. Awesome day, lol.