Local care provider and his cat are rescued at sea

It was supposed to be a routine trip, from Friday Harbor to his buoy by Orcas Landing. Even though it was pitch black and rainy, local home care provider Jim Kruse had many years of night sailing experience behind him, and he figured that the trip would be a piece of cake. “I have done a lot of boating at night,” he said. It’s usually not a problem. I usually pay attention to where the reefs were,” he added. “And besides, my sailboat goes very slow.”

This time, however, Jim miscalculated. His 40-foot, 40-year-old wooden boat hit a reef near Yellow Island, and before he knew it, the sailboat on which he had been living for several years was taking on water. Worse, the water was coming in faster than he was able to pump it out. Worse, he had only hand-held flares, and when he activated them, no nearby boats or residents saw them. Worse, Jim had no wet suit.

He did have a radio, however, and his “May Day” message was immediately picked up by the Coast Guards in both Seattle and Victoria, B.C. Both contacted Friday Harbor-based Vessel Assist, which minutes later set out to rescue Jim and his companion Seiler, a four and one-half-year-old cat.

Jim was scared, and with good reason. Not only was his boat taking on more and more water, it was drifting away from the position he gave the Canadian and American Coast Guards. Moreover, Jim’s radio was working sporadically before Vessel Assist arrived.

Jim was getting scared, but his cat, Seiler, remained as calm as could be. “She was just sitting on top of a sail bag,” Jim explained, adding that “knowing she was alright was good. I didn’t care about any of my other possessions.” Seiler’s calm may have been the result of an experience back in the spring of 2001, when she jumped from the same boat to a log that drifted away. Seiler was eventually rescued by the crew on a Washington State Ferry. The story got front page coverage in The Islands’ Sounder.

Vessel Assist’s Les Soland and Mike Huffman were having trouble sighting Jim, Seiler and the boat. “It was hard to find him,” Les said. Fortunately, their 26-foot Shamrock had its rescue light on. Jim not only spotted it, he managed to make one last radio transmission before it went completely dead. Jim’s last words on the radio were, “I see you, and you’re to the south and east of me,” according to Les.

It took Vessel Assist about 20-25 minutes from the time Soland and Huffman left Friday Harbor until they reached Jim’s boat. Immediately, they put a pump on board that was able to get rid of the water faster than it was coming in. The rescuers also hooked a tow line to the boat. They brought Jim and Seiler to shore, and pulled the boat to Albert Jensen & Son Shipyard in Friday Harbor. The entire operation took about two hours, Les said.

Les later told Jim that his was the eleventh boat that Vessel Assist had had to rescue this year after hitting a reef by Yellow Island.

Jim lost everything else on the boat. He has no insurance and no out-of-pocket money to pay for Vessel Assist’s services, repair the boat, and replace the items. He and Seiler are now staying at accommodations provided by friends Margaret Jonas and Laura Wrobel.

Soon, Jim will decide whether the sailboat can be repaired, and how much it will cost. He will also try to find enough work to meet his financial obligations and future needs.

Jim’s goal is to continue living on the water. But it remains to be seen if or how he will accomplish his goal.

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