Trawler Lifestyle | PassageMaker Magazine & Events

As an operator of a TowBoatU.S. rescue and towing boat, I have responded over the last four or five years to a surprising number of assistance calls from boats that were sinking because a dripless shaft seal had failed and caused flooding.

Only eight hours into a two-week trip, and already I was yielding to circumstance and deviating from my plan.

Under a leaden sky I had been trying to make the Ugashik River to anchor for the night. But a 20-knot southwester fighting big ebb tides from Nushagak and Kvichak Bays was stacking chaotic 8- and 10-foot seas, and Inconnu was rolling vigorously. With 30 miles to go, prospects of making Ugashik that day were fading with the daylight. I swung the wheel around and headed for the broad, shallow mouth of the Egegik River.