Coast Guard tows disabled yacht to Newport

NEWPORT, ORE. — Coast Guard crew members, aboard a 52-foot Motor Lifeboat towed a disabled 93-foot motor yacht, to Newport Harbor, Saturday.
The Station Yaquina Bay crew aboard the 52-MLB Victory, made the ten hour tow of the yacht, Watta Ryde, and moored it safely with no injuries or environmental impact.

Coast Guard Sector North Bend watchstanders received a report at 9:41 p.m., Friday, from the Cayman Island flagged motor yacht, that the vessel had experienced engine failure and was anchored 2 miles outside of the Siuslaw River Bar.
There were three passengers reported aboard, two U.S. and one Canadian citizen. None had reported any injuries.
Watchstanders calculated that the vessel’s gross tonnage could only be towed by one of four Coast Guard 52-foot MLBs.

Coast Guard crewmembers aboard a 52-foot Motor Life Boat, Victory, tow a 93-foot motor yacht, Watta Ryde, into the harbor at Newport, Ore., May 4, 2019.
The Victory had to complete a 10 hour transit to tow the yacht when it became disabled 38-nautical miles south, 2 miles outside of the Siuslaw River Bar.
U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Station Yaquina Bay.

The Victory crew members made the 38-mile transit south and arrived on-scene at 1:45 a.m., Saturday.
Taking the yacht in tow, which was nearly twice the size of the Victory, the crew transited back north to Newport, where the vessel was safely moored.

The yacht had a gross tonnage so large that the Victory was the only Coast Guard MLB in the area capable of safely completing the towing evolution.
U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Station Yaquina Bay. 05.04.2019
Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Trevor Lilburn
U.S. Coast Guard District
Coast Guard crewmembers aboard a 52-foot Motor Life Boat, Victory, safely moor a 93-foot motor yacht, Watta Ryde, in Newport, Ore., May 4, 2019.

The 52-foot MLB is uniquely located in the Pacific Northwest, because they are the only surf-capable boats that also have the horsepower required to tow much of the larger vessels in the region, commercial fisheries especially.
There are only four in active duty and they are the only Coast Guard vessels under 65 feet with names. They are stationed at Grays Harbor and Cape Disappointment, Washington, and Yaquina Bay and Coos Bay, Oregon.
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