Tag Archives: Homer AK

Workers respond to a fishing boat that ran aground in Homer Harbor

Quick action by salvage crews last Wednesday, June 2, prevented a Homer fishing boat from flooding and sinking when it ran aground on the wood grid in the Homer Harbor. The 40-foot F/V Redoubt heeled over after the boat got stuck on the edge of the grid as the tide went out.,, “With the tide flooding, without those bags it would have filled the boat,” Hawkins said. “”He (the boat owner) was so fortunate in that everybody and everything was in place to make it work so they could save his boat.” >photos, click to read< 09:16

Near-death drama leads commercial fisherman to insurance career

Three years ago, independent agent Patrick Schilling was trapped underwater in the cabin of a sinking commercial fishing boat in Alaska, fighting desperately to force open a door against the weight of the ocean. “The whole thing filled up with water,” he said. “I had to keep swimming up to the engine room [which contained an air pocket] … I was taking gulps of air and swimming under and was just pushing as hard as I could to try and get that door open. “I had my rain gear on and I couldn’t really move. I was pushing as hard as I could and nothing happened, and that’s when I thought: this is it.” Schilling miraculously survived, and has since swapped his fishing net for an agent’s desk. What used to be three-month stints out at sea have been replaced by a regular 9-5 desk job. click here to continue reading the story  16:37

C&C Diving and Salvage takes business deep

Some businesses struggle to stay afloat. Not Zech Bennett. His focus is on staying beneath the surface. As the owner and operator of C&C Diving and Salvage, Bennett and his crew — Jim Parker, Seth Sanford, and, occasionally Cecil Cheatwood, former owner of the business — offer everything from the simple retrieval of lost items to more complicated projects beneath the surface of Alaska waters.  Last week’s work list included everything from righting the capsized skiff being towed behind a commercial fishing boat to salvaging, with Cheatwood’s help, a floatplane off Nanwalek. continued@homernews  Address: 2163 ASPEN LN,Homer, AK, 99603