Coast Guard responds to mayday call near Chuckanut Bay to rescue kayaker

Coast Guard Station Bellingham responded to a mayday call near Chuckanut Bay on Tuesday morning.

Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound received a report of a kayaker in distress via a mayday call from a handheld radio around 11:30 a.m. The report stated a kayaker had an elevated heart rate and nausea, according to Petty Officer Daylan Garlic with the U.S. Coast Guard Northwest District.

Station Bellingham responded to the call and was on scene about 20 minutes after the mayday call came in, Garlic told The Bellingham Herald.

The kayaker was taken to Station Bellingham, where emergency medical services (EMS) staff from the Bellingham Fire Department was waiting to take the kayaker to a hospital, Garlic said.

The mayday call came from the kayaker’s partner while they were together in a tandem kayak, according to Garlic.

Jack Belcher

The Bellingham Herald

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Jack Belcher covers transportation and recreation for The Bellingham Herald. He graduated from Central Washington University with a degree in digital journalism in 2020 and joined the staff in September 2022. Belcher resides in Bellingham.