By Anneli Fogt

A ferry schedule change  to a two-boat schedule Sunday morning due to “a shortage of Coast Guard documented crew” led to 13 sailings along the triangle route being missed. But, once the three-boat schedule returned around 2:50 p.m., two crew members on the ferry Cathlamet revived a local man who was in his car with no pulse.

The medical transport from the Vashon dock resulted in three other ferries on the triangle route being cancelled. Ferries were running on schedule by 4:05 p.m. Sunday, the first time all day.

WSF spokesman Ian Sterling said that not having enough crew to run a vessel is a problem that has plagued the WSF system for years.

“This happens because the Coast Guard requires a certain amount of crew on board (each ferry) each time they sail,” Sterling told The Beachcomber Monday. “On Sunday, we could not find enough. It was a manpower issue; there was not enough crew to operate the vessel.”

Sterling said that the issue Sunday was not that workers were calling out sick that day; it was that there were not enough people scheduled.

“We don’t set the schedules  like a month before,” Sterling said. “It’s a very tight, quick schedule.”

He said that WSF Chief Lynne Griffith “committed” last summer to Governor Jay Inslee “that we won’t have missed sailings.”

“We were doing very well, but we missed sailings in the morning, and that’s unacceptable,” Sterling said.

He said that it’s “frustrating” and “a disappointment to the ferries.”

“A notice will be sent to all crew, reminding them about the commitment made to the governor last year,” Sterling said.

WSF dispatchers responsible for calling in crews were eventually able to call in the Vashon make-up crew, Sterling said. The normal, three-boat schedule was back by just before 3 p.m. Sunday.

However, ferry workers on the Cathlamet ferry that was unloading on Vashon just before 2:50 p.m. performed CPR and used a defribrilator to revive an islander in his car on the ferry.

“They were unloading the vehicles, and one failed to move,” Sterling said. “The crew go over and try to wake the (driver) up and he had no pulse. They performed CPR, brought the defib down from upstairs and … they were able to start his heart.”

The man was revived and raced to Fauntleroy in an ambulance on the ferry that was set to depart to Southworth at 2:50 p.m. As of Monday, he was at Swedish’s Cherry Hill hospital, but his current status is not known.

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief for Medical Services Mark Brownell said that the ferry workers “did an outstanding job.”

“I was very, very impressed,” Brownell said. “That effort … saved his life.”