The LeConte’s sailing to Haines from Juneau was delayed Friday as freezing spray and a fully loaded vehicle deck caused stability issues.
“As the ship traveled north in Lynn Canal, they experienced freezing spray and icing conditions,” said Sam Dapcevitch, spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Transportation. “Due to concerns about the vessel’s stability in those conditions and out of an abundance of caution, the captain decided to return to Juneau to offload some heavy freight – a couple of drilling rigs.”
The ship departed Juneau again at 1:30 p.m. and the offloaded equipment was rescheduled for the next voyage.
Among the 190 passengers aboard the LeConte on Friday were more than 70 volleyball players and coaches from Petersburg, Craig, Wrangell and Klawock and Metlakatla heading to Haines for the weekend’s Region V tournament. The ferry’s delay pushed back the start of the tournament. The Haines Glacier Bears played their first game at 10 p.m.