News

Alert 11 is the newsletter of Flotilla 11, published each season. Have a story or photos for the next issue? Contact the Publications Officer (FSO-PB) — see Officers.

Alert 11 — Fall 2026

Volume LXIII Issue 3

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In this issue

• Northern Area Regional Training, November 6–7

  Two days at Coast Guard Base Seattle, November 6 and 7, on how the Auxiliary can serve the active-duty Coast Guard in Puget Sound.

• New National Leadership Elected for 2026–2028

  The Auxiliary elected its national leadership for 2026–2028 in August. COMO Curtis Han will represent the Pacific Area, which includes our Northwest District.

• New Ways to Serve: Paddles and Drones

  Two Auxiliary programs the Northwest District is developing: AuxPad puts members in kayaks alongside paddlers, and drone pilots support Coast Guard units.

• Geospatial Damage Assessments
  By Kat Scanlon

  Auxiliarists help FEMA map disaster damage from satellite, aerial and open-source imagery, working from home. Here is the work and how to join the team.

• Service Records: Steve Bell and Hoyt Hatfield

  A closer look at the Auxiliary careers of Steve Bell (24 years) and Hoyt Hatfield (25 years), who retired this summer: their qualifications, offices and awards.

• Mayday at Parker Reef

  Dry suits, life jackets and a VHF radio saved a kayaker capsized near Parker Reef in the San Juans on September 25, rescued by a Station Bellingham crew.

• Five Roots, One Coast Guard

  The Coast Guard grew from five older agencies, merged between 1915 and 1946. Their stories, their traces in the Salish Sea, and the Auxiliary's own root.

• The Coast Guard in the News

  New Arctic piers and icebreakers, Operation Pacific Viper, a change of command at Air Station Port Angeles, and the Coast Guard at Bellingham SeaFeast.

• Member Training

  New boat crew qualifications and recertifications, Coast Guard courses completed, and all of the flotilla’s scheduled training finished for 2026.

• Navigation Systems

  Flotilla 11 has verified all five bridges in its area and 26 of its 44 private aids to navigation this year, with 18 private aids still to go.

• Communication Services

  The flotilla website has been rebuilt: Alert 11 articles to read online, browsing by issue and topic, a Members Only area, and editing from the browser.

• Parting Shot

  The sun sets over the Pacific as the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse stands vigil above the Columbia River Bar: the closing photo of Alert 11, Fall 2026.