SOUTHWEST HARBOR – The U.S Coast Guard crew that helped rescue eight people injured last Saturday in a boating accident in Somes Sound did their jobs perfectly, a ranking officer said Friday in response to public criticism by one of the passengers.

“I’m not going to defend my folks because there’s nothing to defend my folks about,” said Chief Boatswain Shawn Vredenburg, the officer in charge of the Group Southwest Harbor small boat station, which responded to the distress call at about 11:20 p.m. Saturday.

“They did perfect,” Vredenburg said Friday. “If anybody has any concerns about the abilities of the local Coast Guard station, please call me.”

Ashley Longmaid, 25, of Southwest Harbor has concerns. His father, John Longmaid, 57, is the owner and skipper of the Odin, a Boston Whaler out of Camden, who was the most seriously hurt of the eight people injured in the boat crash in Norwood Cove.

Longmaid has asserted this week, both in published reports and complaints to various people, that the Coast Guard crew was too young and inexperienced, that it was ill-prepared for the rescue and that it failed to communicate properly with emergency medical technicians about the number of injured and the extent of their injuries.

In an interview with the Bangor Daily News on Thursday, Longmaid complained that the Coast Guard wasn’t even able to provide blankets to the injured people as they waited to be taken to land.

“The Coast Guard was useless,” Longmaid said. “It was a very young crew, and I just think they need more training.”

Longmaid praised the two Coast Guard medical technicians who provided triage to the victims until they could reach shore. He was unimpressed, however, with the rest of the rescue effort, he said.

“It just seemed that they couldn’t coordinate themselves,” he said. “The only thing that helped was the medical team.”

Longmaid said the Coast Guard crew was unable to pull the 27-foot Odin off the rocks, relying instead on a good Samaritan who used his boat to pull the Whaler back into the water. Longmaid also asserted that he had to tell the Coast Guard to take the injured passengers to a nearby private dock, rather than to the Coast Guard station, because it was quicker and more convenient.

Longmaid complained that the rescuers did not communicate with ambulance attendants so they would know how many people were injured and how badly.

Vredenburg dismissed Longmaid’s complaints as untrue, particularly that his crew did not communicate with ambulance personnel, but said he understands that Longmaid was traumatized while he and the other passengers awaited help.

The Coast Guard station was less than two miles from the accident site. It took the crew just six minutes to get under way, Vredenburg said, and another 12 to get to the scene.

Vredenburg blamed dense fog for slowing the crew. The fog, along with speed, has been blamed for the accident, according to Vredenburg.

He said the crew was wise not to increase its speed in such low-visibility conditions and to risk an accident themselves. He agreed that someone told the Coast Guard crew about the nearby private dock, and he was thankful for that.

“I’m not sure who told the crew, but if it did come from Mr. Longmaid, great idea,” Vredenburg said.

Vredenburg said the Coast Guard’s 21-foot rescue boat did not have the power to pull the 27-foot Whaler off the rocks, but, had the good Samaritan not been available to help, the Coast Guard would have called in its 47-foot boat, which was in the vicinity, to help.

The Coast Guard’s 47-foot rescue boat was not lost, Vredenburg said of another Longmaid complaint. He said Longmaid could not see the larger boat because of thick fog 100 yards to 200 yards offshore.

Vredenburg said the four-person Coast Guard crew heard Ashley Longmaid’s repeated requests for blankets for the injured, especially for one woman who was thrown into the water on impact, but the officer stated that the crew had far more serious worries as they responded to the accident.

“We had several critically injured people, most are [at the least] seriously injured, with head injuries and broken bones, so getting a blanket for a person who might have had mild hypothermia was the absolute least of our worries,” Vredenburg said.

The blankets were stored on the larger Coast Guard boat, and to fetch them the smaller vessel would have had to leave the scene of the accident.

He disagreed that his crew failed to communicate to ambulance attendants. He said one of his crew members at the accident scene also is an EMT with the Southwest Harbor ambulance service. Additionally, Vredenburg was on the dock when the injured passengers arrived and said he witnessed his crew “meshing” immediately with the ambulance personnel.

Vredenburg agreed that the crew is young. He said the average age of his crew members is 24 and that personnel at the Coast Guard’s 178 small boat stations have less than three years of experience.

Vredenburg said Ashley Longmaid started complaining about the Coast Guard while waiting for them to arrive. He was concerned that the crew was taking too long to respond and asked whether he should call 911 instead.

“I’m sure it was traumatic for him to sit for 18 minutes while people all around him were injured, including his father, but his attitude through the whole thing was a hindrance, up until the point that one of our first responders had to tell him to shut up and sit down,” the officer said.

Longmaid could not be reached on Friday for further comment. His phone had been temporarily disconnected and other attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

His father’s condition was upgraded by Friday to satisfactory, according to a spokeswoman for Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Vredenburg, meanwhile, said he was disappointed and frustrated that his crew would come under such fire after performing well in difficult circumstances.

He said his small boat station crew is one of only three in the entire Coast Guard fleet to win an award two straight years for competence and readiness.

“If Mr. Longmaid thinks we can do something better, I invite him to the station and he can give me some input,” Vredenburg said.

Attempts to reach other passengers injured on the Odin were unsuccessful Friday.