SAN JUAN ISLANDS, Wash. – One person was saved but another perished after their sailboat became disabled during stormy weather and rough seas during a blast of winter weather in Washington’s San Juan Islands Monday night, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.A man made a mayday call reporting his sailboat was disabled and drifting toward land with him and a woman on board.Scott McGrew, the chief of response for the U.S. Coast Guard, told FOX Weather they were unable to make communications with the sailboat, so the Canadian Coast Guard was relaying messages to their U.S. counterparts to initiate the rescue mission. McGrew said the Coast Guard originally launched a rescue boat from Bellingham to try and reach the boat, but conditions were too rough for the boat to tow the sailboat away. At the time, the Coast Guard reported seas were 4-6 feet high and winds were gusting between 25 and 30 mph. McGrew said temperatures were in the low 20s with snowy conditions for much of the evening. “So we then sent the helicopter out to attempt to hoist the individuals. And as we’re trying to figure out how to hoist them with that mast swinging back and forth, all the while the vessel had their sails up. So they were continuing to make way at the will of the wind.”But while conducting the rescue, the boat ran aground and the sailboat’s mast and its sails collapsed, the Coast Guard said. A rescue swimmer was then sent down from the helicopter to save the two people aboard the boat. Once the man was on the rescue boat, the helicopter crew discovered the woman had been knocked into the water.WATCH: FIRST-PERSON VIEW OF DARING HELICOPTER RESCUE OFF ICY MOUNTAINThe boat crew pulled the woman unconscious from the water and CPR was started, the Coast Guard said. The woman was taken aboard the helicopter and airlifted to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The man was taken by boat back to Station Bellingham, where he was taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment. A member of the Coast Guard who was injured during the rescue was also taken to the hospital but released later that night, the Coast Guard said. “This (rescue) was especially challenging given the conditions we had,” McGrew said. “We had what’s known as a Fraser Wind outflow winds occurring in the area, which is this cold air blowing down the Fraser River from Canada. So it’s much colder in Washington right now than it normally would be… so some really bad conditions.”McGrew said the weather conditions in the region are frequently challenging rescue crews. “I like to describe the weather in the Pacific Northwest as pretty extreme,” McGrew said. “Things that would be a national news hurricane or tropical storm on the East Coast is just Tuesday on the Washington coast.” McGrew said his crews are trained to operate in crazy weather conditions. “We wear personal protective equipment, dry suits to keep us dry and warm in those extreme conditions. But lots of challenges and circumstances like this with icing conditions, when you have spray blowing and below freezing temperatures, we’re concerned with top ice on the boat as well as icing conditions for the helicopters.The Coast Guard has not released the identity of the victim.”I’d like to just extend my deepest sympathies to the family of the victim,” McGrew said. “These cases are always challenging.”