the one that got away

captpete13

captpete13

Senior Member
sometime yesterday a 30' sailboat washed up on Island Beach State Park. The operator was injured in the process of jumping ship. He had to be rushed to the hospital. We were hired to remove it from the beach and take it back to Keyport. We arrived on scene around 7 AM. I was running our 41' ex CG boat. We also had our 27 commercial Whaler as a "just in case" boat. Our guy on the beach that was dressed in a drysuit paddled a surfboard out to us(about 100 yards/10 ft of water)to get a messenger line that was tied to the 1" sampson braid towline. Keep in mind it's blowing a gale today! It's out of the west so it's calm on the beach. But my boat is drifting at 3 to 4 knots. The line is connected. The sailboat is checked for possible cracks,leaks. But nothing was found. I got the OK and I put the throttles to her. She came off pretty easy and seemed to be floating ok. I backed off and began to pull in the 600' or so of towline. As it got closer to us it also got lower in the water. By the time we had it along our side it was really low. We tied up side to and started the pumps. By now we had drifted about a half mile out and it was a little rougher. We couldn't keep up with the leak. Her starboard side went under. She was going down and we were tied to her! In an instant it went down and we, a 41 footer, were beginning to roll. I yelled to the deckhand to cut the f***ing lines! The bow was cut and the sternline pulled the cleat from the sailboat. She went down like a rock but we were ok. I sat there and waited to take in what just happened. Then the towline went tight. Oh S**t the towline! But it just got tight because of us drifting away. It was still attached but it was only holding us not pulling down. I called to my boss on the beach and told him what happened. We were in about 40' of water. I offered to drag it back into shallow water but he said to just leave it. So I backed down till the line was verticle then cut the line and marked it on the GPS. There was something really wrong with this boat for it to have gone down in 10 minutes. I believe if it wasn't so windy it could have been saved. But I'm just glad we made it back in one piece.
 

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sounds like the keel bolts let go and cracked the hull up inside, it does not appear to be a keel/centerboard type so that is what I am assuming.
 
I'll bet the owner is not a happy camper right about now. I'm sure the lawsuit will claim gross negligence or something like that. Might have to dive the wreck to determine the cause. Same wind brought down a tree in my backyard today (Northern NJ). Really nasty out there. Glad you guys are ok.
 
the keel looked like it was part of the hull. There must have been something hidden on the side she was lying on while on the beach. It wasn't worth much. The owner originally paid $2400 for it several years ago. He was in the process of taking her to VA where he was to trade it in on a larger boat. It was not far from the Gov's mansion on Island Beach. I got the numbers. I figure it will be a good spot for blackfish by next fall.
 
nice write up.....had me on the edge of my seat there for a moment....I figure one the most common things you might hear in the salvage business is "hey what are ya gonna do?
 
Yeah, the phrase "s**t happens" definitely applies here. It still bothers me that it happened because in the 19 years that I have been doing this it has never happened to me. I keep thinking maybe if the pumps were primed and ready faster or if my deckhand was a little faster pulling the line in. But then again, s**t happens. So I guess I will just consider it a good learning experience from now on.
 
Thanks for the story. I can see how the owner would be upset at the circumstances, and shouldn't be upset at you. It should just be an insurance issue, hopefully the owner won't be a jerk.

rkc
 
Thanks for the story Capt. Pete. Glad you and the crew are ok. Another good reason to have a knife handy at all times on the boat.
 
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