Sailboat washed ashore on New York beach
Typically when a boat washes up ashore on a beach, there's at least someone driving the boat. Well when there's an emergency and everyone jumps ship, eventually the boat is going to find land. After a Massachusetts woman fell ill on a small sailboat and had to be lifted by helicopter to safety by the US Coast Guard, the boat did indeed find land.
About 30 miles south of Long Island Saturday there were severe storms. It didn't take long for the woman's sailing companion, who owned the boat, to be also pulled off by the Coast Guard from Hampton Bays, when the crew decided the storms were too dangerous for him to remain aboard.
The abandoned boat, which was a 1984 36 foot sailboat named Grace, washed ashore on the beach in Westhampton three days later. Upon its landing, there was an attempt to re-float the ship, but unfortunately it was deemed too much of a burden. Eventually the ship was demolished on the beach, and disposed of on Thursday.
The boat's owner, Chris Karo, says "We were afraid if we tried to pull it off and it got into the rocks and it would be an even bigger disaster." He had owned Grace for over 20 years, but determined this was the best way to deal with the situation.
Karo and his girlfriend were finishing up the last stretch of their journey north from Little Torch Key to Massachusetts. They were headed on a 280 mile journey from Cape May, NJ to New Bedford MA. It was there that they were caught in the strong storms Saturday, hitting the small boat with winds up to 52 knots (60 MPH).
Karo said his girlfriend was hit with severe sea sickness, and after waiting hours the sailor asked the Coast Guard to evacuate her via helicopter. The Coast Guard and Karo attempted to tow his boat but could not get the tow line unwrapped from the rudder on his ship. Eventually they had to give up and set the boat adrift.
Chris has said he does not plan on replacing Grace, at least not with another sailboat as at 70 years old sailing singlehanded can be a very difficult task.
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