Fifty foot sailboat being pulled off the reef.
We got a report last night that a big sailboat had run aground on the reef as it had lost it’s rudder. Hank and I went out this morning to check it out with my boat. We judged to get there right at high tide. We had no idea we could pull it off.
After surveying the situation and all the coral heads around, Hank said he thought we could get it. We plotted a path between the coral heads, hooked on and began pulling. At first it wouldn’t budge and we kept pulling side to side. I was watching the bottom and suddenly told Hank it’s moving. We kept towing until it was in deep water. The skipper on the boat was jumping up and down yelling, I’m free, I’m free.
The sea gods were smiling on him this time. The sea was quite calm. If a strong wind had come up as predicted for tomorrow he would been just another wreck on the reef.
His high dollar sailboat is now tied up safely in Fresh Creek Harbor. All we asked for payment was for about five gallons of fuel we used pulling him off. Needless to say he was quite a happy camper.
Feels good to help out someone in distress.