A 31-foot sailing vessel was pulled from the beach at Menemsha and refloated Thursday morning after it had run aground four days earlier.
A 31-foot sailing vessel was pulled from the beach at Menemsha and refloated Thursday morning after it had run aground four days earlier.
Harbor master pulled the boat from the beach Thursday without incident, assisted by Jonathan Mayhew.
Harbor master pulled the boat from the beach Thursday without incident, assisted by Jonathan Mayhew.
Chilmark harbor master Ryan Rossi said the vessel Kari was towed into the harbor Thursday with no damage. Jonathan Mayhew assisted with pulling the sailboat off the beach and into the water, the harbor master said.
Mr. Rossi said earlier in the week that the vessel ran into trouble with its steering and only had sails for propulsion at the time of the incident, just before sunset Sunday.
“It did not have a working motor at the time,” Mr. Rossi said.
The grounding caused plenty of chatter on the waterfront.
The vessel Kari is home ported in Kingston, R.I., and was captained by its owner Christian Comazzi, according to the harbor master and Chilmark police. “It was a real high tide when it happened,” Mr. Rossi said. “There was a swell coming out of the northeast which pushed it pretty far up the beach.”
He said Mr. Comazzi was the only person on board the vessel when it grounded, and was not injured. He said the captain intentionally ran aground and did not contact the Coast Guard or other harbor officials.
Attempts to lift the sailboat off the beach Wednesday morning were unsuccessful, but the effort finally saw success on Thursday.
Comments
Strange story. Why run the
Steve FalmouthStrange story. Why run the boat onto the beach? was it sinking? Why not sail into deeper water and anchor up?
Unfortunate and reckless!
William Ex PBA CHILMARK & HKUnfortunate and reckless! Accidents happen, but not dropping the anchor, or calling for help on the ships radio makes no sense and should be investigated.
I served as a Boatswain’s
Philip C. Walsh Washington, D.C.I served as a Boatswain’s Mate/Coxswain at what was then Gay Head Coast Guard from 1970 to 1974, operating a 44’ Motor Life Boat and 40’ Patrol Boat. Inadvertent groundings by sailboats with a keel always took place in Menemsha Creek, not Menemsha Beach, and almost exclusively between June and September. If the crowd gathered up in front of Red’s, the take out-eatery at the very head of the inner harbor, was lucky, and they often were, an unfortunate mariner at the helm of a grounded sailboat provided them with great entertainment. We rarely got involved, as these groundings were usually short-lived, and posed no danger to either the vessel or its passengers. Our mission was search and rescue, with missions ranging from towing an eighty foot yacht out of a fog bank off Devil’s Bridge to relieving an 82’ Cutter of her tow off Noman’s and bringing a trawler laden with four hundred pounds of yellowtail flounder home to New Bedford. The only firearm we carried was a flare gun, and the lines of Coast Guard 44354 made clear her mission: to survive the worst of sea conditions so she could carry out her rescue mission. We got on well with the fishermen. Names like Eric Cottle, Louie Larsen, and Jimmy Morgan, come to mind - men who said little and caught an awful lot of fish; this before the damage wrought by unrestrained harvesting of apex predators like swordfish and the rearrangement of the sea bottom by huge nets using chains and steel wheels to fish rough bottom were even realized. It was a different world then, not better or worse, just different. Oddly, it’s good to hear that sailboats are still getting grounded in front of Menemsha. Continuity, probably. I’ll try to catch a show this summer.
Thanks for sharing Philip!
Erich MenemshaThanks for sharing Philip!
Beautifully said, thanks for
AnonymousBeautifully said, thanks for sharing.
the weather started getting
rob the roofer new jerseythe weather started getting rough the tiny ship was tossed.
Too bad that Lynn Murphy is
Hugh Weisman ChilmarkToo bad that Lynn Murphy is no longer around to pull it off the beach.
Rob, good one, just love that
Lorraine EdgartownRob, good one, just love that bit of salty, period humor.
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