Full Version Home This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. Sailboat on beach gets Grayton talking By DEBORAH WHEELER Published: Friday, July 5, 2013 at 12:55 PM. A large sailboat that was discovered beached at Grayton last weekend has the community abuzz. Seagrove resident Harvey Jackson saw what he believes is the same boat trying to outrun the storm that came up last weekend. When he heard there was a sailboat found beached at Grayton, he wondered if it was the same. "I watched a sailboat, a sloop, running ahead of the storm and I was impressed with the way the sailor(s) were handling it. They had the jib down and the mainsail reefed so they could catch enough wind to stay in front of the squall but not so much sail that a gust would capsize them. I lost sight of it when the rain came ashore and wondered if they made it," he said. "When I heard of the boat washed up at Grayton I suspected it was the same boat." Many others were also curious and the 32-foot boat became a hot topic when it was not moved as the week wore on. Charter-boat owner Mark Thompson said he chatted with the sailboat's owner on Tuesday as he was leaving Grayton after a chartered fishing trip. "He stopped me while I was leaving and wanted me to take him out just off shore of the boat past the sandbar so he could drop an anchor to attach a winch to and try and winch it off the beach on the fourth when the seas are forecast to be big and put some more water underneath it. It should make for some good entertainment watching him try. He said that SeaTow wanted $9,000 to pull it off the beach and he does not want to pay that," said Thompson. "But the day it washed up there were storms with lightning and he tried to get close to shore to avoid being the only thing around for lightning to strike and his engine quit and before he could get an anchor out the waves got hold of it. He'd been better off staying at sea and taking his chances with the lightning." Thompson did not get the owner's name. He said the boat did not appear to be damaged, but is waterlogged, though it can be pumped out. "Even if he is able to move it, there will be huge breakers and if the tanks are breached and there are spills, he could face steep fines as it is on State Park land," he said. "Should be interesting to watch him try to move it." Copyright © 2013
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