PORT ANGELES — Doug Zimmerman doesn’t know how he will move his 46-foot grounded sailboat, his childhood home, from Hollywood Beach.
Zimmerman’s boat, the Esther Marie — which he lived on as a child and for some time as an adult — was one of three to wash ashore during the stormy Sunday night.
It now tilts precariously toward the rocks near the Red Lion Hotel, and he doesn’t know how he will be able to remove it without help.
Hiring a service to tow the Esther Marie back out into Port Angeles Harbor, where it had been anchored would cost about $4,600 — or $100 per foot of the boat.
“I just cannot do that,” he said on Tuesday.
“I’m trying to pull together the money, but I don’t know.”
If the boat is not removed in a timely manner, the boat could be impounded and Zimmerman cited with abandonment of a vessel.
Other boats
On Monday, the owner removed a small motor boat that washed up near the former Rayonier Inc. mill site, Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Branning said.
Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles officers helped the owner get ashore on Sunday.
It was the only one of the three that had a person aboard.
Another boat, an unregistered, unnamed 36-foot power boat, washed ashore near the foot of Oak Street.
Melissa Montgomory, project manager for the state Department of Natural Resources — which has jurisdiction over the shore land there — said that the department would continue to attempt to contact the owner before impounding the boat.
Neither Montgomory nor Branning knew who owned the boat, they said.
“We like to work with the owner as much as possible, because our first choice is for the owner of the boat to be responsible for removal of the vessel,” Montgomory said.
Working with him
Meanwhile, Port Angeles Police Officer Duane Benedict said the police would work with Zimmerman, for a while.
“The boat would be OK where it is for a little bit,” Benedict said.
“But if it broke up, it would be a real safety issue, and if it washed all the way up on the beach, it could be a real problem.”
Zimmerman said he is trying to find a kindly boater in the area who is willing to tow the sailboat out into the harbor.
Zimmerman said he had previously docked his boat at the Port Angeles Boat Haven, but that he had fallen behind on his payments and could no longer leave the boat there.
Port of Port Angeles Executive Director Bob McChesney said he couldn’t comment on the situation.
Father built boat
Zimmerman’s father Donald built the boat before he was born.
“I’ve had this my whole life, so 38 years,” he said.
“My father built it when we lived in Anchorage, Alaska, and then we sailed it to San Diego, which is where I went to high school.”
About 22 years ago, they sailed it to Port Angeles.
Zimmerman lived on the boat with his wife, Melanie, before moving to a Port Angeles home, he said.
“My family got too big, and we had to move off the boat,” he said.
His four children — Sadie, Marley, Zoe and Odin, who range in age from 15 to 2 — have grown up around the boat.
The family now lives in Sequim, his wife said.
“I just really don’t want my boat taken away from me,” Zimmerman said.
To contact Zimmerman, phone 360-670-9599.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
