SEQUIM — A sailboat that sank in Sequim Bay last month was raised and hauled to Port Angeles after a 40-hour ordeal.
The original estimate was that the Anne Elizabeth, a ferrocement-hulled sailboat that sank Nov. 12, would be hauled to Port Angeles last Thursday.
It didn’t get there until the next day, with the crew working through much of Christmas Day, Roger Slade, owner of Vessel Assist, said Saturday.
Salvage work began on the ferrocement-hulled sailboat last Wednesday and Slade had hoped to complete the salvage operation at low tide Thursday night, but the process was delayed until Friday.
“We had to do it, and once we got committed, it was quite a bit more difficult than what we had hoped — mostly because of wind and weather and tides,” Slade said.
“The whole thing took about 40 hours of actual work. It was pretty much a nonstop effort. There was a break after the first night, and then after that night, it was around the clock.”
A crew of nine and a salvage vessel worked in tandem to raise the sailboat, which sustained substantial damage, Slade said.
“We had to tip the boat over and then the guys were down there working in the mud,” he said.
“We patched it with hydraulic cement and plywood and whatever else we could get. And then, of course, we had to wait for the tides to get back out.”
After being pumped out, the sailboat was towed to Port Angeles.
“It still leaked a little bit, but we were able to tow it in,” Slade said.
High winds
High winds had blown the vessel from its anchorage onto the rocks near John Wayne Marina’s south parking lot in November.
The sailboat had been at anchor in Sequim since Sept. 21, Ron Amundson, John Wayne Marina harbor master, has said.
There was no fuel on board, and the vessel leaked no oil, Coast Guard officials have said.
The Port of Port Angeles, which owns John Wayne Marina, summoned Vessel Assist of Port Hadlock to salvage the damaged sailboat and haul it to port facilities in Port Angeles.
The state Department of Natural Resources determined that it could not salvage the vessel because it was abandoned on port property.
The owner of the boat, who has not been publicly identified, has several months to pay for the salvage before the vessel is declared derelict, Slade said.
“Ultimately, if nobody steps up to the plate and reimburses the Port [of Port Angeles] for it, it most likely goes up for auction or it gets destroyed,” he said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
