A 10-ton, 33-foot sailboat ran aground at Upton Beach last Monday, drawing the attention of residents and authorities. Its owner, an itinerant union carpenter who had been on his way to Seattle, said he lacks the insurance or personal funds to cover removing the vessel.
Since the beach is managed by the county, Marin County Parks is working with the Sheriff’s Office and the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, which manages the water up to the mean high tide line, to determine whether the boat must be removed and destroyed or whether it can be put back in the water.
“If the vessel can be moved back into the water, it would be great,” Lt. Heather Rock said. “But it could be a marine debris situation where a contractor would remove the boat because it would not be safe to be put in the water. The vessel is then typically broken up. It’s got a long keel, and when it’s so stuck, there’s no way to overcome that force that could break the boat.”
No single agency is responsible for grounded or sunken vessels in cases in which the vessel owner is not insured; resources from many federal, state and local agencies are typically used in such salvage efforts. The Coast Guard determined last Monday that the boat was not leaking hazardous materials.
Residents and beachgoers have tried for the past week to help free the vessel, digging sand from beneath it so a high tide could sweep it back to sea. But each day, the tide has failed to carry it back.
The boat’s captain, Logan Walker, had anchored the vessel for two weeks in July in Richardson Bay. Mr. Walker journeyed from the Pacific Northwest down to the Bay Area last September. He said he and his then-girlfriend dropped off her cat in Seattle during the winter. When the cat gave birth a few weeks ago, Mr. Walker decided to sail back to pick up one of the kittens.
On Sunday at around 2 a.m., Mr. Walker left Richardson Bay to sail around Marin County for a trip he expected would take nine days. As Monday rolled around, Mr. Walker said the wind was fair and he decided to set the autopilot just after noon while he took a nap. Shortly after falling asleep, the wind died down, the autopilot failed and Mr. Walker woke up to the sound of yelling outside his sailboat.
“I looked outside and saw the beach and just thought ‘oh sh-t,’” he said.
As he tried to stop his boat from hitting the beach, the anchor chain snapped off the boat. The anchor is now lost, and the boat’s engine is dead. Stinson Beach Fire Chief Jesse Peri said he and his crew were first on the scene and made sure Mr. Walker was safe before turning the situation over to the Sheriff’s Office, which confirmed that the captain was sober at the time.
Last Wednesday afternoon, a group of children visiting Stinson Beach from Nashville helped to dig sand from beneath the keel. Residents of the Patios walked up and handed Mr. Walker a bag of fruit. “The community here has been really great,” he said. “They bring me food. I don’t know how to repay that kind of kindness to a community.”
A GoFundMe page set up for Mr. Walker is seeking $10,000. “Let’s see what we can do to help someone down on their luck and making their best effort to survive on his own,” it states.
The boat, the “Chandalar,” was built in 1965 and used as a work boat on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. It was named after the Chandalar River, a tributary of the Yukon.