Sailboat runs ashore at Limantour, but park had help removing it this time

Those looking for the Point Reyes Shipwreck this week may have been surprised to find another, on Limantour Beach. The Rosebud, a 27-foot sailboat, ran aground on the night of July 28 and was stuck for nine days. The captain of the vessel, William Anderson, attributed the crash to a failure of his navigation system, but park ranger John Eleby said “alcohol was also a factor.” The National Park Service was alerted to the crash on Sunday and sent a ranger to speak to Mr. Anderson, who was arrested for boating under the influence. The Sheriff’s Office confiscated his rifle and marijuana, and removed the boat’s gasoline and battery—hazardous materials were the vessel to break up. “Our first hope is that the owner is going to have the financial means, whether insurance or their own means, to remove the boat themselves,” Ranger Eleby said. But when it became clear that the Mr. Anderson did not have the means, the park service collaborated with the Sheriff’s Office and contracted a diving service to remove the boat on Monday morning—an effort that took six employees. The removal was funded by the Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange, a state program launched in 2016. It was the first time the park applied for state funding for a boat removal. “We are very appreciative for our partnership with the Marin County Sheriff’s Office,” Ranger Eleby said. “We were looking at having to foot the bill ourselves as a park, which can get very expensive very quickly.” The last boat to be stranded on Limantour was the Barbara Faye, a commercial salmon fishing vessel that ran aground in 2012 and cost the park $80,000. “Most of the boats run aground because they don’t anchor properly,” Tim Parker, owner of Parking Diving Service, which removed the Rosebud, said. “That’s not the case here. The operator was intoxicated.” Mr. Parker estimated that two or three boats a year run aground in the park. The Rosebud, having been battered by the surf, is no longer seaworthy, and the owner will have to pay the $10,000 salvage bill if he wants it back. Otherwise, the Rosebud will be broken up and sent to a landfill.