Coast Guard working to salvage 51-foot sailboat off Atlantic Beach Coast

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Update 10/8: Salvage crews working to remove a grounded 51-foot sailboat in Atlantic Beach hit a snag on Tuesday.

The rope that connected the sailboat to a tugboat in deeper water snapped, causing a delay in the tricky process to get the sailboat off the beach.

Original Story: Coast Guard and salvage crew members are working to remove a 51-foot sailboat off of Atlantic Beach.

Action News Jax first told you when it got stuck near the shoreline on Sunday morning, after a power outage on the boat.

Around 6:30 a.m., Sunday, the Coast Guard investigated the boat's situation and rescued the two people on board.

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Due to weather, they could not tow the sailboat. It then drifted towards Atlantic Beach between 11th and 12th Street.

On Monday, the Coast Guard told Action News Jax it was planning to salvage the boat. They began the process of attaching it to a tugboat a little after 1 p.m.

We spoke with a captain from Freedom Boat Club about the salvage process. He said a tow tugboat cannot get too close to the sailboat because it's in a shallow spot.

"They're using jet skis, which can obviously get in very shallow water, attaching lines to the larger boat and hopefully they can dislodge it." Capt. Burke Bell said.

It sounds simple enough, but it's more complex than you'd think.

"You've got waves, you've got current, the boat can tilt either way." He said. "This boat has a pretty large keel at the bottom so it won't just sit upright on its own."

Crews are also trying to figure out how to move the sailboat back out to sea without damaging the boat or hurting anyone around it.

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"Pieces of the boat could dislodge. There could be some fuel spillage." Bell said. "There's a lot of things that could happen."

We asked the Coast Guard if the salvage was postponed after we saw crews disperse after heavy rain and fog. All they could tell us—as of right now—is that this is "still a work in progress."

The beach is currently open and the sailboat remains in the same spot.

Cox Media Group