Sailboat runs aground, breaks apart in Flagler County, lining beach with debris

Vance Mason was sailing south about a half-mile off the Flagler County coast when he said some of the rigging on his boat started coming apart and the mast began going slack.

Then the wind slackened as well.

“The wind got so it was light and I couldn’t turn the boat and, while I was trying to turn the boat, the boat got into the waves and the waves took me to shore,” Mason, 64, said in a phone interview Friday.

The sailboat ran aground near Sea Colony in Flagler County. Rescuers helped Mason off the boat and then guided him to shore where a Flagler County Sheriff's Office body camera video shows him dropping to his hands and knees on the sand.

Mason said he bought the 37-foot sailboat — named the "Seven Oceans" — six years ago for $60 at an auction. He said he put about $6,000 into the boat.

But the waves from the Atlantic Ocean have now beaten the sailboat into pieces. It was torn open like some gutted sea creature with its innards spilling in the sand. The waves on Thursday lapped at a motor, cables snaked away from the shattered hull. Some electronic device was half buried in the sand. And part of a railing and a piece of wood rolled in the surf some feet away from the wreckage.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and Flagler County Fire Rescue responded to the scene. But the sheriff’s office stated the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was handling the case. A spokesperson for Flagler County government said it is typically the boat owner's responsibility to remove the wreckage in such instances.

Sailboat debris worries Sea Colony residents

Nearby residents have taken up the job of moving debris from the boat away from the sea.

“Everyone who walks the beach was out here cleaning up,” said James Wright, who lives in Sea Colony.

Wright on Thursday pointed to a pile of debris residents collected and placed higher up on the beach, away from the water. The debris included broken pieces of wood, pieces of foam, a lantern, a lifejacket, a bucket and what appeared to be a compressor. There was a also a section of something that appeared to be part of the bow. Not far from the pile there was a tank that came from the boat.

Wright worried about when the wreckage and debris would be removed. He said Sea Colony residents have been trying to keep debris from floating away in the Atlantic. He added that many of the items could pose a hazard.

Joni Hughes, of Michigan, was visiting the beach with some friends Thursday. She said the boat added an unexpected element to their walk.

“It’s kind of scenic to find this shipwreck on your beach,” Hughes said. “There’s a story behind it that you try to figure out.”

Mason's story is that he spent Monday night anchored off St. Augustine. The retiree had visited some friends in Jacksonville, where he had once worked cleaning out tanks in ships.

On Tuesday, he was sailing south and intended to go around Florida and then sail north to New Orleans where he would place his boat on a barge and ship it up the Mississippi River. He said he was headed home to Oklahoma.

He was traveling alone.

"I've been a solo sailor all my life," he said.

But then trouble hit. As the waves pushed his boat to shore, Mason said he threw out both anchors.

"It was dragging the anchors, but by then it's starting to stretch the rope and it tore things up," he said.

He ended up on his hands and knees on the boat as it swayed back and forth while it was battered by the surf. Mason said with the help of rescuers, he slid underneath the back railing and then they helped him to shore.

He said Friday his leg hurt and he was going to get checked out by a doctor.

Insurance issue over boat removal cost

Now, Mason is dealing with his insurance company, which states his policy covers only $5,000 for the cost of removing the wreckage. But Mason said he was quoted a price of $12,000. He is doing everything he can with his insurance company.

"They are saying that the removal is going to cost more than their policy," Mason said.

Meanwhile, Mason said his belongings are among the wreckage.

"Everything I owned in life is sitting on that beach," Mason said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Man rescued when sailboat runs aground in Palm Coast, debris on beach