After one unsuccessful attempt, a tow rope snap, a 15-foot tear in the hull and plenty of bystanders and media attention, a yacht stranded off the coast of Oceanside is finally ashore.
A crowd of people watched as salvage crews towed in the 56-foot pleasure boat called the "Smooth Operator" early Tuesday morning.
The boat was having engine problems before it drifted into the jetty at the northern end of Harbor Beach Saturday night. By the next morning the boat had listed and sank in shallow water.
The Smooth Operator and its two passengers were helped by lifeguards who tried to drop the boat's anchor to keep it from smashing into the rocks.
A private salvage company tried to tow the Navigator power boat out of the water using flotation devices but they were unsuccessful. They brought a tractor onto the sand and pulled the boat in slowly using a rope heavy enough for the craft.
The scene has been quite a spectacle here in Oceanside -- especially as crews worked to try salvage the vessel -- trying to keep it from breaking apart on the jagged rocks of the jetty.
In fact, the boat was creaking during the retrieval. Crowds watching could hear the yacht making sounds as the machine helped push the boat onto the shore.
Local
Salvage crews are working to get a crane to the beach to move the boat onto some kind of truck. They say they may have to break it into several pieces to do that.
Crews may have to wait until Wednesday to move the boat off the beach.
The cost of the recovery operation is estimated at $100,000.
