Man rescued after sailboat grounded off the Outer Banks
A sailor escaped injury Sunday night when his 30-foot sailboat grounded near Oregon Inlet off the Outer Banks.
Coast Guard and Dare County rescue crews received a distress call from the sailor at 8:52 p.m.
He told dispatchers he didn’t know exactly where he was but could see a bridge with vehicle lights passing by, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard sent a small boat from the Oregon Inlet station, and the sailboat was eventually located in the Atlantic Ocean about a mile south of the Marc Basnight Bridge near Pea Island. The boat was stuck in shallow water in the surf zone about 60 feet offshore, the Coast Guard said.
The water was too shallow for a rescue by boat, but a crew from the Chicama-comico Banks Fire and Rescue was able to walk the mariner back to shore as rescue boats and a jet ski staged nearby, according to the Island Free Press.
No one was injured.
The sailor is coordinating with the Coast Guard and U.S. Fish and Wildlife to remove the boat from the beach.