Palm Beach begins removing 72-foot yacht
Owner refusing to pay for its removal, town official says.
Like an uninvited guest, Time Out is wearing out its welcome.
And with a storm potentially c ausing high winds here later this week, Palm Beach is giving the derelict yacht the bum’s rush.
Resolve Marine Group of Fort Lauderdale began the removal process Saturday, after Deputy Town Manager Jay Boodheshwar issued an emergency contract to remove the 72-foot Hatteras yacht from a spot on the shoreline, just south of the Palm Beach Inlet. The town wants it moved before winds from Hurricane Matthew reach the area.
Worke r s wi t h Re s o l ve Marine pumped sand out of the half-submerged yacht Saturday afternoon. Boodheshwar said Friday that the vessel had taken on about four feet of sand.
Removing the yacht will take a few days, coastal coordinator Rob Weber said.
“The goal is to have the b o a t r e move d f r o m t h e shoreline before we start seeing the effects of Hurricane Matthew,” Weber said. Weber said he’d be on site Sunday and additional days if more time is needed to remove the boat.
“It’s my baby now,” he joked.
Time Out ran aground around 2:15 a.m. Sept. 7. Boodheshwar learned last wee k t h a t , e ve n t h o u g h yacht owner Thomas Henry Baker has gotten insurance money for the wrecked boat, he is refusing to pay for its removal.
Resolve Marine plans to dig under the yacht, put a c able around it to pull the boat upright, patch any holes then tow the yacht elsewhere for dismantling. The charge for that removal is $150,000. If hull breaches are too big to patch and the yacht c an’t be safely moved by water, the company wil l drag i t f ar t her onto the beach and take it apart on-site. That will add $50,000 to the cost.
The Florida Wildlife Commission has given the town a grant that will cover 75 percent of the cost because Time Out is considered derelict by the state, according to Boodheshwar.
“Our town attorney will communicate with (Baker’s) attorney relative to reimbursement for the removal cost,” Boodheshwar said Friday.
B e f ore t he g ro unding , the yacht had a value of $ 5 00,0 00, a c c o rd i n g t o police.
Early on Sept. 7, after the yacht’s grounding, Baker, a 63-year-old resident of Belle Isle, south of Orlando, told Palm Beach police a faulty GPS was to blame. Police said Baker later admitted he’d been drinking Long Island ice teas in the hours since he and his companion left the Bahamas the previous afternoon. He was arrested on a charge of boating under the influence.
His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.
It was Baker’s third alcohol-related arrest in just over two years and his second boating under the influence charge in the past month, records show.
Those incidences were not Baker’s only brushes with the law. He served time and was ordered to pay fines for the thefts of two high-priced Ferrari sports cars.