Sailboat that grounded on NC island hauled away

AVON, N.C. — A salvage crew has hauled a sailboat off a North Carolina island beach after the owner said he couldn’t find a way to get it back in the ocean.

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reported Tuesday the 56-foot sailboat Gypsy Dane was hauled away Monday with a cracked hull after the owner gave it up. The vessel ran aground Nov. 15 at the Hatteras Island village of Avon while the owner was below deck making a sandwich.

The North Carolina grounding came a week after U.S. Navy sailors had helped the vessel’s owner repair the rudder and cut rope from the propeller off the coast of Virginia.

Steve Thompson with Cape Hatteras National Seashore says the boat’s owner, Yves Oger of Toronto, walked away from the boat because he “couldn’t find a way to get it into the ocean.”

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