Happening now: Trimaran debris cleanup off Beach Drive

Thanks to Jason for the photo of the salvage crew arriving off Beach Drive to try to clean up what remains of the trimaran Nunga Nunga Nue (here’s its backstory), eight days after it first got into trouble in the area; we reported yesterday on the start of cleanup. Beach Drive Blog has updates, and we’ll be checking out the scene too. ADDED: Literally one minute after we published this, Maud sent this photo:

More to come.

ADDED 10:26 AM: The crew that came in by water says they’ll likely be working till noon or so:

Then, what remains will be evaluated.

As noted by BDB’s “Scupper” in comments on another thread, this is being done in conjunction with the state’s Derelict Vessel Removal Program, funded by surcharges on vessel licenses. We talked about it with the DNR the other day; they say that while it can be costly, it’s costlier to let sunken boats and debris like this damage or destroy coastal and underwater habitat.

25 Replies to "Happening now: Trimaran debris cleanup off Beach Drive"

  • C February 21, 2013 (9:58 am)

    So where is the owner? Did he just grab his small boat yesterday and wash ho hands of the rest of his mess? Unbelievable.

  • SomeGuy February 21, 2013 (10:27 am)

    Whoa, this is a bigger operation than I thought would be required… Grandpa would have tackled this with a chainsaw, his old pick-up and six trips to the dump…

  • Jessica February 21, 2013 (10:55 am)

    I am just happy that this is finally over and the remains finally gone!! I have no idea what happened to the owner and if he actually just walked away. I gave him my number and thought he’d call me and update me, but I never heard from him. All in all, it’s finally gone!! YEAH!! Thank U ALL for ur support and help with this derelict situation ;)

  • BeachDriveBoy February 21, 2013 (11:22 am)

    Well, if he registered the boat, then he paid into the DVRP. Not much, but he wasn’t a total deadbeat. It is a great lesson for those who get the ‘romantic notion’ of scoring a cheap boat and sailing off into the sunset. Boats, especially larger ones, are never cheap. Whether it’s at the front end, or along the way, they are great devices for hoovering $$$ out of your wallet.
    .
    Someone once defined a boat as ‘a hole in the water which you attempt to fill with money’. No truer words spoken here, eh?

  • sc February 21, 2013 (11:23 am)

    where’s the couch? ;)

  • resident February 21, 2013 (12:10 pm)

    BOAT

    Bring
    Over
    Another
    Thousand

    Seriously, the guy is lucky the larger boat didn’t take the smaller down to the bottom with him aboard. You need not be far from shore to drown in Puget Sound.

  • Stark February 21, 2013 (1:39 pm)

    “Grandpa” would have also driven with an open can between his legs and dumped his used motor oil into the gutter. Nostalgia is often tinged with ignorance and denial.

  • theoldmanandthesea February 21, 2013 (4:10 pm)

    Stark: That was a very rude thing to say. I agree completely with SomeGuy. I’m a professional builder and faced with cleaning up big messes all the time. I would have rented a big van from U-Haul, picked up three or four Latino guys from Home Depot, who can do anything, go down and break it up and take it to the dump. Four hours, max. Not a splinter left behind. Not a single self righteous prig left prigging. Not an angry or stressed out fish or crab anywhere.

    The dream this guy had is always about personal freedom, whether it’s an RV or a boat, or whatever. And I like the idea that crazy old coots like he probably is can still have one more chance to find that pot of gold at the end of their rainbow, whatever that is, even if things don’t always work out quite like they probably spent all those years dreaming about. I certainly found it interesting to follow, on many different levels. Much more entertaining than most of the other big piles of stuff I deal with every day, literal and otherwise. So thanks for reminding me to keep dreaming, Pal. And good for you for not forgetting. Although you might want to think things out a little more carefully next time.

  • JA February 21, 2013 (4:17 pm)

    Now we can hope the derelict sewage situation, which predates the boat mishap, is rectified as quickly.

  • Dale R February 21, 2013 (4:20 pm)

    So is the sewage leak fixed under the condos? I’m more concerned about that.

  • let them swim February 21, 2013 (5:10 pm)

    @theoldmanandthesea, Right on, finally some sensibility.

  • Scupper February 21, 2013 (5:39 pm)

    Grandpa would have rebuilt it better & stronger or created a crab/oyster shack using every piece. Like…no, love that comment by “oldmanandthesea”.
    Need to have a beer with that guy.

  • Citizen Sane February 21, 2013 (5:49 pm)

    Personal freedom. A thug born every minute yearning to be free. Thank the lawd gawd a’mighty they are few and far between.

  • Rvesdocs February 21, 2013 (7:01 pm)

    Sewage under condo situation? How is that going, btw?

  • VEBBB February 21, 2013 (9:43 pm)

    You big negative creeps – leave the poor guy who left his boat alone! I think the fact we set aside piles of free public dollars to pick up after free spirits like him is awesome! We need to pay for MORE guys like him to pollute our waters – it’s the price of FREEDOM, man!

  • Sonia February 22, 2013 (6:09 am)

    I am going to guess the big negative creeps do not have the guts to ever try breaking free from their miserable lives stuck in air conditioned offices and homes and the security of the few pennies they are earning to maintain their artificial lifestyle.

    I trust the next time we hear about this old sailor it will be news about him launching a new boat. Fair winds Captain

  • Captain RiChard February 22, 2013 (7:45 am)

    I did not leave my boat, but during the week I spent hours picking up pieces many checked the sewage, yet no one did anything to stop it. Scared me the most to be in the water for days knowing it was sewer from the people who endangered my life and would not let me take my boat on the public ramp they claimed they owned and ordered me to take my trailer off it. I froze sleeping in my van to keep an eye on my boat that was only saved by YOU reading this blog. THANK YOU ALL WHO HELPED ME, thanks so much for saving my life and my other boat. I could not have made it without you!

  • Captain RiChard February 22, 2013 (7:59 am)

    PS: I have to wonder why clean pieces of wood from a no motor sailboat are so serious to add to all the driftwood, yet the sewer the kids walked in until I warned their mothers (who are actually who reported it) is no big deal to still be going on before and after me? I never saw any work done on the dumping sewage of the whole complex, the whole time I was there right up to my sailboat gloriously hauled away at pointless expense instead of easily done as stated above. (Thanks for all that kind of moral support by your comments here, too!)

  • MB February 22, 2013 (10:01 am)

    The crew arrived last night at low tide and began the project to fix the plumbing under Harbor West. The crew said they will be working overtime through the weekend to ensure a rapid fix to the reported break in plumbing.

  • Tony S February 22, 2013 (10:56 am)

    Way to deflect the blame from your own situation, “Captain”.

  • Mike February 23, 2013 (9:03 am)

    Any information on how much was leaking this past week? Was it just a drip here and there or was all the sewage directed into the sound? If this was a major leak why the slow response?

  • Been There February 23, 2013 (8:25 pm)

    Speaking of dreamers…how many dreamers bought more house than they ever should have and left the rest of us high-n-dry when they realized their dreams were just that, dreams, and walked away?
    =
    How many junk houses have you lived next to that some dreamer bought during the ‘boom times’ with the idea of ‘flipping’ it into a pile of cosmetic crap cash, but then realized that the house was what everyone else knew it was, a junker, and proceeded to walk away?
    =
    Dreaming is fine, but adults keep their dreams in check and don’t dump their problems on to the pocket books of their fellow citizens. Same goes for this boater dude.
    =
    As for the sewage leak, I would be surprised if anyone living in the condo building was aware it was occurring and actively worked to suppress the knowledge if they did. I could surely be wrong, but I doubt it.

  • Sonia February 24, 2013 (5:23 am)

    So good to hear you are ok Captain RiChard, I am so sorry for your loss, is there a way of keeping in contact to follow your next adventure?

  • norskgirl February 24, 2013 (6:11 am)

    Sonia-bless your spirit. Perhaps you’d like to fund RiChard’s next adventure?

  • JA February 24, 2013 (12:15 pm)

    Sorry, Been There, but you are wrong about Harbor West not being aware of the sewage leak. Do you think it’s only dreamers or people of limited means that sometimes exercise poor judgement?

Sorry, comment time is over.