PORT CLINTON, Ohio (WTVG) – A 26-and-a-half-foot sailboat that spent eight weeks stuck on sandbars off Port Clinton Beach has been removed from Lake Erie in an entirely volunteer effort.
The sailboat, named Paradigm, became stranded this summer after its motor failed off Port Clinton Beach. Elliott Bassett, who helped rescue the boat, said the owner lost his anchor lines.
“Somehow or another he lost his anchor lines, and at that point he was up the creek without a paddle. It just got worse and worse,” Bassett said.
Lake Erie storms pushed the boat closer to shore, wedging it between sandbars.
“It got to the point where it was unsalvageable by the water,” Bassett said.
Bassett is a real estate agent with the Knight Team in Port Clinton. He led the rescue crew that worked to remove the boat before winter weather set in.
“A lot of planning between Focht Construction, Jason over there did a great job, Tim Beatty got the trailer for us,” Bassett said.” “We were able to take the proper precautions to make sure it wasn’t going to be destroyed and harm the beach. Because once the ice came, it would’ve been destroyed and turned into a terrible mess with that fiberglass.”
The operation cost taxpayers nothing. After eight weeks, the boat’s owner signed the vessel over to the rescue crew.
Paradigm is now parked in front of the Knight Team real estate offices, where the public can view it at any time.
“It just grew its own following. People loved it, people want to see it on a shirt with slogans and everything like that. It became a piece of the town,” Bassett said.
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