THE BOAT IS OFF THE BEACH!

**All photos by Harry Rabin, On the Wave Productions.**

During the early morning hours of this past Saturday, the extreme high tide and surf pushed an anchored sailboat onto East Beach, near the foot of the Laguna Creek Channel. While beach-goers escaping the heat looked on at this disaster, Heal the Ocean Field Advisor Harry Rabin began to work on the problem.

Early Sunday morning Harry was there, working by himself, removing toxic polluting items and relocating them above the tideline. As he worked, he called for help from various agencies including Harbor Patrol, Coast Guard, Patriot Environmental Services, Towboat US, and more to recruit help and develop a plan of action. Additionally, he located the vessel’s owner and had them remove 40 gallons of diesel fuel before demolition the following morning. The highest concern was further toxins such as fuel and oil entering the ocean.

The last step required owner permission in addition to all appropriate agencies involved, before Heal the Ocean would be allowed to remove the vessel. This was achieved by 5pm on Sunday, and the call to Brian Borgatello, President of MarBorg Industries, was made. An agreement was made for the wreck to be removed from the beach expeditiously the following morning. Heal the Ocean guaranteed payment for the operation.

At 5 a.m. today, Monday, Brian was there on the site with his crew. So was Harry. Everybody went to work.

By the time everyone in Santa Barbara was waking up for their morning coffee, the boat wreck was GONE, and the beach was raked and clean. Harry noted that “no boat debris, nor even a single drop of fuel, oil, coolant, or other liquid based toxins made it into the sea during the entire operation.”

Heal the Ocean has initiated a “Boat Wreck” Stakeholder group of City and Council officials, waterfront officers, Coast Guard and other oceanic agents, and we will be meeting again soon to work on a way to prevent these boat groundings from happening.

We thank Mayor Randy Rowse, Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon, City Administrator Rebecca Bjork, the Harbor Patrol office, Coast Guard and others for responding to our calls for help Sunday morning.