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Sailboat stranded on the beach of San Pedro Alcántara. Josele
The sailing boat stranded on San Pedro Alcántara beach will have to be removed by land
Beach safety

The sailing boat stranded on San Pedro Alcántara beach will have to be removed by land

Marbella town council has extended the deadline for the recovery of the vessel, believed to be owned by an elderly foreign resident, but has warned that it cannot be carried out by sea as the hull is damaged

Andrea Jiménez

Marbella

Monday, 14 August 2023

The sailing boat stranded on San Pedro Alcántara beach, near Marbella, will have to be recovered by land. After a first seven-day deadline urging the owner of the boat to remove it passed, Marbella Town Hall has issued a second request to the skipper to take charge of the boat. The council has said that the recovery cannot be carried out by sea, as the hull is damaged.

The sailing boat has been stranded for more than two weeks in the area of the Nuevo Reino beach bar, and the town council has made efforts to identify its owner and to request the skipper to remove it. After the expiry of the first request, with a notification period of seven days, the Town Hall has again requested the owner to remove the sailboat within three days.

Municipal technicians have visited the site together with a specialised company. They found that the boat has a lot of water inside, which means that the hull is damaged. As it has more than one way for water to enter, the option of towing it out to sea is not viable, "as it would not stay afloat and would sink, further aggravating the existing situation". For this reason, it is not possible to draw up the 'refloating plan' required for the Capitanía Marítima to authorise the rescue operation by sea.

Therefore, the town council explained that the solution that will be to remove the boat by land with heavy machinery, and then beach it in a dry marina. As explained in the document that has been sent to the owner of the sailboat, in the event that the removal is not carried out within the indicated period (three days), the council "will proceed to its removal and even its scrapping, passing on all the costs arising from this operation to ensure that the public maritime land domain is free and clear".

According to several people, the skipper of the boat is an elderly foreign man who lost control of the boat after bieng hit by a surprise encounter with an easterly storm while sailing in the area. The owner did not want to make any statements to the media.

Some local residents and visitors have formed groups on social media networks to help the skipper tow the boat, and a crowdfunding campaign has even been organised to raise funds to cover the costs of removing the boat from San Pedro beach, estimated at around 8,000 euros.

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surinenglish The sailing boat stranded on San Pedro Alcántara beach will have to be removed by land