Depending on the turn of the tides, the Ronin, a 41’ steel-hulled sailboat that ran aground near the Warrenton Cannery Rd. beach approach in North Cove early Wednesday morning, Oct. 21, alternately languished in storm-tossed surf or lay on her side on a sand bar for more than a week before she was successfully pulled back out to sea early Tuesday afternoon.
The FV Pacific Stalker out of Westport managed to tug the Ronin out of the sand and into deep water. The Ronin was then towed south to the Tokeland Marina, making port at 2 p.m.
Going aground
Home ported in Seattle, the two men aboard the Ronin reportedly had started on a voyage to Hawaii. They had reached Oregon waters early last week when reports of the then-rapidly building hurricane Patricia off the coast of Mexico made them decide to return to Seattle.
Leaving from Coos Bay on Tuesday, Oct. 20, the plan was to lay over at the Westport Marina Wednesday.
Weather conditions were poor with low visibility when the boat grounded at about 6 a.m. Wednesday. The Coast Guard responded with a helicopter from Astoria and a motor lifeboat from Station Grays Harbor to assist the two men from the boat.
The owner reported that the Ronin had lost electrical power, which left it without Radar or GPS, forcing the men to attempt to navigate with a handheld GPS.
Removal efforts
Last Thursday, Oct. 22, the owner contracted with Vessel Assist Grays Harbor of Aberdeen to attempt to free the boat from the sand bar into which its keel was lodged. A fuel removal tanker attempted to offload fuel on Thursday, but fittings problems and the tanker’s getting stuck on the beach precluded that effort.
On Friday, a half-dozen buoyancy barrels were attached to each side of the sailboat to keep it from capsizing and taking on water as the breaking surf battered it during high tides.
On Saturday, the FV My Suzie out of Tokeland was hired to attempt to pull the sailboat off the sand bar at high tide, managing to move it approximately 100 feet before the vessel dug into another sandbar, breaking the tow line.
The surf on Sunday was too rough for any further work to free the vessel.
On Monday of this week, the Pacific Stalker was hired to attempt to remove the sailboat from the sand bar. The vessel arrived on scene at high tide in strong seas, just as the Ronin was over-washed at the stern by breaking surf, resulting in the sailboat taking on tons of water.
At low tide on Tuesday of this week, a pump was employed to remove remaining water inside the sailboat, with the Pacific Stalker then able to finally free it from the sandbar.
While it will take much work to make her seaworthy again, the Ronin will, no doubt, once again proudly sail the high seas.