UPDATE, AUGUST 16, 2024: Salvage operations are underway for the yacht Lovebug. Currently, she is sitting on her side a half mile offshore between Beverly Beach and Curtis Point, Maryland (below). The U.S. Coast Guard reports that no pollution spilled into the waters surrounding her. The agency is working with the salvage company, monitoring progress.Investigators are trying to determine what led to the yacht Lovebug sinking over the weekend in Maryland. She ended up sinking, after nearby vessels rescued her passengers.
Read on for our original article.
According to AIS data, and confirmed by the U.S. Coast Guard, the 122-footer (38-meter) had departed Annapolis the morning of July 27. Around midday, personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard Station Annapolis responded to a MAYDAY from the captain. Upon arriving on the scene in the West River, south of Annapolis, they discovered the yacht Lovebug severely listing and aground. Additionally, all five people aboard were rescued without injury thanks to two other vessels. One was a TowBoatUS vessel, while the other was a tour-boat operator.
In fact, Trevor Hardman, the owner of Tour Boat Annapolis and a retired firefighter, tells EyeonAnnapolis.net that he saw the superyacht listing and “raced over and called the Coast Guard.” He arrived in time to hear the captain’s MAYDAY and for the TowBoatUS operator to rescue two people from the water, he says. The crew of the yacht Lovebug used their tender to rescue two further people from the water, Hardman adds. “We went to the boat and got the captain,” he continues, who was the last onboard. “He stated he did not run aground, but the boat started taking on water.” Hardman heard the high-water alarms as he approached, too. Furthermore, Hardman says, the captain indicated that he headed to shallow water before everyone had to abandon the yacht.
As a precaution, the Coast Guard deployed oil booms around Lovebug. No fuel or oil had spilled, though. Additionally, the yacht was not blocking a navigation channel. Salvage operations reportedly were still in the planning stages at press time.
The yacht Lovebug is a Sanlorenzo 122 whose original launch was in 2010. Her current owners have offered her for charter in the Annapolis area, for a maximum of 11 guests.
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