Three miles off the coast of St. Augustine on Saturday, a $1,000,000 luxury sport yacht crashed into a dredge pipeline piling . It's now Tuesday, with no news of this event yet appearing in the so-called St. Augustine Record delivered to our homes earlier this morning. Pitiful. GANNETT has delusions now adequacy. Our local newspaper is run by incompetent absentee corporate owners. Under three successive sixth-rate corporate owners (MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS, GATEHOUSE and GANNETT), the St. Augustine Record's coverage of local news here is de minimus, if not de micromis. GANNETT quit the Associated Press, slashed local columns, opinions, letters to the editor and coverage. GANNETT no longer sponsors League of Women Voters debates between candidates. Hedge fund controlled GANNETT no longer covers controversies that reflect poorly on multinational corporations and their hedge fund owners, like the overdevelopment that is destroying our town. GANNETT won't investigate or even attempt to cover local governments, or local news, or anything that justifies GANNETT still calling it the "St. Augustine Record!" But if you have a press release, look for the incredible shrinking St. Augustine WReckord to print it. Pitiful. It is long past time for oligopolistic gooberish GANNETT to sell the Record to someone with journalistic values and integrity. What do y'all reckon? From WNCN/NextStar Media:
PHOTOS: Clues to what sank million-dollar 80-foot luxury sport yacht off Florida coast
by: Rodney Overton
Posted: May 28, 2024 / 01:02 AM EDT
Updated: May 28, 2024 / 02:35 AM EDT
PHOTOS: Clues to what sank million-dollar 80-foot luxury sport yacht off Florida coast
by: Rodney Overton
Posted: May 28, 2024 / 01:02 AM EDT
Updated: May 28, 2024 / 02:35 AM EDT
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (WNCN) — Authorities in Florida have now released details about what a million-dollar luxury sport yacht hit before dramatically sinking over Memorial Day weekend.
The flashy 80-foot Sunseeker Predator 80 motor yacht named Atlantis went under in minutes after hitting an object in the Atlantic Ocean late Saturday morning about three miles off St. Augustine, Florida, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Photos from St. John’s County Fire Rescue and the Coast Guard showed the luxury vessel low in the water and then the yacht sinking — finally with just the bow bobbing up in the dark blue water of the Atlantic.
Atlantis low in the water as it sank Saturday, May 25 about three miles off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida. U.S. Coast Guard photo
Two people were quickly rescued from Atlantis after the collision was reported at 11:37 a.m.
Initially, the Coast Guard said Atlantis “struck an object in the water” but St. John’s County officials have now identified the object and released an image of what the Atlantis possibly hit on Saturday.
The photo showed a large floating square chunk of rusted metal — a marker for the dangerous dredge pipe location. St. John’s County crews said the yacht hit a “dredge pipe piling.”
The hull ripped open when the Atlantis hit — possibly — a floating rusting metal marker for a dredge pipe location. Photo from St. John’s County Fire and Rescue.
The rusting metal marker in the photo — complete with a light and “Danger – Submerged Pipeline” sign — appeared to have a tuft of white fiberglass wedged in a side rubber strip. A top edge of the metal marker had a large scrape on it and the sign was pushed down — as if a white fiberglass boat keel possibly hit it and ran over it.
New images of the sinking yacht showed a large scrape on the hull of Atlantis — along with a large hole ripped open where the vessel could have hit the large metal marker.
A chunk of white fiberglass appears stuck in a side rubber strip of a floating metal marker for a dangerous dredge pipe location. A large scrape is also seen across the same edge and top. Photo from St. John’s County Fire and Rescue.
Along with the new photos, there is new information about what happened to one of the two people aboard Atlantis when it hit an object and then sank.
Atlantis was built in 1999 — and is easily identifiable because it shares a look very similar to the famous Sunseeker Predator in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale.
The Sunseeker Predator belonging to a Bond villain was nearly 30 feet longer — and had a much higher price tag.
The Atlantis itself was named Outrageous II after it was first built by Sunseeker in their Poole, Dorset shipyard.
Before sinking, the Atlantis was very likely worth more than $1 million. A 75-foot 2001 Sunseeker Predator is currently listed for sale for $975,000.
Boat data about the Atlantis says the vessel is in the top 5 percent in the world by speed.
The vessel has two Caterpillar diesel engines and can reach a top speed of 44 kn or 50 mph, Boat International reports.
Without a crew, Sunseeker Predator 80 yachts, built in the United Kingdom, can accommodate up to 8 guests in 4 staterooms. The cabin configuration is one master stateroom, one double and two twins.
St. John’s County Fire and Rescue also revealed that one of the two people aboard Atlantis was injured. The U.S. Coast Guard earlier reported that there were no injuries.
A St. John’s County vessel took one person to the Vilano Boat Ramp for transport to a nearby hospital. That person had “minor injuries” and was stable, rescue officials said.
After Saturday’s sinking, the Coast Guard issued an alert about the wreck of the Atlantis being a hazard to navigation that could damage other vessels.
Coast Guard officials said the owner of the Atlantis is supposed to arrange for a salvage of the vessel.
Photos of Atlantis nearly underwater from St. John’s County Fire and Rescue.
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PHOTOS: Clues to what sank million-dollar 80-foot luxury sport yacht off Florida coast
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