Posted on August 6, 2018
92-foot luxury sport fishing yacht struck bottom just outside Rudee Inlet over the weekend, prompting the city to arrange emergency dredging.
The Alexis is owned by Charles Barker, and multiple car dealerships in Hampton Roads bear his name. The vessel was navigating through the inlet Saturday for the early start of the final day of fishing in the annual Virginia Beach Invitational Marlin Tournament when it ran into the sand.
That forced the engines to shut down. A wave then turned the vessel sideways, where it nearly hit the north jetty rocks.
Skip Feller, who runs the Virginia Beach Fishing Center, said Andy Morris “did an amazing job of saving that boat” at the helm.
“I’ve known him for a long time, and he said that was the most shook up he’s ever been,” Feller said.
Neither Morris nor Barker could be reached for comment.
Charter captains have been complaining to the city for weeks about shoaling just outside the mouth of Rudee Inlet, said Feller.
The city is required to keep Rudee Inlet navigable at a mean low tide depth of at least 10 feet under an agreement struck in 1968 with the Army Corps of Engineers. Earlier last week, the Corps used its dredge – named the Currituck – to cut a small path through the Rudee sandbar. But it only worked for a couple of hours before heading to a scheduled dredging in New Jersey, and the cut quickly filled back in, Feller said.
Officials say the city isn’t shirking its responsibilities.
“We’ve been aware that the inlet has shoaled,” said city coastal engineer Phil Rhoers. “We’ve been waiting for a window of opportunity.”
That window hadn’t yet opened Monday morning when swells outside the inlet were still above the dredge’s 2-foot threshold, city engineer Jason Wilson said.
“We’ve been sending the tender out every hour to check on the sea state so we can start dredging,” Wilson said. “That’s what people are seeing right now. We’ll start dredging as soon as it’s safe. Everything is in place for us to hook up the discharge pipes and begin operations.”
Monday morning, as Feller guided the Rudee Flipper dolphin-watching boat out of the inlet, he said high tide depths were approximately 9.5 feet over the sandbar. Feller said seas were “slick calm” and the dredge was moored just inside the inlet.
“This is an exceptional high tide because of the moon,” Feller said as he went over shallowing depths. “I draw about 5 feet, the same as Barker’s boat, and that’s giving me a little more than 4 feet clearance. If there were seas, that would be really dangerous.
“Imagine what this place is like at low tide.”
This isn’t the first time a luxury vessel has hit shoals at Rudee Inlet.
According to a Virginian-Pilot story from 1996, a $1.5 million sport fishing boat ran aground that year and was smashed into the rocks and destroyed by waves. The previous year, another, less expensive boat also ran aground. In both cases, the owners sued the city and federal judges sided with the plaintiffs.
Two upcoming tournaments will bring more boats to Rudee in the next few weeks – the Wine, Women and Fishing all-ladies tournament and the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament. The lead sponsor for the billfish tournament is Barker’s automotive group.
Paula Owen, who ran last weekend’s tournament and helps organize the billfish tournament, said 80 boats are signed up.
“On average, you’re looking at $1.5 million a boat coming in and out of that inlet,” she said. “That’s an awful lot of money to be putting at risk.”
Source: The Virginian-Pilot
