Sailing yacht Distant Drummer disabled 420 miles off Cape Canaveral

Nov 30, 2019 by Triton Staff

The U.S. Coast Guard has reported assisting a disabled 68-foot sailboat more than 420 miles east of Cape Canaveral in a joint effort with a good Samaritan vessel at about 2:30 on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 24. 

According to a Coast Guard news release: USCG 7th District Command Center watchstanders received a report that S/Y Distant Drummer, was disabled with six people aboard. The watchstanders issued an enhanced group calling (EGC) message and contacted the automated mutual-assistance vessel rescue (AMVER) motor vessel Sophie Schulte, the Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber and the guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill to assist.

The vessel Sophie Schulte crew arrived on scene and attempted to assist in repairing the Distant Drummer’s engine, then remained until the cutter Bernard C. Webber crew arrived at 12:30 p.m. Monday and took the vessel in tow.

The cutter crew towed the sailing vessel to Fort Pierce, where a Coast Guard Station Fort Pierce 45-foot response boat crew continued the tow to a safe harbor in Fort Pierce.

The cutter Bernard C. Webber is a 154-foot fast response cutter homeported in Miami. The USS Winston S. Churchill is a 510-foot Arleigh Burke-class destroyer homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.

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