I've been following this story for a while now It was well over a month ago that this guy washed up in mid-September. This is a Florida guy who bought a Craigslist offering sight unseen in NYC. He hung out there for a while before leaving for Florida. He was out at sea in shorts and a tee shirt, got cold overnight and attempted to make Manasquan Inlet in the dark, without chartplotter it seems, with no visibility. He missed by a mile (literally).
A few residents treated him kindly as he lived on his beached boat for several weeks. A local attorney even helped him navigate the legal difficulties pro bono until he finally realized the guy was a charming flake with legal troubles back in Florida. It seems that he has now disappeared and the town (Sea GIrt) has finally realized that all of the efforts to get the boat floated were futile.
The towing companies refused to help him. The Coast Guard did nothing. Residents along the beach helped him dig sand around the boat in a ridiculous effort to free the keel buried in the sand. At one point, there was a youtube video from a newscast showing hapless efforts to push the boat out at high tide (in the dark of night). The guy basically conned all these residents into thinking they could float his boat off the beach but I think he is no longer on the scene, leaving Sea GIrt to resolve this mess!
He went from a shipwreck to a trainwreck.
nypost.com
It's hard to tell if this guy is really a bad guy or a guy with a checkered past just down on his luck and trying to do his best. Various accounts have been more critical. This account from the Post seems to indicate that he is still sticking around doing what he can.
