PORT ANGELES — A stranger on Wednesday came to the rescue of a Port Angeles boater whose sailboat washed ashore during Sunday’s storm.
During high tide at about 7:30 a.m., Fred Roldolf arrived in his boat, the Lu-Lu Belle, and helped Doug Zimmerman pull the Esther Marie from its precarious position on Hollywood Beach — where high waves had pushed it — to deeper water near City Pier, Melanie Zimmerman said.
“It was like a Christmas miracle,” she sadi.
“We are the most grateful family in Clallam County for that. He just heard about it and showed up to help. We didn’t even know him at all.”
Melanie said that she and her husband, Doug, had been told that they could be cited with abandonment of a vessel if they did not remove the grounded 46-foot sailboat soon.
Although grateful for the help, boat trouble for the couple, former Port Angeles residents who now live in Sequim, wasn’t quite over, Melanie said.
City Pier
Because only one of the boats’ four anchors was still intact, the couple tethered the boat to one of the support pilings of City Pier.
That wasn’t safe, said Sgt. Glenn Roggenbuck of the Port Angeles Police Department.
“We can’t have them tying to the pier’s pilings,” Roggenbuck said.
“If another storm came up and they were tied there, and pulled it around, it could undermine the whole pier, and put the pier and anyone on it in danger.”
At one time, the boat was docked at the Port Angeles Boat Haven, but Doug said on Tuesday that he hadn’t housed the boat there since he fell behind on the rent.
Melanie said she and her husband were seeking help to take anchor gear to the boat, so that they could move it out into Port Angeles Harbor, where they had been for about a year and a half.
“We did have a row boat we were using, but then the wind picked up and Doug didn’t want to risk his life by going out there in the boat,” she said.
Owners of boats for hire declined because they were busy, she said.
Late in the day on Wednesday, Doug was served with a paper telling him he could be cited for trespassing — which could mean up to $1,000 of fines or 90 days in jail, his wife said.
“We don’t know what to do,” she said.
The Esther Marie, named after Doug Zimmerman’s mother, was built by his father, Donald.
Doug grew up on the boat, sailing from Anchorage, Alaska to San Diego, Calif., and eventually Port Angeles.
Doug said that he and Melanie lived on the boat for a time, until their family grew too large to house their four children.
Harbor policy
Although the policy hadn’t been enforced, Jeff Schreck, upland manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, said that it is the policy of DNR, which has jurisdiction over much of the harbor water, that a boat may anchor for 30 days before it must obtain a permit.
However, a permit can be issued only for an area that would be safe and out of the way of commercial traffic, Schreck said.
The area in front of Hollywood Beach would not be eligible, he said, because it is too exposed to winds from the north.
“You saw what happened when the winds from the north started up,” he said.
The Zimmermans will deal with those regulations once the boat is no longer tied to City Pier.
“We have a friend who said that they might be able to help us tow the boat to a small harbor in Port Ludlow or near there,” she said.
“But we just haven’t had a chance to even think of that, to even deal with it.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
