Power boat sinks, rises again in Holmes Harbor

Published 3:13 pm Tuesday, July 10, 2012

A 32-foot power boat that sank in Holmes Harbor this weekend has been successfully raised.

The Breesea, a Bayliner Explorer, was lifted to the surface Monday by a salvage company. The vessel reportedly sank while at anchor in about 14 feet of water Saturday night.

The vessel’s owner, Kenneth Jensen, was not available for comment Monday afternoon.

According to Eric Muller of Ballard Diving & Salvage, the recreational vessel sank via “water ingress points.” Resting on its starboard side, the vessel was brought to the surface using inflatable rubber bags.

Using a technique called “parbuckling,” the Breesea was righted with 4,000 pounds of buoyancy from lift bags. An additional 6,000 pound bag of buoyancy was then added to bring the boat to the surface where it could be pumped out and the water ingress points repaired.

The entire operation, including the removal of 20 gallons of fuel before lifting began, took about 10 hours.

“It took a little longer than expected because it was in shallow water . . . but essentially it was a pretty standard raise,” Muller said.

Crews had to wait for the tide to rise enough that the bags would lift the boat off the bottom. Muller noted that the vessel was surrounded by floating oil booms but that no pollution was observed.

Ballard Diving & Salvage is a global diving, marine construction and salvage company based in Seattle. The company recently participated in efforts to the secure the Deep Sea, a 128-foot crab boat that recently sank in Penn Cove, before it was raised.