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The Key West Coast Guard Station rescued two individuals on Tuesday after their sailboat became stranded against the Fleming Key Canal Bridge in Key West, Florida, according to a report by the Southeast District of the Coast Guard on their social media.
The two sailors were safely transferred to land, with no injuries reported. A commercial salvage company later took charge of recovering the vessel.
The sailboat, a small catamaran with a blue, red, and sky-blue sail, became immobilized against the structure of the bridge that connects the main island of Key West with Fleming Key, a restricted-use island of the U.S. Navy, in the Garrison Bight area.
The Fleming Key Canal Bridge has a clearance height of approximately 18 feet (5.5 meters) above the canal, and the surrounding area hosts an active mooring field with minimum depths of around two meters, making the area a hazard for recreational boats and sailboats.
After the rescue, the Coast Guard reiterated its usual message of boating safety: "Safe navigation starts with preparation."
It is not the first time that the Cayo Hueso Station has been involved in operations of this kind in recent months. On April 22, the Coast Guard rescued a sailor near Cayo Largo whose vessel had become disabled and was beginning to sink 20 miles southeast of that island, also with no injuries.
At the end of last year, the same station participated in the rescue of four people after a boat sank about 30 miles north of Key West, in an operation that required the deployment of helicopters from the Miami Air Station and the Naval Air Station in Key West.
On that occasion, Third Class Subofficer Tabitha Pearigen, a lookout from the Key West Sector, emphasized the importance of preparedness: "The sailors did everything right: they wore life jackets, tied themselves together, and maintained communication, which saved lives."
The shipwrecks and rescues in the Florida Keys reflect the intense recreational boating activity in the area and the risks associated with navigating through channels and shallow waters, especially for sailing vessels that must accurately gauge their draft heights before approaching fixed structures like bridges.
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