Sailboat Runs Aground On Sandbar In Brick, Ending Owner's Journey

BRICK, NJ — A man who had been traveling by sailboat with his dog is headed back to his home on the West Coast after his sailboat ran aground on a sandbar on the Brick Township oceanfront, authorities said.

RJ Montanye had taken a ride up to the beach on Wednesday and said he had seen the sailboat approaching the shore.

"As we walked down the path the sailboat eventually ran aground on the sandbar," he said. Photos he shared with Patch showed the sailboat leaning to one side as it sat on the sandbar, and one showed a man leaving the boat and walking toward shore.

According to public affairs officials with the U.S. Coast Guard, a small boat crew from Station Manasquan Inlet responded to the grounding and ensured there was no fuel spill or other pollution issue.

The Coast Guard official said Brick Township police responded as well, and police told the Coast Guard the owner turned the boat over to the township, and the boat will be destroyed. That information was confirmed by Brick Township business administrator Joanne Bergin on Friday evening.

Brick Township police contacted Just Believe to assist the man, said Paul Hulse, the CEO of the Ocean County-based nonprofit that assists people who are without housing.

Hulse said the man told him he had set out from Washington State with a plan to sail to Connecticut. The man was traveling with his service dog, Hulse said.

"We are not sure how long this journey took to get to New Jersey," Hulse said, or how long the man had been in the area, but the boat had become severely damaged and no longer livable and he needed to get rid of the boat.

"After a lengthy conversation with him, he really wanted to go back to his home state and was not interested in joining up with the other sailboats," Hulse said, because his boat was no longer in a liveable condition.

Just Believe volunteers were able to find a bus leaving from New York that would be the best way for the man to get back to his home in Washington State, Hulse said.

The man was provided with a place to take a shower and some clothing to replace his, which was ruined. They also to get dog food for his dog "and all the documentation he needed to go on his journey," Hulse said.

On Thursday night, the man began his long bus trip home, Hulse said.