Updated Sept. 20
The charter fishing boat Tomahawk II sank in the Menemsha Channel Wednesday night while tied to a dock along Boathouse Road. The boat was brought up from the channel bottom Thursday afternoon, and was undergoing cleansing and other work on the Cape as of Friday. Owner Buddy Vanderhoop told the The Times that while he is crestfallen, the boat is insured.
“My EPIRB went off at the top of the ninth; I was pissed,” Vanderhoop said. (Anyone who stayed up knows the Red Sox game continued past 1 am, and was a win.)
EPIRB stands for emergency position-indicating radio beacon, a type of emergency transmitter that utilizes one or more satellite relays to report vessel peril. Coast Guard Petty Officer Nicole Groll said Boston Coast Guard operations received the EPIRB alert around midnight. The Coast Guard then dialed up Vanderhoop, “to make sure he wasn’t out in the middle of the ocean, taking on water.”
Vanderhoop told the Coast Guard he wasn’t in distress, and upon rushing down to Menemsha, reported the Tomahawk II sunk, Groll said.
When he got to Menemsha, he found the outgoing tide ripping through the channel. What he estimated to be a 50-mph wind buffeted the tidewater from the opposite direction, throwing up chop. Beneath that chop, Vanderhoop said, he found his boat. He said he suspected the bilge got overwhelmed by waves continuously dumping water into the boat.
The Tomahawk II is a 30-foot Ovid Ward Custom Sportfishing boat, according to Vanderhoop’s charter fishing website.
Vanderhoop said last year he installed two new 300-hp outboards and a $10,000 electronics package. The outboard, he thinks, can be salvaged, but the electronics are kaput.
Once the boat is raised, Vanderhoop said Thursday, he would have it taken to the Kingman Yacht boatyard in Cataumet for restoration. He has since done so.
Aquinnah harbormaster Chip Vanderhoop said Thursday it appears waves that may have been between four or five feet eventually filled up the boat’s fish hole, and that water weight “doomed it” and caused it to submerge.
The Tomahawk II remains at the King Yacht boatyard as of Friday, and is expected to be cleaned and restored promptly so it can return to charter service.
I thought it was a no wake zone 🙂