The skipper of a 66-foot Cheoy Lee motoryacht was charged with operating under the influence after the vessel ran aground near Dyes Inlet in Kitsap County, Washington, Saturday, forcing a dozen passengers–most of them inebriated–to wade ashore with the help of sheriff’s deputies, according to a Kitsap Sun news report.
According to the report, the captain and owner of the Gretchen Lee were both aboard, and the captain was found in his berth. Neither was named in the account. The Sun quoted the sherrif’s office:
A deputy asked the skipper if he thought it was reasonable to be lying in bed when the boat was aground and a rescue operation was underway. The skipper replied that he’d been sleeping and wasn’t operating the boat when it went became beached.
“I drove earlier, but not when we crashed,” he told investigators.
Other passengers stated the skipper had been driving when the boat hit the mud. The suspect agreed to field sobriety tests and a portable breath test, which measured his blood alcohol content at .142. The state limit is .08.
The skipper was arrested and charged Monday in Kitsap County District Court with a misdemeanor count of operating a vessel under the influence. He was released without bail.
Read the Kitsap Sun account here. Below is a video of the boat when she was up for sale a few years ago:
