ROCKPORT – A 28-foot sailboat has been sitting below water on the bottom of Rockport Harbor, off of Beauchamp Point, since early January, with the hope that it will be raised before spring.

According to Rockport Harbor Master Abbie Leonard, there was nothing of note weather-wise which would have caused the boat to sink.

After learning about the boat, Leonard said that she contacted the Coast Guard, as is the protocol, and they deemed that it did not pose an environmental threat and was not a hazard to navigation.

Such hazards include parts of the boat sticking out of the water, including masts. Leaking fuel oil is another hazard. 

Leonard said that in her experience, the Coast Guard does not press the owner to have a boat raised unless it poses an environmental threat and is a hazard to navigation.

Leonard has also contacted the owner, James Kimmet, of Connecticut, and a local mooring contractor/salvager.

“I have been assured that every effort will be made to raise it before spring, but other than that, I do not, unfortunately, have any enforcement action beyond that,” said Leonard.

Currently, Rockport does not have an ordinance to enforce recreational boats to be hauled from the harbor by a certain date.

The issue of the sunken boat was addressed at the Select Board meeting on Jan. 13. Town Manager Rick Bates said that the town’s current ordinance does not include preventive provisions to get boats off of moorings that should not be in the water all winter.

Leonard said that she is working with the town’s harbor committee on drafting a revised ordinance, by adding a haul out date to the town’s current ordinance, so that recreational boaters cannot leave their boats on a mooring past a certain date.

She suggested possible haul-out dates of Dec. 1 or soon after Rockport’s annual celebration, Holiday on the Harbor, typically held the second weekend in December.

A draft ordinance with the added provisions will have to be approved by the select board at an upcoming meeting, and then placed on the town’s ballot to be approved by voters at the June 11 election.

The next meeting of the harbor committee is scheduled for Jan. 31 at 5:15 p.m. in the Richardson Room at the Rockport Town Office.

Sarah Shepherd can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com