The souls aboard Stuart Hayim’s 50 foot MTI powered with Mercury Racing 1650’s are certainly lucky to be alive after the boats allision with Gardiners Island Lighted Gong Buoy 1GI, which was reported and verified to be on station watching properly in assigned position of 41 11 24997N and 072 08 56.257W, Coast Guard Light List number 27665.
This speed record attempt to beat his previous 2012 record of 2 hours and 11 minutes was well underway to crush the previous record for the 271-mile around Long Island record. Just under a half hour into the run impact with the buoy in severely restricted visibility at a reported speed of 148 MPH quickly ended the run. The port side of the hull was severely damaged and the vessel will have to undergo significant repairs.
Shortly after the allision safety boats including the U S Coast Guard 47 foot Motor Lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Montauk arrived while the crew made way under their own power to the nearest port for haul out. U S Coast Guard Lieutenant Martin Dixon reported Coast Guard Station Montauk Officers did conduct a boarding of the Stuarts boat and issued a CG4100 Boarding report along with a civil penalty for six violations, including no throwable Type IV Personal flotation device, no sound producing device, no flares or visual distress signals, no pollution placard, no garbage placards, and Negligent Operations under 46 USC 2302. Martin said “The negligent operations citation was a result of not only operating at excessive speed in reduced visibility but also for the accumulation of violations as the negligent operations violation has to be articulated and the context of the circumstances surrounding the incident and evaluated as a whole of the circumstance.”
Lieutenant Dixon did confirm a Coast Guard permit for the run had been issued but the particulars of the permit were not readily known. He went on to say the efforts of Team Recovery, Stuart Hayim and Joey Imprescia to raise money and awareness for cancer research are to be commended but the decision to maintain speed within an area of restricted visibility was not at all prudent.
It has been reported that Stuart is hopeful to repair his boat and again seek to break his own record.
