The Tribune

TWO elderly men and their dog who set sail for Grand Bahama were rescued after their crippled sailboat went adrift for seven days then ran aground on a Florida beach.

Francis Saunders, 86, and Jerry Willis, 71, were found hanging on to their 32-foot sail boat that washed ashore at Ponte Vedra Beach in northern Florida on Monday.

The men and their terrier Alfy had set out on February 18 from Port St Lucie in South Florida, headed for Grand Bahama.

They were found more than 200 miles in the opposite direction.

They told rescuers that they almost made it to Grand Bahama, which is 115 miles from where they launched, when the engine seized up and they lost power and navigation.

They drifted for several days, according to the Florida based First Coast News.

Mr Saunders and Mr Willis were carried up the coast, instead of out to sea. The US Coast Guard believes that a weather front helped push the boat back ashore.

When rescue personnel found the men, they were clinging to ropes in the back end of the 1976 Down East yacht.

They appeared confused and tired and didn’t know where they were, it was reported.

Mr Saunders told sheriff’s deputies that he and his friend ‘somehow got turned around’ on the way to the Bahamas.

Deputies found that a rope from the sail rigging had gotten tangled in the engine prop, which could have caused the motor to seize.

The men were treated and released from hospital.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Joy Hill says Saunders’ dog, Alfy, is being taken care of by the St Johns County Animal Control.