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Runaway Boat Story Results in Happy Ending

November 05, 2008 - OAKLAND -- Mike Guarino called it a one in a million chance that a pontoon boat set adrift from its moorings on Messalonskee Lake by 50 mph gusts would be recovered undamaged.

But that's what happened Wednesday morning.

Guarino, a neighbor to the family that owns the pontoon boat, said the incident is a testament to the power of the wind, which managed to blow the vessel off the ledge it was moored on for what turned out to be about a 4-mile trip on Messalonskee Lake.

"It never came unattached to its mooring weights," he said of the two 250 pound weights. "So what happened is those moorings continued to bounce as the boat bounced."

Guarino said boats usually end up crashing ashore when they go adrift.

But the pontoon boat, he said, somehow managed to steer clear of obstacles until the mooring got caught in a sandbar.

That's when Messalonskee Lake resident Edward Pearl spotted the vessel with fishing rods hanging from its sides.

"All I could think of at first," Pearl said, "is it is kind of cold to be fishing."

When Pearl saw no signs of activity onboard, he became concerned that somebody might have fallen overboard or suffered a heart attack or stroke.

A call to Oakland police, however, brought relief from that fear.

The pontoon boat owners had called police early that morning to report that the boat had drifted off.

Guarino used his fishing boat to ferry his neighbors to their pontoon boat.

He said they were able to start the vessel and motor home without a problem.

Guarino said he was relieved that nobody had tried to recover the boat via canoe or by trying to swim from the lakefront.

"That's how accidents happen this time of year," he said, noting that the water temperature has dipped to about 50 degrees.

BY COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer, Kennebec Journal, 10/31/2008


Lakes: Messalonskee Lake
Regions: Belgrade


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