COCOA BEACH, Fla. — Someone tried to steal a quarter-million-dollar yacht from Cocoa Beach, but crashed into a sandbar sometime just after midnight Monday and failed.
The Brevard County Sheriff's Office aviation unit found the Sea Anthem in the middle of the Banana River about a mile away from where it was taken in the middle of the night.
The heat from the engine created a hot glow on the helicopters infrared camera. Whoever took it ran the 47-foot yacht aground on a sandbar.
"It draws four feet and it was in two feet of water," Joel Brown's son told WFTV.
The boat belongs to World War II vet Joel Brown. His son told WFTV they put the boat up for sale recently and questioned whether that might have prompted someone to hot wire the dashboard and steal it right from the dock of a Cocoa Beach home.
"You can't put up with this stuff all the time, it's terrible," Brown's son said.
When the sheriff's marine unit got to the stolen boat, armed deputies searched it to see if the thief was still onboard. The thief was gone, and so was a brand new dinghy attached to the yacht. It was later found at a Merritt Island marina.
Longtime boater Fred Davis said whoever stole it didn't know the channels between Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island very well or how many sandbars there are.
"You'd really have to run the river a few times to even attempt that," Davis said.
The owner's son said it wasn't the way they wanted to part with the vessel and now they have to make repairs before they can put it back on the market. The sheriff's office says it doesn't have a description of anyone involved.
The owner said he thought it was safe behind his own home. Now, he's going to keep his dogs in the backyard more often.