FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The owner of a popular food boat in Fort Lauderdale has been left reeling hours after the vessel capsized and went under with workers on board.
Sunday’s sinking of Jay’s Sandbar Foodboat, near the 1800 block of Southeast Seventh Street, left local residents in shock.
“I’m surprised, for sure,” said area resident John Machusko. “It’s interesting that it’s been around for a decade, I believe, and they even did some charity work a few years back. They’ve been feeding people for quite some time.”
There were two people on board when the boat sank. Both of them were OK.
The owner of Jay’s Sandbar, Jeremy Lycke, was out doing a delivery.
7News spoke with one person that was on the food boat when it sank.
“It went down in a minute. She flipped, bang, everything was floating in the water,” said Lycke.
Lycke and Coulette Murray have spent the past four years building their food boat. To the boaters they feed, they’re as popular as low tide.
“They’re not our customers; that’s what people don’t understand. They are our friends, you know? These people are out there every weekend,” said Lycke.
“We felt a big wave, and then I heard a pop, and then I saw the outriggers floating away, and as soon as it did that, within seconds, we started tilting downwards, and the equipment was starting to fall. This is heavy stuff, starting to fall down,” said Coulette Murray.
Lycke said he knew right away how bad it was.
“I looked, I spun the boat around and the food boat was already listing like this, and my heart just sank,” said Lycke. “It was the worst sight I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
Lycke gave his reaction to seeing his business being washed away in an instant.
“I knew it’s beyond repair. I just knew because I built that boat. You know, I do marine engineering. I know there was no saving it, and I was like, ‘Get off, get off, get off,'” said Lycke.
In a Facebook post, Lycke said the vessel flipped over when the stabilizer pontoon snapped, causing it to sink.
He said everyone on board got off safely. No one was hurt, but the boat is a total loss.
The Facebook post reads in part, “It could have been much, much worse. My crew is more important than anything; they stuck by me for 3 years. It was never easy, but we enjoyed you guys. We will rebuild.”
Also surprised to see the floating restaurant gone is Seve Depardon, who spends nearly every weekend on the water.
Depardon said the food boat was a Fort Lauderdale staple.
“We’ve seen that boat, had my friends swim over, buy food off the boat,” he said. “It’s always been around, right at the Fort Lauderdale triangle sandbar.”
Now, Lycke is hoping all those customers rally behind him, so he can get back out there to the heart of the sandbar, where he makes his living.
“It’s not a tragedy. It’s a terrible thing for us, and you know, for the people, the sandbar, all of our friends, but you know, we’re still alive to tell the story,” said Lycke.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help remove the capsized food boat and build a new one. Click here if you would like to help.
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