Small Vessel Strands on Central Oregon Coast's South Beach, Cause Unknown

Published 09/19/23 at 11:7 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Newport, Oregon) – Beachgoers to Newport's South Beach State Park got a bit of a surprise early Monday morning and Tuesday, finding a small fishing vessel stranded above the tideline. (Photo OPRD ranger Ben Fowler)

It's as yet unknown what caused the fishing vessel Judy to crash on this beach, but the entirety of the Oregon coast was under one kind of beach hazards or small craft warning or another, with sizable meteorological disturbances offshore.

What is known, according to Oregon Parks and Recreation Department's (OPRD) Stephanie Knowlton, is that there were radio calls from the Judy stating it was in trouble.

“There was a distress call between 3 and 4 a.m. Monday, Sept. 18 when the 'Judy' ran ashore near the south jetty by South Beach State Park. There were no injuries,” Knowlton told Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

Oregon State Police and the US Coast Guard were notified and responded to the scene, and they and other Oregon coast officials have been there on and off since.

Photo courtesy CoastWatch

There was reportedly only one person onboard, but that is as yet unconfirmed.

“No contaminants were spilled during the grounding, and a contractor is working to remove all of the contaminants from the vessel, which they hope to complete by tomorrow,” Knowlton said Tuesday night. “The next phase is determining the best and safest way to remove the boat from the beach.”

Knowlton said South Beach is not closed in any way, but OPRD asks visitors to keep a safe distance from the ship as crews do their work.

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State Police and the Coast Guard will be conducting investigations at this point, and eventually one of those agencies will release the cause of the crash.

On Monday and Tuesday there were beach hazard warnings up and down the Oregon coast, from Brookings all the way into the south Washington coast. There was a good possibility of sneaker waves, and offshore seas were a little rough. MORE PHOTOS BELOW, including the infamous "tsunami dock" that landed in Newport about 10 years ago

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Photo OPRD ranger Ben Fowler

Below: the dock from Japan that arrived here last decade after the Japanese tsunami

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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