A storm on Saturday that blasted through a regatta fleet on Alabama’s Mobile Bay has devastated the local sailing community.
At least two people were killed. More than 40 people were pulled from the bay by rescuers and “good Samaritans,” the Coast Guard said, but four more sailors remained missing on Tuesday and are believed to be lost.
In an emotional recount, AL.com tells the story of sailor Lee Creekmore, who tried to pull his friend and crew member back into his sailboat as the wind and waves raged.
Thrown overboard by the violent storm blowing apart the Dauphin Island Regatta, Kris Beall was holding on to a line wrapped around the boat’s rudder.
The 26-foot-long boat was dragging him, and no one on board could manage to reel him closer.
And then he was gone.
On Monday, Creekmore was struggling emotionally as he recounted the story.
“All of a sudden it hit and went to basically hurricane force,” Creekmore said of the storm striking from the west.
