Luke Rehberg was sleeping in a hammock, watching over his beached sailboat on Jacksonville Beach, since Oct 14. He is ready for his stakeout to end.
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — The man who made his home on Jacksonville Beach off 14th Avenue N. is moving on.
Luke Rehberg became stranded on the beach after his sailboat lost power on Oct. 24.
The boat, where Rehberg was living, became stranded on the beach.
He stood watch over the boat ever since, sleeping in a hammock and using solar panels for power.
Now, he says, he “wants all this to be over.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wanted Rehberg out by Nov. 16.
He was hoping to be able to remove and repair the boat. But a crowdfunding campaign was not able to make even half of its $10,000 goal to help him get off the beach, and Rehberg said he would need $37,000 to get the boat off the shore and repair it.
Rehberg’s watch has to come to an end, he told First Coast News Friday. He said last week he would likely have it destroyed and moved from the beach in pieces.
Friday, he said he is he is now trying to get the boat removed.
Despite his efforts to patrol the area, his boat was “robbed four times,” he said. And the hits will keep coming, as he will have to pay to have the boat taken to a salvage yard.
The crowdfunding money will go towards a down payment, and he will work out a payment plan for the rest of the cost.
When asked what his plans are after the sailboat is removed, Rehberg said he has a backup. Turns out he has a 33-foot boat in Hilton Head. He said it’s the boat he grew up sailing. That boat doesn’t have an engine and needs parts from the boat that is stranded on Jax Beach.
Once he gets that boat up and running, he’ll live on it, he said.
