The Shipwreck: Sara G

 What has been one of our favorite places to go for dinner in Key Largo is a place called Shipwrecks Bar and Grill. It's kind of out of the way and not fancy (far from it) but we always enjoyed the coconut onion rings and the Mahi dinners. On one side of the patio is an open ocean rowing boat that has always been a curiosity. Where did it come from? What's its history? Why is it here?

Sometime in January (I think), an article was written about the boat by someone else who was curious, Ric Johnson. He is the author of an article, Sara G: From Australia to Key Largo. It was cut out from whatever newspaper published it (I suspect one of the Keys newspapers) and framed. The framed article hangs on the bow of the rowboat and tells the story of the Sara G.

The boat was built in Australia of balsa wood and fiberglass and holds several world rowing records. The last owner and skipper was Matt Craughwell who with five others in his crew set out in January of 2012 to row from Morocco to Barbados, a total of 3,000 miles. They made it 2500 miles when the boat was hit by several waves it was unable to handle and was overturned. The crew managed to retrieve the lifeboat from the rowboat and inflate it. They were rescued by a cargo ship responding to their emergency call. 

The Sara G was abandoned and drifted from waters near Barbados to the shore of Key Largo where Mike Hutching, the son of Shipwrecks owner found it and salvaged it. The boat has graced the patio of the restaurant since January of 2013.

And now we know.