By Brittany Butcher,
Staff Writer

StarNewsOnline.com

It was no illusion.

About 120 miles off of Cape Lookout, the ocean raged with 45- to 50-foot waves and winds blew at 70 knots, topping out near 100 knots, said sailboat captain Chris Leitch.

Enormous breakers and ferocious wind ripped the anchors from the deck of the 67-foot Illusion, and the sailboat began taking on water, Leitch said.

At 5:30 a.m., Leitch was forced to signal for help with an emergency position indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB.

The crewless vessel would entwine Leitch's life with that of Cape Fear residents - the Illusion washed up Wednesday south of Fort Fisher.

Leitch said he and two crew members, first mate James Coates and Jessica Youngblood, were sailing the Illusion to Newport, R.I., from the Bahamas. The sailboat's new owner had purchased it recently.

Leitch said this was his maiden voyage behind the wheel of the single-mast aluminium craft.

Leitch said the crew left Grand Bahama Island on May 3 and had 2 1/2 days of wonderful sailing.

By Saturday, the Illusion had reached North Carolina waters when winds began blowing about 30 knots, gusting at 50, he said. A knot is sailing shorthand for one nautical mile per hour, or about 1.15 miles per hour.

A storm coming out of the Northeast, which would become the year's first subtropical storm, stalled over the coast.

Running with sails in the increasingly powerful winds became fruitless. Leitch decided to switch to engine power about 40 miles south of Cape Hatteras.

The engine failed instantly. The crew, forced to turn away from land, headed 100 miles out to sea to avoid colliding with the coast and away from the Gulf Stream. A little lost and worried, Leitch said they ran with the wind heading south for about 16 hours. Then Monday at 4 a.m. the sailboat's steering system went out.

Waves 20 feet and higher broke over Illusion's stern repeatedly, shadowing the captain's cockpit in the center of the sailboat.

"That's a boat-breaking wave," Leitch said.The crew waited for about eight hours in 40- to 50-foot seas after setting off the EPIRB signal; the Coast Guard arrived about 1 p.m.

Illusion crewmember Jessica Youngblood was the first to jump into the cool Atlantic waters with waves sometimes as large as a five-story building rushing around her, followed by first mate James Coates and then Leitch.

Coast Guard helicopter rescue divers braved the roiling ocean to pull the crew one by one to safety.

Leitch praised the Coast Guard; he said when he passes through North Carolina again, his rescuers will be the first people he sees.

The Illusion somehow made its way through the storm to Kure Beach by Wednesday. TowBoat U.S. out of Southport has made three attempts to pull the sailboat from its beached position a couple miles south of the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

The first two high tides, Wednesday afternoon and late Wednesday night, proved unsuccessful with the first try capsizing the small craft. A tug was able to get the sailboat turned around Thursday afternoon, but then the tide went out, Leitch said.

He was hopeful the fourth attempt, after midnight Thursday, would be enough to free the Illusion from its stranded state.

He and the crew were ready to leave from Newport on Wednesday afternoon when they got word that the sailboat had been grounded. They canceled their flights and jumped in a car to Kure Beach.

Leitch said any boat that can take that kind of beating and still float deserves much credit.

"As long as there's no real damage to the hull, we'll bring her back to life," he said.

Brittany Butcher: 343-2075

britt.butcher@starnewsonline.com