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Sept. 10--NORFOLK -- A sailboat that washed up on the beach at Willoughby Spit during Hurricane Irene and had become something of an attraction was destroyed by a fire late Friday night.
The 42-foot yacht Maybe Tomorrow was ablaze when firefighters arrived shortly before midnight, Battalion Chief Harry Worley of Norfolk Fire-Rescue said. The vessel was beached during the August storm after it had lost its anchors.
Michael Calabrese, Gina Sullivan and their cat were pulled off by rescue personnel after they tried to ride out the hurricane off 9th View Street. Their rescue drew national media attention.
Just before it washed up, the craft suffered damage when it struck the rocks of a jetty offshore.
On Saturday, Sullivan, who lived on the boat with Calabrese, could be seen picking through the charred wreckage. Curious onlookers snapped photos.
Investigators collected samples from the wreckage and ordered tests to determine if an accelerant was used to ignite the fire. Authorities are following a number of leads, Worley said.
Willoughby resident Mike Arvizu said he was outside his apartment with a group of friends late Friday when they heard what "sounded like a match hitting lighter fluid."
"We ran up to the beach, and the boat was engulfed. You could see the accelerant dripping off."
As crews worked to bring the fire under control, a small crowd gathered, witnesses said. Arvizu and others said they feared the boat might explode, but the Coast Guard had drained the boat's fuel and sewage tanks a few days earlier.
James Mershon's home overlooks the shipwreck and he was surprised to see the damage when he woke up Saturday. "It seems like these people just can't catch a break."
Soon after he was rescued, Calabrese landed in jail on trespassing charges. Then he was arrested a second time and charged with damage to property and public drunkenness.
The city had been taking bids to remove the wrecked craft while Calabrese scrambled to come up with a plan to remove it on his own. The 48-year-old stood a few hundred feet from the wreckage and talked on the phone Saturday morning while bystanders gathered around the remains of the sailboat.
"That was my home," Calabrese said, declining to answer questions. A contractor will be hired to remove the boat as soon as possible, Worley said.
"We had been trying to work with the owners, but at this point, it is a public safety hazard," he said.
"It has to go, hopefully by this weekend."
Pilot writer David M. Putney contributed to this report.
