CAPE MAY – A 62-foot Lagoon catamaran was stranded in Delaware Bay Friday evening, July 25, after lightning struck the mast of the sailing vessel.

Sea Tow Cape May owner/operator Jack Moran said he heard a Mayday come in around 9:30 or 10 that evening, in the midst of a thunderstorm.

Moran said the owners, a husband and wife and two kids, had sailed from Texas and were near the Brandywine Shoals Lighthouse when lightning struck the mast. There were no injuries to anyone on the boat.

Moran said the Lagoon has a 100-foot mast, which is about twice as high as other sailboats’.

The strike knocked out all communication equipment, navigational aids and even the motor, leaving the family stranded about 8 miles out from the Cape May Canal. Moran said there was a companion vessel with the disabled vessel, and a distress call was issued.

Sea Tow Cape May towed the boat from its location around Cape May Point to Cape May Harbor by way of the Cape May Inlet.

On Monday, July 28, Sea Tow Cape May towed the catamaran to Yank’s Marina in Dorchester, Cumberland County, because it was the only marina with the equipment to pull the boat out of the water. Moran said besides being 62 feet long, the vessel was about 35 feet wide.

Moran said the catamaran was a “pretty well put together boat” that was fully capable of making the trip from Texas. He said the captain was definitely savvy enough to handle the trip, as well.

However, he said, the natural elements can definitely come up with some surprises, or at least diversions. “Mother Nature will get the best of all of us,” he said.

Asked about the summer as a whole this year, Moran said Sea Tow has been “insanely busy.” He said that on Tuesday, July 29, they would be heading to Avalon to retrieve the last of a sailboat that ended up on the rocks after the engine failed. All 10 people on that boat were able to make it to shore safely.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.