JAX BCH, Fla. — Luke Rehberg has gone from living on his sailboat to living on the beach. It was three weeks ago when his sailboat/home lost power out in the Atlantic and drifted onto the shore in Jacksonville Beach. He's been there ever since.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has given him until Wednesday to have the boat removed. With that day quickly approaching, Rehberg told First Coast News Tuesday that he's decided where he's going to live next.
"I'm going to be a local and stay here," he said "I found a room to rent in Jax Beach. I've met a lot of great people. The locals are great."
On Tuesday, two days before his eviction date on the beach, Rehberg continued salvaging anything and everything he could from the stranded sailboat that has become an icon of sorts over the last three weeks.
"I have until the 16th until it's not my boat anymore," Rehberg said adding that he's been trying to contact FWC without any success.
The friendly locals he's encountered and others have contributed money to Rehberg, but not enough to cover the $12,000 cost for an industrial-grade tugboat to remove the sailboat from the beach or the $15,000 he said the authorities will charge him to remove it. Rehberg said he might also be hit with a $40,000 fine.
He's unsure what he'll owe, but what he does know is that come midnight Wednesday, the sailboat is no longer his. "After that, I'm not supposed to touch it," he said.
Until then, "I'm going to put out a lawn chair and watch it," he said. Whatever the cost of his fines, Rehberg said he's going to own it.
"I'm gonna grow up and face the music with the state of Florida and what I owe - $10,000 or $40,000," he said. Rehberg is looking for work, "hoping to get a job working on boats," he said. "And I'm working on buying another boat."
