Boaters' Around-L.I. Record Attempt Ends With Crash in Fog

A collision with a steel buoy left a long gash in the port side of the race boat Stuart Haymim and Joey Imprescia were riding in during their record attempt.

Sep. 4, 2015

David E. Rattray

An attempt to set a new record for circumnavigating Long Island ended abruptly Thursday when a 50-foot-long racing catamaran crashed into a buoy south of Plum Island while moving at 148 miles per hour.

The two men aboard, Stuart Hayim and Joey Imprescia, were not hurt. They were seeking to break Mr. Hayim's own 2012 record for the 271-mile trip, which began at 7 a.m. at the Manhasset Bay Marina in Port Washington.

Reaching Plum Gut about a half-hour later and accompanied by a seaplane with medics and Mr. Hayim's wife and son aboard, the men noticed that it appeared cloudy ahead. Mr. Hayim radioed the plane, asking it to scout the route, but the fog instantly enveloped both it and the boat.

At about the same moment Mr. Imprescia spotted the rapidly approaching buoy and yelled a warning. Mr. Hayim turned the boat's wheel hard to starboard, avoiding a potentially fatal collision that would have split the twin hulls down the middle, he said.

Mr. Hayim said he took full responsibility for the crash.

The boat sustained damage to its port-side hull and was hauled out of the water after being towed to Ship Ashore Marina in Sag Harbor.

Mr. Hayim said that striking the buoy could have been a blessing in disguise, because other potiential obstructions, including the Ruins, a wrecked fort north of Gardiner's Island lay somewhere ahead in the fog.

His time for the Long Island trip in 2012 was two hours, 11 minutes, set in a 42-foot MTI catamaran that was powered by two 1,350-horsepower Mercury engines. Thursday's attempt was in a new MTI boat with twin Mercury 1,650-horsepower engines. Mr. Hayim's goal was a sub-two-hour time for completing the 271-mile route.

Mr. Hayim, a champion speedboat racer and Great Neck luxury auto dealer, had hoped to raise at least $250,000 for the Boomer Esiason and Don Monti foundations for medical research if he broke his old record, matching donors' pledges himself.

The boat was in Babylon on Friday getting cleaned up to be sent to Green Bay, Wisc., where its builder will decide whether to repair it or scrap it and build a newer and faster version, Gwen Wunderlich-Smith, a spokeswoman for Mr. Hayim, said.