Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Ehling is live in Galveston at the scene of the rescue, where he talked to everyone about the ordeal.
Sailboat rescue in Galveston
Captain Andrew Green told ABC13 this all happened around 9 p.m. when he was trying to get his 32-foot sailboat into the port but ended up too close to the jetty, stranding everyone on board.
Green, his wife, and their neighbor were coming back from Port Arthur, but by the time they returned to Galveston, the sun had gone down, making it difficult to navigate in the water.
Green is colorblind but says he could see the markers and read their numbers. Somehow Green, his wife and the neighbor still found themselves on the wrong side of the markers and headed toward land.
"Next thing you know, we couldn't see the next red light, so we just kept going. Pretty soon, we found out that we were on the wrong side, but I don't know how that happened," Green said.
They were stuck in the boat for seven hours on some rocks.
Galveston boat rescue
The Coast Guard couldn't reach them because the water was too shallow, so the Galveston Beach Patrol came out and brought them safely to shore.
Green says he and his wife, who is also in her 80s, and the neighbor are all fine. The boat is still out in the water, needing to be towed.
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