Captain became an instant celebrity when his yacht washed up on an exclusive beach… now he’s vanished as his dark past emerges
A sailor who became an unlikely celebrity after his yacht was marooned on a popular Jersey Shore beach has now mysteriously vanished – just as his dark criminal past came to light.
Lawrence Kaehler, 51, from Deltona, Florida, bought a 32ft Catalina sailboat named Alestorm for his 50th birthday from a seller on Staten Island, New York, in August and set off on a 1,000-mile solo voyage to Cocoa Beach.
But he made it just 48 miles before disaster struck. At about 4am on September 20, while sailing off New Jersey, he encountered raging waters five miles offshore and instead of heading south, veered west, which saw the vessel slam onto the sands of Sea Girt.
Sea Girt is a small, affluent borough on the Jersey Shore known for its quiet beaches and tight-knit community, so Kaehler’s unexpected shipwrecking turned him into the talk of the town.
Locals initially rallied behind Kaehler as authorities tried to help him refloat the solar-powered boat, believing a high tide might push it back out to sea.
Officials warned him, however, that maritime law gave him 30 days to remove his vessel from the sand or it would be declared abandoned.
Under New Jersey’s maritime and environmental rules, any grounded vessel not removed within those 30 days can be classed as ‘abandoned’, allowing authorities to issue fines and take possession.
Local resident and dog walker Marilyn Zicha told the Daily Mail that neighbors quickly grew ‘very attached to Larry’ and he became something of a local celebrity.
Lawrence Kaehler lived on his shipwrecked boat for more than a month along the Sea Girt shoreline in New Jersey
Kaehler had quotes from salvage companies from $5,000 to $20,000. Instead of paying, he hoped high tides would get the boat back on the water
Kaehler had hoped the 32ft Catalina sailboat would give him ‘an adventure,’ but he did not expect this
‘Larry and I spent lots of time together. We had a lot of laughs. But most of the time was spent trying to come up with a plan to get his boat out,’ she said.
Zicha supplied the stranded sailor with wood, a charger and a jacket, while residents Mike and Morfina Schwarz stepped in to cover nearly all of his daily needs as he lived aboard the beached vessel.
‘She (Morfina) gave him clothes, bought him shoes. She made dinner every night,’ Zicha said, adding that Mike brought him coffee and a bagel each morning and handled his laundry.
‘Sometimes they would have him spend the night so he could have a home-cooked meal and a warm shower.
‘More and more people showed up,’ she added. ‘One day a guy came up with just a plastic bag – a huge sub, one beer and a bottle of water. A half hour later, a lady arrived with two paper plates filled with chocolate chip cookies. So many people were coming to his aid.’
Authorities carried out regular wellness checks as locals dug by firelight each night hoping a high tide would free the boat. But even an October nor’easter couldn’t budge it.
As of November 15th, the Alestorm has been marooned for 56 days, or nearly two months.
Nor’easters routinely hammer the Eastern Seaboard each fall, bringing high winds, huge surf and coastal flooding – often powerful enough to yank stranded vessels back to sea. But in Kaehler’s case, the fierce storm didn’t move Alestorm an inch.
Kaehler, a Florida flooring business owner, purchased the boat from a private seller in Staten Island back in August
Kaehler had believed he was heading for the nearby Manasquan Inlet but he was instead slammed onto Sea Girt’s shore in the dead of night by the rough sea
Resident Marilyn Zicha told the Daily Mail that neighbors had quickly grown ‘very attached to Larry’ and wanted to help him
The 30 days to remove the vessel has come and gone and Kaehler is seemingly nowhere to be seen. He had vowed not to leave the region until the matter was sorted
Resident Bobby Siliato filmed a timelapse showing the vessel unmoved despite the storm’s fury.
‘It survived the storm,’ he told Jersey Shore Hurricane News. ‘I have no clue how they’re gonna get it off the beach.’
Kaehler told the Asbury Park Press he’d been quoted between $5,000 and $20,000 by salvage companies to remove the sailboat.
But the 30-day deadline has now passed. The vessel remains wedged in the sand – and Kaehler, who has a lengthy criminal record, has vanished.
A summons was issued on October 20, NJ.com reported, as the boat is now officially considered ‘abandoned.’ A daily fine of up to $1,000 can be imposed, though the New Jersey State Police declined to say whether the penalty is being increased each day.
Kaehler has six felony convictions, including second-degree fraud and dealing in stolen property, plus a 2017 charge of false ownership of a pawned item. He also has third-degree felony conviction for selling and possessing cocaine.
Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail show that he has additional faced felony charges, including possession of burglary tools and paraphernalia, though the results are unknown. Records also show that he has been convicted of several misdemeanors.
He told a local reporter he has ‘made mistakes’ and paid for them. ‘I am a man of the past walking in the present stepping into the future,’ he said.
Kaehler told NJ.com he planned to remain in the area until the boat issue was resolved and intended to take a train to Maine, where he owns two other boats.
Since becoming stranded on Sea Girt beach, Kaehler’s past has come to light. He has eight felony convictions
Sea Girt and Spring Lake Police have been monitoring the situation
Night after night, locals came together, bonding as they tried to get the boat back into the water
On October 8 he told the Asbury Park Press: ‘I wanted an adventure. This wasn’t what I was looking for, but this is what I got.’
Daily Mail has attempted to contact Kaehler for further comment and reached out to Sea Girt and Spring Lake Police and state police.
Sea Girt Police posted photos of the stricken boat to Facebook on September 20, writing: ‘This is not an abandoned boat and we ask that the public stay clear of the vessel while it is beached. This is private property.’
Police Chief Justin Macko said Sea Girt offered to help remove the boat if Kaehler signed a waiver releasing the borough from liability in case it was damaged – but he declined.
‘We continue to closely monitor it, especially in inclement weather,’ Macko said, adding that the next steps for removing the vessel must proceed through legal channels.
