Mayor's yacht found on freeway

Palmetto Bay police confirmed late Tuesday that the vessel, a 60-foot motor yacht registered to the mayor's office, had no registered driver. It was found idling across two lanes of the coastal freeway shortly after 3 a.m., bow pointed inland, radio tuned to the harbor forecast.

Traffic was diverted for six hours while officers searched the cabin. They recovered a set of golf clubs, a framed photo of the mayor shaking hands with himself, and no keys.

The mayor's office said in a statement that the yacht "was on official business" and declined to say which business. A spokesperson added that the carpool lane was used legally, as the yacht had "at least two occupants at all times," though neither occupant has been found and the spokesperson would not say whether either of them was the mayor.

How does a yacht reach the freeway?

Harbor patrol records show the yacht left its berth at 11:40 p.m. How it reached the freeway, nine miles inland, remains under investigation. Officers have ruled out a trailer, a crane and "anything reasonable." One theory, floated by the traffic division and immediately sunk by the harbor division, is that the yacht used the storm drain that runs under Sunline Boulevard, which is wide enough for a bus but, the harbor division notes, "not a bus with a mast."

"I only stole it because it was already moving."

— Unnamed witness, speaking from the hard shoulder

The witness, who was not arrested because nobody could establish what he had stolen, told Wazel News he had simply climbed aboard at the Pier 4 off-ramp and "held the wheel for a bit, to be helpful." He described the ride as smooth until the yacht reached the carpool lane, where it "really opened up."

Eleven parking spaces

The freeway reopened at 9 a.m. The yacht has been moved to the police impound lot, where it occupies eleven spaces and has already received two parking tickets from an officer who, colleagues say, "was just doing his rounds." The impound lot's manager has asked the city for a bigger lot or a smaller yacht.

Councilwoman Pia Serrano, who chairs the harbor committee, called the incident "a wake-up call for everyone who assumed yachts stay in the water." She has proposed a bylaw requiring all city vessels to carry a license plate "for when this happens again."

What the mayor's office is not saying

Asked whether the mayor was aboard, the office said the mayor was "at home, asleep, as yachts are not his department." Asked which department yachts were, the office ended the call. A second call reached the same spokesperson, who asked how we had got the number, which is printed on the city's website under "Contact the Mayor."

Wazel News has requested the yacht's logbook under the city's open-records rules. The city has 30 days to respond, or, by its own precedent, 31. We will update this story as it develops, assuming it stays on land.