Missing Cumming boater turns up in Bahamas
When Charles Collins left Puerto Rico for Florida on Oct. 15, he told his daughter he'd call within two weeks.
Collins, reported missing on Halloween, turned up in Nassau over the weekend, unscathed and unaware that the U.S. Coast Guard had been searching for him. According to his son-in-law, Walter Brown, Collins stopped in the Bahamas to repair the rudder of his 33-foot sailboat, a problem that's plagued him before.
A broken rudder in June left the part-time Cumming resident briefly stranded north of San Juan, until a Coast Guard rescue.
Collins, 67, didn't require help this time. He blamed his delay on still waters, Brown said, and was apparently out of radio range.
"He said the winds were non-existent," Brown told the AJC. "It just took him a lot longer than expected."
Collins was well east of Hurricane Ida, which killed 124 people in El Salvador over the weekend. It's since been downgraded to a tropical storm.
The Coast Guard had been searching for Collins at ports in Puerto Rico and Florida. The agency had advised boaters to be on the lookout for his white sailboat with a green stripe on its hull.
Collins has lived on the vessel for three years, Brown said. "He basically sold everything off to cruise the Caribbean," he said.
Collins has since resumed his journey to Florida, with a final destination of Titusville near Cape Canaveral.
About the Author
A native Atlantan, Boone joined the AJC staff in 2007. He quickly carved out a niche covering crime stories, assuming the public safety beat in 2014. He's covered some of the biggest trials this decade, from Hemy Neuman to Ross Harris to Chip Olsen, the latter of which was featured on Season 7 of the AJC's award-winning "Breakdown" podcast.
