Boat stranded off Semaphore for St Patrick’s Day celebrations

It was a bizarre sight to be sure, to be sure, off Semaphore when a group celebrating St Patrick’s Day got themselves into a wee spot of bother as the low tide struck their vessel.

Police rescue some boaties after their yacht becomes stuck on a sandbar off of Semaphore . Picture: 7NEWS

It’s not the lilt of the Irish, but rather the tilt that got a group of celebrating sailors in a spot of wee bother off the South Australian coast on St Patrick’s Day.

Aboard with all the essential supplies having sailed from the Yorke Peninsula to Semaphore, the Irish crew’s luck ran aground when they were caught by the tide and ended up stranded about 11am Sunday.

Some people were rescued from the boat while the remaining crew settled in awaiting the high tide to right the keel and sail off into the sunset.

Police rescue some boaties after their yacht becomes stuck on a sandbar off of Semaphore . Picture: 7NEWS

“We just came down to fly the Irish flag down the coast and the tide caught us out a little bit,” one of the Irishmen aboard told wading 9 News media on Sunday.

“The flag doesn’t fly as well (as) when we’re vertical but you know, that’s the way it goes.”

The cheery crew appeared unfazed by the predicament, singing some (shallow) sea shanties in a nod to St Patrick and the Emerald Isle while the tide came back in.

Police rescue some boaties after their yacht becomes stuck on a sandbar off of Semaphore . Picture: 7NEWS

“In fact, we had a perfect view of the horizon,” one of the men said.

The boat became marooned about 11am when the tide dropped to 0.9m, reaching an eventual low of 0.3m at 1.30pm before it turned and hit a high of 2.6m just after 8pm.

The people on-board who were ferried ashore were not injured, but had other plans, one of the crew told 9 News.

“They were going to something called The Fringe,” he said.

It seems some Irish luck – and tidal flows – helped rescue the boat with no sign of it off Semaphore on Monday morning.