It was a collaborative effort to salvage the Low Speed Chase from the Farallon Islands after it crashed with eight people on board during a race.
One person died at the crash site, four others are missing at sea and three people survived.
A specially made helicopter carefully removed the yacht wreckage from the crash site.
Authorities were afraid the sailboat would break apart. In the end the 30 mile trip to the airport was a success.
Another concern according to Doug Cordell, spokes person for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was the environment and rare birds on the island.
"Once they started laying their eggs, it would be too much of a disruption to be landing a helicopter on the island. A hand full of biologist are out there sensitive to wildlife. We were able to remove the wreckage in a short window," Cordell said.
