Kind-hearted retiree sells his boat for just $1 to a couple whose own vessel sank in Florida TWO DAYS into the dream trip they had spent their life savings on

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A couple whose boat sank just two days after beginning their dream of sailing off into the sunset and leaving it all behind were given another boat for just a dollar.

Tanner Broadwell, 26, and Nikki Walsh, 24, sold everything they owned in Colorado to buy a sailboat and live on the open sea, sailing around the Bahamas, but the dream all but disappeared when the houseboat sank off the coast of Florida three weeks ago.

When their story made the Tampa Bay Times retired physician and boat owner Mark Reinecke, saw their plight and sold them his 1985 Cheoy Lee Pedrick 36-foot sailboat, the Odyssey, for $1.

He noted the young couple were from Colorado like he and his wife, and, that they too had a beloved pug.

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Tanner Broadwell, 26, and Nikki Walsh, 24, sold everything they had to sail away on their boat Lagniappe (pictured) but just two days into their journey the vessel snagged and sunk

Mark Reinecke, 77, had his boat (docked behind him) sitting in his yard after decades of enjoying it. Over the years he had gotten less use out of it with age and health becoming an issue, so he sold it to the couple for all of one-dollar

The Lagniappe struck something in the water so abruptly that Walsh almost flew off the deck

At 77-years-old Reinecke said his age and declining health had impeded him from taking the boat out on trips to the Florida Keys and Bahamas like he and his family did a decade ago. 

'So I've had it there behind the house trying to think of something to do with it,' Reinecke said. 

'That boat is like part of our family, but we also feel that the sailboat deserves to be at sea, not just sitting there, so when this situation came up, we said, 'Let them have it'. It's like passing it on to the next generation.'

The seasoned boatman went over all of the boat's quirks that he himself has navigated in the 33 years of owning the Odyssey, and he talked to the couple about 'normal concerns' over their sailing abilities, but added 'I can't teach them to sail. They just have to do it.'

The couple hope to be sailing away again by next week. 

When the Lagniappe capsized, they were left with almost nothing but $90 to their name, their two-year-old pug, Remy, and their social security cards.

Everything else went down with the ship.  

Soon after the wreck their story spread and they started a GoFundMe titled 'Couple's Sunken Dreams,' to help pay the $10,000 fee it would cost to have the wreck removed from the waters. 

The far surpassed their goals raising over $16,000 to date.  

 Their GoFundMe campaign, titled 'Couple's Sunken Dreams,' easily surpassed its stated goal of raising $10,000 and has raised more than $16,000 to date from hundreds of donors.

The couple made edits to the page and accusations flew about the whole ordeal being a scam.   

They removed a sentence saying the funds were 'solely to get the boat out of the water' and added one saying they'd use any extra money to buy a new boat and continue the dream. Later they took out all references to salvaging the Lagniappe and wrote, 'The first thing we (need) is a new boat to continue our adventure.' 

'It was a misunderstanding. We only changed the GoFundMe because we passed the $10,000 we needed, and people kept sending us money,' Broadwell said. 'We wanted them to know what it was going to. We didn't want people to think that we still needed more money for the salvage. But rumors spread. All the sudden we had people asking us for refunds, and GoFundMe fraud protection calling us, saying they needed receipts, which we're sending them.'

'I sold everything I had to do this,' Broadwell told the Tampa Bay Times, when the boat sank in early February, 'and I lost everything in a matter of 20 minutes.'

Things were smooth sailing at the start of their fated journey until Broadwell and Walsh got to John's Pass, where they planned to dock for the night.

Just 15 minutes before 9pm Eastern, they started having a difficult time navigating the channel, the couple told WJAX.  

Tanner Broadwell (right), 26, and Nikki Walsh (left), 24, sold everything they owned in Colorado to buy a sailboat and live their best lives on the open sea, but that ship set sail for them when their boat sank

Lost everything: The couple was only two days into the adventure of a lifetime when their dream boat hit something in the water, and capsized

The team of two and their dog, a two-year-old pug named Remy, set sail to conquer the seven seas in February

Things in their view didn't seem to line up with a navigation chart they had from 2016-2017, and then their ship struck something in the water so abruptly that Walsh almost flew off the deck. 

Broadwell soon realized the keel had been ripped from the base of the boat.

As water began making its way into the cabin, Walsh called Sea Tow. 

She said her hands were shaking and she stuttered as she spoke to a representative from what is the AAA of the boating universe.

'I know I probably sounded like a crazy person to them,' Walsh said.

'They said they would be there in 40 minutes. I thought, 'That is a long time to spend out here.''

It was dark and the fog had rolled in to the uncharted waters for Broadwell and Walsh, and now their cabin was flooding.

Walsh and Broadwell met when Broadwell moved to Philadelphia, where Walsh is from, to work

The couple and their dog only made it from Tarpon Springs to John's Pass before sinking

The pair bought that 1969 Columbia sail boat from Alabama in April for $5,000

Describing how she felt in that moment, Walsh said: 'I'm just standing there in awe. I just lost everything I ever owned. I see my things floating away and I can't get to them.'

Once Sea Tow finally arrived, their ship was already immersed in close to 10 feet of water, and ready capsize.

The couple, and Remy, had no choice but to jump overboard. 

Neither Broadwell nor Walsh had any boating experience, but that didn't stop them from buying the 49-year-old vessel from Alabama, last April.

They named it 'Lagniappe,' which is pronounced lanny-yap, and is Creole for 'bonus.' 

The couple paid $5,000 for the boat, and spent another $5,000 to get it into 'ship shape.' 

The two were sick of the work they were doing, and decided to try a Caribbean adventure

The pair spent another $5,000 fixing up the sail boat before they set sail three weeks ago

Neither Broadwell nor Walsh had any boating experience, but that didn't stop them from buying the 49-year-old vessel from Alabama, last April

To get them vessel ready for their planned Caribbean adventure, they traveled in the 1969 Columbia sailboat along the Gulf Coast, from Alabama to Panama City with Broadwell's father teaching them how to sail.

The couple had zero sailing experience, but Broadwell's father helped them get from the point of purchase to their eventual launching location. 

Broadwell and Walsh docked the boat in May in Tarpon Springs, and prepped for their trip while docked at Mar Marina. 

Broadwell and Walsh came into each other's lives when Broadwell moved from Cocoa Beach to Philadelphia for work, where Walsh is from.

The two met, became friends, grew closer and eventually dated before moving to Breckenridge, Colorado together in 2015.