Fiji Yacht Crash

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Take a look at the charts covering the area from where they decided to change destination for Tonga to either Suva or Savevusevu in Fiji. There is no way to not pass near reefs for more than a hundred miles - which means you will be passing them both at night and with poor sunlight.. It is just the nature of the beast. The charting in the area is not that bad, you just have to understand that the exact positions are not necessarily correct. While adding Google Earth sat images helps in a lot of cases, the images do not cover all the reef areas. For example North Minerva reef is nicely covered while South Minerva Reef is not.

State of mild panic means really really paying attention to anything and everything, not running away

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by conachair

State of mild panic means really really paying attention to anything and everything, not running away

I figured as much. My point was that you have more than full days sail among these reefs to get anywhere from where they started. They just managed to hit the first one up.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by maxingout

When we cruised in Fiji, there was a yacht that sailed up on a reef. The captain and crew gathered up their valuables - passports etc - and they got off the yacht. They immediately went to Suva, got on an airplane and left the country.

Why the rush?

At that time, even if the yacht was a total loss, the owner of the yacht had to pay customs duties for "importing" the yacht into Fiji. So if you lost your yacht on a reef, customs duties would add insult to injury. Hence, if you lost your yacht, you got out of Fiji ASAP.

Oh, a far more daunting cost to worry about than customs. That is the fine for the damage to the reef. There have been some into the millions.

[Mr B]

I stood on the beach at Lautoka,
Yep, I will bring my Cat right into the beach here and walk across the road to customs when I leave,
Coming into Lautoka on my Cat, Night time, I was in 34 feet of water, Passing the yachts waiting for customs on Anchor in the bay,
I couldnt hear what they were yelling about, I was Just going slow on the motor and watching the depth sounder heading for the beach,

34 feet to 3 feet in seconds, Put it straight into reverse and backed off,
Had a look with the spotlight out the front,

A man made Coral reef right across the entrance to the beach, 2 feet high in front of my boat, 1/2 a mile off the beach,
Not on my charts, Paper or electronic,
It wasnt there when I looked the week before from the beach, , The tide must have been in that day and covered the reef,

The edge of Fiji drops thousands of feet in a couple of feet from being above the water,
Efate, In Vanuatu, drops to 600 feet in two feet off the shore, Thats in the channel between the islands, Near Havanna,
They are volcanic, They rise straight up from the ocean floor,

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Dauntlessny

There go I but for the grace of God.

This past year I have been setting the radar alarm pretty much all the time.
But I had not thought to set a depth alarm. It's a bit clunky to do, but a great idea and I will.

Richard

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by svrodeorm

This is knowledge well known since the age of sails, and yet people do the same kind of mistakes over and over again.

To much reliance on tech aids to navigation.

Sad story, and it will needlessly be repeated.

Where did this mantra "too much reliance on tech aids" come from?

In the age of sail, a far greater percentage of vessels were lost by running aground, running on to reefs, etc., than today. It happened so often on the coasts of Southern England that looting the wreckage of ships was a whole profession which supported large parts of the local populations. Radar and GPS are tremendous enhancements to safe navigation. No one ever said they are a substitute for diligence and good seamanship.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Where did this mantra "too much reliance on tech aids" come from?
.

From Me..!!!
Coz I a trouble making Luddite...

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Where did this mantra "too much reliance on tech aids" come from?

In the age of sail, a far greater percentage of vessels were lost by running aground, running on to reefs, etc., than today. It happened so often on the coasts of Southern England that looting the wreckage of ships was a whole profession which supported large parts of the local populations. Radar and GPS are tremendous enhancements to safe navigation. No one ever said they are a substitute for diligence and good seamanship.

Very true. The number of vessels lost today is a tiny fraction of those lost a century or two ago. The problem is that we think that there should be no vessels lost - that charts, radar, or whatever should be so good that all these risks disappear. Same thing about weather forecasting - people want (assume) forecasts are so good that you can pick weather windows that will mean you never have bad meteorology to deal with. You can work to reduce risk, but you can't eliminate it.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by AiniA

Very true. The number of vessels lost today is a tiny fraction of those lost a century or two ago. The problem is that we think that there should be no vessels lost - that charts, radar, or whatever should be so good that all these risks disappear. Same thing about weather forecasting - people want (assume) forecasts are so good that you can pick weather windows that will mean you never have bad meteorology to deal with. You can work to reduce risk, but you can't eliminate it.

Agreed!!