Fiji Yacht Crash

[kbmanufacturing]

Maybe this sailing thing is harder than I thought.

Not only did they run into a reef, but a whole inhabited island!

Isnt there GPS alarms for this sort of thing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k_1K1Tm4LE

[zeehag]

sailin g craft hit ,land literally more often than you would think. aegean did.. this yacht did.... friends i knew did, and others world wide did.. set your gps and fall asleep to hit a landmass. alarms? when yer sleeping?? apparently donot wake up the sleeping watchman. best tool in your kit is set of open eyeballs.

[boatman61]

To much faith in technology resolving all..

[Stu Jackson]

Why anyone sets a waypoint as a hard landmass remains beyond my understanding. How many times have we heard the admonitions to offset waypoints from buoys, for example, because "The Dummies" input waypoints from cruising books and travel waypoint to waypoint, often at excessive speed and in poor visibility? Just another example.

[Dockhead]

I believe that's a Holman & Pye Oyster 485 like the one I almost bought. A beautiful boat -- shame it was destroyed.


This kind of accident can be avoided, even in the event of a navigational mistake, by setting a radar guard zone. I never run offshore without one -- it immensely enhances the watch. The radar never blinks, never naps in the cockpit, and never goes below for a toilet break or to make a sandwich.

A visual watch would have also saved them, of course, and radar doesn't relieve you of the responsibility of keeping one, but it is pretty normal for a yacht which has been sailing for days out of sight of land, not to be keeping a very good visual watch. It's just practically inevitable human nature NOT to keep staring at the horizon, after it's been empty for days.

[boatman61]

The radar failed them because it was a king tide which drowned the reef allegedly.. even so it could have been avoided with an hourly position check on the plotter to see how much compensation was needed to the course due to off setting currents.
Once again.. blind faith..

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by boatman61

The radar failed them because it was a king tide which drowned the reef allegedly.. even so it could have been avoided with an hourly position check on the plotter to see how much compensation was needed to the course due to off setting currents.
Once again.. blind faith..

Insufficient care and diligence is not always a result of "blind faith in technology". Sometimes it's just insufficient care and diligence.


Another technological aid which could have prevented this -- a depth alarm, set to a depth which would not be expected wherever offshore you are, maybe 60 meters. I try to always keep my depth alarm set so that it will shout if something is out of the ordinary.


As to being set off your course line -- you can also set an alarm for that, but in any case, you can have a cockpit instrument show XTE, and all you have to do is glance at that to know if this is happening. I can tell you that I certainly know more often than once an hour, how far I am off my course line.

None of this is a substitute for reasonable diligence in watchkeeping, but technology, properly used, can tremendously enhance situational awareness and safety.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by kbmanufacturing

Maybe this sailing thing is harder than I thought.

Not only did they run into a reef, but a whole inhabited island!

Isnt there GPS alarms for this sort of thing?

Wifey B: Those blokes are bloody insane.

Charts? Plotter? Radar? Eyes? Radio? Duh.

[estarzinger]

The vast majority have of offshore sailors are not stupid. And you don't need to be a Mensa to be an excellent seaman.

But there is more casualness, lack of attention, procrastination and laziness in the offshore fleet than is ideal. You DO need to pay attention and have a terrific self-starting work ethic (all even when fatigued) to be an excellent seaman.

Ps note: I am commenting in general, NOT commenting specifically related about this thread's incident, because I don't know any details at all.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

....
Another technological aid which could have prevented this -- a depth alarm, set to a depth which would not be expected wherever offshore you are, maybe 60 meters. I try to always keep my depth alarm set so that it will shout if something is out of the ordinary.
......

In this area setting a depth alarm doesn't help. The waters can go from a few hundred feet to 2 feet in a couple of boat lengths. It is that dramatic a change.

As in most accidents, there was a combination of issues in play. The boat was on an offshore passage to Tonga. They broke a backstay and decided it would be safer to change destination and head to Fiji. This took them through the offshore islands/reefs on the approach to Fiji. They most likely had carefully studied the course to Tonga, but not the indirect one to Fiji prior to departing.

Most of the reefs in this area are on the charts, just not necessarily exactly where charted. Take a look at the note on the latest Jepperson/CMAP charts for the island they hit in the pic below (Rep to lie 2miles SW).

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

The vast majority have of offshore sailors are not stupid. And you don't need to be a Mensa to be an excellent seaman.

But there is more casualness, lack of attention, procrastination and laziness in the offshore fleet than is ideal. You DO need to pay attention and have a terrific self-starting work ethic (all even when fatigued) to be an excellent seaman.

Ps note: I am commenting in general, NOT commenting specifically related about this thread's incident, because I don't know any details at all.

What he said!

[Scotty Kiwi]

Kiwi yacht runs onto reef. Radio interview with crewman a few hours after their rescue. He recounts the terror, fresh, and in detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k_1K1Tm4LE

Skipper blames inaccurate chart - says the reef was 5km away from the charted location. I wonder whether someone should also post this in "navigation"?

Kiwi yacht owner blames outdated charts for Fiji shipwreck - NZ Herald

I've know Geoff (the interviewee) for a long time. He's a competent and cool guy, aged 50, on B pier at Chaffers Marina in Wellington, has sailed for years.

[maxingout]

I never trusted the charts in Fiji. While we were there, three boats sailed up on the reefs.

We always sailed with sun overhead or to our backs, someone was was on deck scanning the water ahead for clues, and if there was any question, someone was in the spreaders to be sure everything was ok.

Fiji has lots of reefs - lots of opportunities to make mistakes - and I even ran aground in suva harbor by misreading the chart. Fortunately, it was a sandy bottom and not a reef.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Paul L

In this area setting a depth alarm doesn't help. The waters can go from a few hundred feet to 2 feet in a couple of boat lengths. It is that dramatic a change.. . .

Point well taken. There are places like this for sure.

But a depth alarm as a backstop warning system is extremely valuable, and would prevent this kind of incident in most cases. There are relatively few places where you go from "off soundings" to aground without at least a mile or so of warning time.

I'm reminded also of the Jean Socrates grounding a few years ago -- definitely could have been prevented by having a depth alarm set up. Probably countless other incidents as well.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

But a depth alarm as a backstop warning system is extremely valuable, and would prevent this kind of incident in most cases. There are relatively few places where you go from "off soundings" to aground without at least a mile or so of warning time.

Not so sure about the value of that, lots of the atlantic islands go from hundreds (thousands?) of meters to reef very quickly. Radar picks up nearly everything unless the seas are well up and gain turned right down - odd that it didn't see the surf here. Though as far as this incident goes, I'm in a state of mild panic offshore if there's even a sea mount within 50 miles, even if a reef has plenty of water to sail over it can ruin your day midocean..

The watchdog plugin for opencpn is very good as well with many alarm triggers available, draws very little power on a raspberry pi. Landfall alarm looks good
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...landfall_alarm