Chesterfield reef jumps out in front of yacht and sinks it

[cat man do]

Story about some yachties that hit chesterfield reef which is bloody huge and the only thing to avoid on the run accross, so dont know how you would not know it was there

Qld-bound cruise liner rescues yachtsmen



November 23, 2008 - 2:02PM





Four sailors whose yacht struck a reef between Australia and Noumea have told of their relief at seeing rescuers just moments after they were forced to abandon ship.

New Zealanders Mark Iaconetti and Robert Cole, co-owners of the 14m cutter-rigged sloop Sambaluka, said they were forced to abandon their yacht literally as the Brisbane-bound cruise ship P&O Pacific Sun came into view.

"It was a mixed feeling at the time. We were so relieved but sorry that we'd lost our beautiful boat," Mr Iaconetti said.

New Caledonian Maud Mossetti and Frenchman Brice Paul Mignot were also hitching a ride to Australia onboard the $300,000 yacht when it struck the Coral Sea reef 540 nautical miles off Mackay early on Friday morning.

The four arrived in Brisbane along with their rescuers about 5.30am (AEST) on Sunday.

Mr Iaconetti, 41, said he had had no warning the reef was in their path as they sailed in idyllic conditions.

"It was beautiful sailing, we'd checked the charts carefully," he said.

No you did'nt
"Nothing indicated there was a reef there on the charts.

Appart from the big picture marked Chesterfield reef.


It was ideal conditions. There were 12-15 knot winds.

"All of a sudden, our depth gauge started reading 120m, 40m, 30m, 10m, 6m then ... `boom' then another boom and another boom and then it was obvious, we'd hit a reef."



<Snipped> more here Qld-bound cruise liner rescues yachtsmen - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

Glad you got off safely guys, but it really makes me wonder if you should have been allowed to even be on or own a boat

Dave

[btrayfors]

Dave,

Well, a couple of years ago you had trouble finding charts of the Chesterfield Reefs :-)

FYI, the US Hydrographic Office has a 2008 version of its "Sailing Directions Enroute" covering the East Coast of Australia and offshore islands.

Here's what it says about the Chesterfield group:

"Chesterfield Reefs
6.11 Chesterfield Reefs, with Loop Islet (19°58'S., 158°
28'E.) near their S end, consists of three narrow reefs which
extend 9 miles N and 27 miles NW, respectively, from South
Elbow, their S extremity.
6.11 South Elbow (19°59'S., 158°29'E.), on which there is a
meteorological station, is well marked by Loop Islet, a flat,
tufted islet, 3.4m high, just inside the reef. The inner edge of
the reef extending N from South Elbow is bordered by numerous
shoal patches, some of which are steep-to.
6.11 The Anchorage Islets (19°54'S., 158°28'E.) are a group of
islets on the inner edge of the reef, 5 miles N of Loop Islet. An
isolated underwater dangerous rock lies 1.2 miles NNW of
Loop Islet. The third islet from the N, the highest, is 11.6m
high. The islets and dry sand cays on the reef add to its elevation,
and form a natural breakwater from E. There are numerous
wrecks on the islets.
6.11 Anchorage.—There is good anchorage in convenient depths
inside Chesterfield Reefs in the SE part, sheltered from N
through E and S through W. The chief precaution in anchoring
is to select a sandy area on which to anchor with swinging
room, between the below-water coral patches.
6.11 The greater part of this area inside the reefs has regular
depths of 37 to 53m, but on the E side numerous steep-to
patches have been seen. A below-water reef, dark in color and
difficult to discern, and dangerous even to boats, lies 5 miles W
of the highest of the Anchorage Islets. A number of other
patches have been reported inside the reef and can best be seen
on the chart. The positions of the patches are approximate.
6.11 The best anchorage is 0.5 mile W of the highest of the Anchorage
Islets.
6.12 Passage Islet (Bennett Islet) (19°55'S., 158°22'E.),
12.5m high, lies 7 miles NW of South Elbow, 0.2 mile SE of
the narrow passage from which it takes its name. The passage
is 0.2 mile wide, with a depth of 14.6m in the center of the
fairway. Several sand cays lie on the reef SE of the islet. A
strong 3 knot tidal current sets through it in a S or N direction.
6.12 From the above passage, the SW side of the reef extends 4.5
miles NW, and close within the NW end is Long Island. Three
small low islets lie on the reef between the passage and Long
Island. Shoals, with depths of 2.1 to 2.7m, lie 0.1 mile off the
reef on the NE side of Long Island.
6.12 Long Island (19°52'S., 158°19'E.), 6.1m high, is the largest
of Chesterfield Reefs. A monument stands near the middle of
the NE side of the island; a small bush-covered cone stands on
its NW end. A boat passage is available through the reef; in
good weather boats may pick their way past the dangers lying
NE of the monument.
6.12 Anchorage.—Anchorage may be obtained, in a depth of
27m, 0.6 mile NE of the monument, or in 24m, 0.7 mile NNE
of the monument on Long Island.
6.12 Long Island Passage (19°51'S., 158°17'E.), between Long
Island and the S end of the W reef, is 2.5 miles wide. The S
side of this passage has depths of 11 to 40m; the N side appears
to be deeper.
6.12 From Long Island Passage, the W side of Chesterfield Reefs
extends 14 miles NNW to Northwest Point and is steep-to on
its seaward side. The reef encloses a lagoon at its S end, between
that point and a sand cay 2 miles N of it. Farther N there
are some small sand cays and boulders, mostly awash."

You can download the entire Sailing Directions for any region here: Maritime Safety Information

Bill

[MyTime]

Here is a picture and another article
Dream home smashed on uncharted reef - Central North Island World news on Stuff.co.nz

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Dave,

Well, a couple of years ago you had trouble finding charts of the Chesterfield Reefs :-)


Bill

Indeed I did Bill, but I was after detailed charts so as to actually go in and explore the cays and lagoons.

As they are not available, I didnt go in and as normal large view charts are adequate for passagemaking and being dilligent, I gave it a nice safe 25 NM wide berth when going through the area keeping plots every 30 minutes or 4 NM.

Since then on other trips I have gone in much closer but during ideal conditions with plenty of visibility and greatly reduced speed.

I have also gone past at night recently and we were in closer (8 NM), but again, reef was well plotted on paper and electronic and we had reef edge on radar.


These guys obviously were not being as dilligent.

Dave

[btrayfors]

Hey, I was just pulling your chain a bit :-)

BTW, did they post the lat lon of the "uncharted reef"?? Be curious to know which of several reefs and islands they hit.

B.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Hey, I was just pulling your chain a bit :-)

BTW, did they post the lat lon of the "uncharted reef"?? Be curious to know which of several reefs and islands they hit.

B.

Havent found lat long yet, but am keen to find out where this new udiscovered bit of reef is as well

Bound to be plenty of crays and fish there

And thanks for the link to that other site

Dave

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by MyTime

Here is a picture and another article
Dream home smashed on uncharted reef - Central North Island World news on Stuff.co.nz

Thanks for that link, it says they were playing around in there at 3am.

Pretty un-seamanlike me thinks.

Dave

[meyermm]

recently there seems to be too many yachts hitting unmarked reefs in Northern Queensland waters. Unfortunately most if not all of these reefs seem to have a name suggesting that the yachtsmen involved are getting careless with their navigation. Along with the 6 dopes that left Sydney in very bad weather recently after just purchasing the boat and then had to be rescued when they decided something supposedly was wrong with the boat. Trouble was the TV footage next day of the boat showed it well afloat. Maybe I am beeing too hard but looked like a case of "oh this is not fun anymore get me off"

[Stillraining]

I missed the 3:00 am bit...but in the picture you can even spot the color change of the water..But I guess if your not looking for it you wouldn't see it.

Sorry for their loss just the same..I think the American is putting way to much value in his lost possessions though...I think instead he should be very happy hes not in a sharks belly right about now...

[Boracay]

It's a lot bigger than I thought!

It does look like a place to either go to or not to go to...

Maybe we should navigate with Google Earth.

[Nauticatarcher]

Spent three wonderful days at Chesterfield Reef about a month ago, CM93 charts spot on, even the bommies in the lagoon marked correctly

[Charlie]

I remember my grade school teachers scolding me for not doing my homework. Is this what they meant about something bad happening if you don't do your homework? Seems like the Coral Sea is a place where you need to be extremely careful and have very detailed charts.

Kids always do your homework. Your life may depend on it.