Lagoon 450 (Next Life) damaged in the Exuma, The Bahamas

[Dakota450]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

6am in Croatia Vlaska Marina on Brac Island, way too cold and wet too start on boat-work yet, storms are finishing today i hope..

9:00pm here in Portland Oregon USA and I'm headed to watch some lousy TV. My thoughts are with Rolf if that was his boat. I wish him well.

[gonzemoi]

Originally Posted by Dakota450

Sure looks like it. Aren't you on the other side of the planet? Don't you sleep?

Hola, I am close friend of Rolf. I am the owner of l450 unit 132 and he was the owner of unit 130. We took delivery at the same time, made many modifications together, sailed from les sables to greece, then the arc.. I am sure Rolf will jump in sooner or later, but to cut the story short, the navionics charts suggested a route that led him onto a reef.. He did not see it until he was on top of it.. A few hours later they had to evacuate and the boat was lost.. It is really sad because he did invest lots of time and effort into Next Life but everyone on board is safe.
Gonzalo

[Ozbullwinkle]

That is indeed tragic news & especially so soon after his great ARC rally performance. It will be interesting & a wake up call to us all to hear from Rolf regarding the reports of the Navionics chart supposedly not showing the reef.

[Lagoon4us]

I wonder if the moderators can move all concerning this terrible event to another seperate thread as the title doesn't suit and we do risk offending Rolf's feelings to find his loss under such a thread. ????

[malbert73]

Feel terrible for the guy. Having not yet cruised the Bahamas, but isn't charting supposed to be unreliable there with regard to every reef? Ie when entering reefstrewn area do so very slowly with a watch on bow? This could already have been done to no avail, of course. I have Navionics loaded but always am hesitant to use "near the edges"

[Cotemar]

The Lagoon 450 catamaran Next Life that wrecked on the reef between Fowl Cay and Guana Cay, Exuma, Bahamas has been towed out of the area. The boat had been reported to have been attempting to enter Elizabeth Harbour along a route shown on Navionics electronic charts. It has also been reported that the nine-month-old boat has been declared a total loss. The photo shows the salvage crew dewatering one of the hulls with the continuous reef between Fowl and Guana Cays in the background.
http://chatter.explorercharts.com/?p=10641
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You can clearly see how this can happen
View the Satellite Image of the path through Fowl Cay and Guana Cay, Exuma, Bahamas
Now view what the Captain was viewing on the Navionics Charts
Now view what was really there on the Garmin Explorer Charts

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

A US Navy Captain using some (unexpected) R & R time........

Ha! that's funny.... or..... maybe not!

Originally Posted by gonzemoi

Hola, I am close friend of Rolf. I am the owner of l450 unit 132 and he was the owner of unit 130. We took delivery at the same time, made many modifications together, sailed from les sables to greece, then the arc.. I am sure Rolf will jump in sooner or later, but to cut the story short, the navionics charts suggested a route that led him onto a reef.. He did not see it until he was on top of it.. A few hours later they had to evacuate and the boat was lost.. It is really sad because he did invest lots of time and effort into Next Life but everyone on board is safe.
Gonzalo

Hopefully this ends the debate about "electronic charts vs paper.." :>)

[Lagoon4us]

Well done with the explanation Cotemar, it's not for us to say we would have done different, maybe we would and maybe we wouldn't, but we must learn from a devastating situation like this one.

We all setup for redundancy in our boats usually having an essential back-up. This can be said to be good reason for paper charts but also if you spend the money on a smaller Plotter go for different cartography at the same time.

Cheers Frank

[smj]

Maybe a good idea to have a cruising guide of the area and take the recommended route in.

[impi]

Sadly we were there when this happened. In fact we had just spoken with the owners as they left the dock and heard their VHF call a short time after. Nice people ... sad story

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Hopefully this ends the debate about "electronic charts vs paper.." :>)

I doubt it!

In any event, I don't really see the grounding as due to one over the other. Possibly it has to do with only using one thing for navigation (and only either paper or electronic would have had the same result).

[impi]

Have to admit we had considered this route ... used a number of didderent charts to plot our way around the Bahamas recently ... opted for another as it seemed 'tricky in places' ...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

--------------------------------------
You can clearly see how this can happen
View the Satellite Image of the path through Fowl Cay and Guana Cay, Exuma, Bahamas
Now view what the Captain was viewing on the Navionics Charts
Now view what was really there on the Garmin Explorer Charts

Never been to the Carribean , but to my eye that Navionics Chart simply looks wayyy too light on detail. Even that Garmin looks a tad short on the info I am used to (accepting that may well be the norm in the Carribean due to the lack of charting). I am guessing that both have the max detail.

In addition to the gap between the islands being somewhat(!!!) tighter on the Garmin than the Navionics - the route to the east looks almost criminally lacking in detail! Although of course usual for Electronic Chartplotters to be marked "Not for Navigational use", would seem prudent if using that Navionic Chart to also add "Seriously! - you really don't want to be using this ".

[Cheechako]

I just finally realized which cut that is. Been through there probably 100 times by dingy going out to snorkel/hunt. I would have never considered going through in my mothership. Too bad they got off the beaten path and tried to go through there. In places like the Bahamas, the cruising guides/Explorer charts are pretty much essential. Were they trying to exit or enter? What a bummer....

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by impi

Have to admit we had considered this route ... used a number of didderent charts to plot our way around the Bahamas recently ... opted for another as it seemed 'tricky in places' ...

I don't blame ya! (even with the good chart!). Time was when routes like that were for "locals only" - and even they got 'em wrong now and again!