In addition to a poor strategy (late arrival, close to the reef, no second person on watch at the time, two engines running so breakers could not have been heard, and we could go on)
poor navigation was the cause of this wreck.
We feel that there is a disturbing trend: navigating by tablet with tablet based apps and
Navionics charts, or similar. Almost everyone is doing it and virtually every crash we hear about happened with these kind of
charts and a tablet being used, sometimes mounted in a bracket, often on some bodies' lap or in their hand. We get two or three crashes a year here in
Mexico. Routes, if used at all, were planned on the tablet.
Navionics route planning is primitive at best. iNav-x is better, still not great.
These crashes, particularly Tanda Malaika, were onto a reef or land which is clearly present on the CM93 charts which most people have on their
OpenCPN systems, and presumably, present on the Navionics charts. None of the crashes we read about would have occurred had the proper
route planning been performed and the yacht been following the planned route.
We need to get the word out:
Proper
navigation includes prior route planning on a proper system with a keyboard, preferably at the nav station, and using the best charts available. (part of a navigator's responsibility is to obtain and use the best chart for any given location). After developing the planned route then close
inspection, at high zoom levels, is required and corrections made before setting out. Then during the
passage the ship's progress along the route must be monitored, preferably by a second person, not the helm's man, and not by referencing a tablet computer in the
cockpit.
Navigation is made easy with these tools that everyone uses but it is not sound navigation and it is dangerous and anyone who navigates this way will eventually hit stuff.
Fred & Judy SV Wings, La Cruz Huancaxtle
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