Reefs

We learned last night of a boat that hit a reef yesterday. We don’t know the owners but we have seen the boat several times in Tonga and New Zealand. We have heard that the crew of three is fine. They hope to float the boat off the reef today.

Reefs are everywhere here in Fiji. We have had to deal with reefs as we’ve sailed through the South Pacific but it seems worse here. There are networks of reefs lying miles from islands. It makes for tricky navigation.

We rely on a combination of our eyes, charts, satellite images, as well as GPS tracks and waypoints posted by other sailors to navigate safely. Charts are dated and not always accurate. Satellite images are very good but they don’t show water depths and sometimes clouds obscure key areas. GPS tracks and waypoints are good too but they are only as good as the people that created them. None of these tools are enough on their own. We need them all.

We use a charting software on our iPads called Navionics. It’s very good but a challenge with any charting programs is that some details–like reefs–do not appear until one zooms in. We make a conscious effort to zoom in and out regularly to make sure there are no dangers in our path. I don’t know if this is what happened to the boat that hit the reef but it has been the reason other boats have hit reefs. Our thoughts are with the crew of the boat on the reef. Hopefully they will successfully get off today.

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Update: I drafted this a couple of days ago and didn’t have a chance to post it. Unfortunately, we have since learned that the crew of the yacht on the reef were not able to free the boat from the reef. The last we heard was that they abandoned the boat. Some other cruisers picked them up. We don’t know the condition of the boat or if it’s possible to save it–devastating.