TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Lio Kai grounded :-(

I was just informed by Jenn Andre of Moorings that our Leopard 40 was damaged when grounded on charter earlier this month.

The keels were extensively damaged, there is some damage to one of the rudders and the surveyor noted numerous cracks and bonding failures in the bilges. :-(

We were slated to be aboard in about 10 days, boat will obviously not be ready for our use. Replacement keels are on long backorder so they are proposing making up stub keels on site by using another boat's keels as a mold.

I have not yet responded. Has anyone gone through this process and would like to give any advice?

Thanks.

I don't have any advice, but what a gut punch.. Best wishes..

I sent you a PM.

So sorry. That really sucks. Do you have an independent surveyor, someone looking out for your interest?

Watched a charter boat leave CGB earlier this week over the reef instead of using the channel. Wondered when the first grounding report of the season would appear. So sorry to hear about Lio Kai. Sounds like there was no water intrusion at least!

I just don’t understand how this happens so often. With current chart plotters it makes no sense at all. I also can’t comprehend how someone enters or exits a unfamiliar anchorage without referencing the cruising guide. Don’t even get me started on someone afraid or who does not even know how to properly anchoring a boat chartering.

Sorry to hear of your boat damage - what a bummer after dealing with 1.5 yrs of Covid lockouts in the BVI. Good thing you are EZgoin.

I agree with George. It's ridiculous that these groundings still occur, though I've witnessed boats go aground in broad daylight at Colquhoun Reef, Marina Cay reef, Anegada, Pond Bay, VG and White Bay, JVD,

Did Moorings say where the grounding occurred,
did the charterer report the grounding or was it discovered after they returned the boat,
did Moorings withhold deposits from the charterer to make you whole on the repair, and
how long did it take for Moorings to inform you after they learned of the grounding?

I just found out about and have not gotten any details yet.

We are set to leave for Tortola one week from now. Presumably, we will be on another M4000, hopefully at least as new.

I'm also very interested in getting more details. I was offered a chance to inspect the boat and meet with repair crew and/or surveyor, which I will certainly do.

I imagine all insurance is in force, so my main concern is that the damage is fully and appropriately addressed - beyond that I'll just have to live with it like all the other stuff.

My moniker MrEZgoin, unfortunately, is somewhere between aspiration and sarcasm :-)

Yep, I would definitely supervise the refit. Guaranteed income? Cracks and bonding failures in the keel are conerning!

Check with Capt. Jay at CYOA. He bought a FP Lipari out of salvage and had the keels rebuilt at Nanny Cay. As he says, the keels looked brandy new. http://www.traveltalkonline.com/ubbthreads.php/users/6996/captainjay.html

Cheers, RickG

The good news is there are still factory personnel on sight in Tortola. There repair work on hurricane damaged boats was fantastic.
G

Definitely not the call you want to get when you have a boat in charter. I think we saw this grounding if it was on October 10 around 4pm. We were on a mooring at Leverick and heard the destress call on the vhf. There was a heavy squall passing you could not see a thing when it happened. The Moorings cat we saw should have stayed outside of the channel until it passed. After the squall passed we saw the cat on the reef. A tender from Moskito island and a larger dinghy from the mooring field got them off the reef. They then took a ball behind us.

Thanks so much for that info! I don't know the date of the grounding, but Oct 10th is at least plausible. Was it an M4000?
In the end the circumstances of the grounding don't really affect my situation, but on the broad scale of mistakes that could have lead to this minor disaster, it is somehow a bit easier to accept if the cause was not gross negligence and/or blatant violations of the terms of the charter contract. Seems like Colquhoun and the attendant buoyage is well mapped on the chart plotter and should be easily avoidable even with no visibility, but my imagination has been busy coming up with a multitude of more egregious scenarios.

When entering the North Sound via the channel there are 3 red buoys, 2 of them have corresponding green buoys and mark the channel. The 3rd red one marks the extent of the reef when heading towards Leverick Bay and I think that this one is easy/easier to miss. If you don't see it, then a turn directly for Leverick after the second red buoy might lead you onto the reef (if you aren't watching the water color and depth sounder). That might have been what happened in this case.

I've had it confirmed that this was the same incident and just passed the spot where it likely happened.

I've also seen the "statement" from the charterer and let's just say that if God forbid something like that ever happened to me I would have the self respect to take responsibility and not make incredibly lame excuses and ridiculous attempts to shift the blame.

Unfortunately there was a 40ish ft monohull on the small reef just inside Eustatia Reef in Eustatia Sound this morning. They were able to use a dinghy to lean the mast and sail off. No idea if the boat was damaged but the reef most certainly was