TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands 50' Cat aground on the reef at Marina Cay.

Did anyone see the Cat run into the reef at Marina Cay last night? About 5pm? Very unfortunate. No pics sorry. They did get off, after about an hour..
Please check your charts people... The people on board were surprised the reef was not marked, until I pointed out the red buoy.. I hope there was not too much damage to the reef. (or the bareboat Cat!)

What charter company was the boat from?

Can you post any more information such as the name of the boat or charter company?

Not having a skilled crew member maintaining situational awareness on an actual chart will eventually get anyone in trouble. The statement the hazard is not marked would be correct. There are unmarked hazards all over the VI. Hazards are marked with yellow or a combination of yellow and black. A red buoy notes a channel, not a hazard. The skipper is guilty of loss of situational awareness. The unmarked hazard is clearly on the charts. There are many unmarked hazards in the area that are only visible with a chart.

or your eyeballs, that reef is quite obvious <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

If they were watching? Maybe? The post noted a 5pm timeframe. That would mean a crew in the bright sun for hours coupled with a low sun. The big cats also have a lot of stuff to block the helmsman's sight. 5 and the BVI alchol may also be a factor. A higher sun angle with someone on the now would have been a plus. 24/7 someone with a paper charge and the commitment and the knowledge to use it would have prevented the snafooooo.... Or you can just keep your head down and follow your iPhone around.

Agreed, that reef is blatantly obvious. Pity the poor reef/coral. There are some huge Elkhorn coral stacks around Marina Cay (important reef 'building blocks')...hope not too much damage done. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

How about just reading a cruising guide??? Almost every boat comes with one from the charter companies. We go over EVERY entrance before we head in, even if we've done it many times before, just to make sure Brian and I are in sync. I don't care what the "big cats" have to block a view -- this sounds to me like downright BRAIN block. I'm sorry this happened to them but good Lord, that reef practically jumps up out of the water at you and says "Hi there! I'm a big reef! Might wanna go another way!" <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

So no one knows what boat or company?
G

Even with modern technology paper charts are priceless! I sit down with the crew each morning to discuss our daily plans and look at the chart, my wife "Chief Navigator" always has it handy! I'm not at home to find the book Tony "Mardi Gras" sent us along with lots of other stuff, but it's full of beautiful ariel views of many popular stops and really gives a good view of the reefs. It's a great resource and awesome coffee table book! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

I would like to know what make the cat was.
Most cats that crash into a reef tear out a good size section of the hull/keel unless they grounded on sand.

The Caribbean is like a fertile garden, the corals get devastated in some areas by huriicanes but they alway grow back unless there's a pollution source to prevent it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

I am certain that every catarmaran owner who has a boat in charter in BVI will be concerned as to which boat this is, from your original posting (although hopefully the owner has now been informed). If anyone is aware of the name of the vessel or the charter company she was with, then please post appropriately. To others out there who witness such things in the future, please inform the charter company involved straight away. One day in the future it might be your vessel that is involved!

How true this is! Unfortunately, when I was talking to a Moorings service personnel last Fall he told me that many issues are not reported by the chartering crew. That's why they have to do a thorough inspection when the boat returns.

Just out of curiosity how did they get off the reef?

Sorry, cannot remember the name of the boat. Was getting dark, and lots going on! American Flag, Big cat, NOT Sunsail, Moorings, Conch, voyage or Seabatical. Had 2 sails (Logo) on the bow, but no name of charter company on sailcover. I posted this as I was curious if anyone else caught the name... Sorry y'all. A rep from the charter company turned up later on, with a diver to check for damage, so the company knows about it. (Whether they tell the owner is another story.... I would hope that they do. There did not seem to be any major damage to the hull, but difficult to tell in the dark.

Any boat in the charter fleet should be able to take a hard grounding at hull speed on the front of the keel. If you snorkel the boats in most anchorages you will see it happens all the time. The rudders are not as sturdy unless you find one with a skeg in front of it. A yacht aground pounding in the surf us a whole other matter. Once the boat fills with water the sloshing motion will tear the boat apart from the inside. Even if you are very dilegent and responsible. Any cruising boat should be able to more than survive surfing down a wave and slamming into a container just below the surface.

This tells me Your bluewater time is pretty limited.

Here is some video of real boats running into real rocks...

Racing Boats and Hard Rock!

Whoever has firsthand experience running into to rocks and reefs with a sailboat, raise your hand...

It depends on where you sail. In and around some venues running aground is a very regular accordance. The Chesapeake would be one example where anyone sailing a keel boat will learn to run aground and get off. Other area of the Gulf Coast also have issues for any deep draft vessels. All of the Bahamas have issues.... You will also find a lot of hard rock in Maine.

Actually I was trying to have some fun with the somewhat judgmental group here. If you sail long enough, its really only a matter of "when" not "if" you run the boat aground on something. And you don't have to be an inexperienced CC captain to make the mistake. Even the very best sailors make mistakes. Just glad no one got hurt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gmnWEZCEiw#t=19

The cats in general don't pile on the fiberglass and a grounding on rocks or coral will usually tear out the bottom.

It depends on the multihull. Each one is designed and built differently. Most of the cats in the charter fleets have lower cost nasty performance robbing stub keels intended as a safety margin for the many groundings that will happen. The stub keels along with all the other weight that gets stuffed into the point really depreciate the performance. Once aground the twin hull configuration can make getting off more difficult resulting in greater damage if there is any surf, rocking, or pounding issues. Today very few manufactures use any more expensive and heavy performance stealing fiberglass than they have to. If there is an issue with a charter cat versus a charter mono hull aground the general difference is the cat is wider and heavier with little chance of using heel to get off. Some claim the addition of the sacrificial or "bumper" stub keels on the rental cats are unsafe by robbing the knowledgable sailor the ability to point and sail away from a lee shore. There is no question other than saving a few dollars and providing a perceived margin of error that a knowledgable marine architect would design multihull with dagger boards in place of the stub keels. Real multihulls have daggerboard. Many of the early Dream charter cats had dagger boards. The difference in performance is stunning. Like night and day,

I have seen many charter cats go aground on coral and everyone had major damage to the hull(s)
I would imagine there are some made with beefier hulls for cruising.

This is obviously poor judgment on the skippers behalf but lets not misrepresent all bareboaters. In fact, I am simply AMAZED that this is not MORE common. There are thousands and thousands of bareboat charters every year. You have varying levels of skill, on a boat they generally have never sailed before, in a cruising ground they generally ahve never been before, typically w crew they have not always sailed with, and where everyone is trying to do as much as possible, including drinking and having fun. The truth it is REMARKABLE how little you hear about yahoos crashing into reefs. Overall, I am very impressed at how well and how safe the charter record is. Yes, anecdotal situations make it easy for those of us whom have never had a serious mistake to suggest that the overall skill level is subpar. I am a serious sailor, have bareboated probably 16 times, try and prepare well, have rules for my crew, and while I have never had a major incident, I also know that inherent in our beloved sport is risk and while you can and should always work to minimize it, you can not eliminate it. Some of the best sailors I have ever known have hit other boats and run a ground. This guy may have been a complete idiot, totally irresponsible and should have avoided this or he was a good sailor and make a series of horrible mistakes - or maybe there was a boat malfunction, or whatever. Just sayin we need to recognize all the responsible bareboaters and not always focus on the few bad ones.

I wonder if that was a Tradewinds Cruising Club big cat. TCC has sails in their logo. I don't remember seeing another big cat with sails in the logo. Can you recall what brand of cat it was (Lagoon, Fountain Pajot, R&C, something else)?

Odd place for Tradewinds to be at 5pm on a Saturday. They would be docked at Nanny Cay at that time, boarding folks. The logo does sound right though. Also, most of the boats I have been on with them are French flagged.

TWCC logo is three sails, not two.

I reported two groundings in two days on the Marina Cay Reef in early December. People's responses were amazingly not overly concerned. Everyone focused on the durability of the boat, but no one at that time focused on the fragility of the coral. To me that was very distressing.

Also, the comment about it's not a question of if, but when you run aground, or hit rocks is just fine... as long as you are sailing your own boat. If you are sailing someone else's boat in unfamiliar waters, it should be your daily/hourly responsibility to verify that you are indeed on a sensible and safe course!

I reported two groundings in two days on the Marina Cay Reef in early December. People's responses were amazingly not overly concerned. Everyone focused on the durability of the boat, but no one at that time focused on the fragility of the coral. To me that was very distressing.

--Admittedly there may be more incidents than I am aware and ur other points are well taken. Just trying to inject some positive air into the room.

I TOTALLY agree with Evan and do the same as Bridget and Brian....Before I leave USA I print out my approach to each island from the Cruising Guide on the Moorings site. Before I leave an island or port I get out my paperwork and refresh myself on everything. Folks like Kim and Ward & Evan and Nina are there so often they may find that silly but....I am there once a year and I just get a warm fuzzy by having that right in front of me. I have gotten to where it truly is like a kid's security blanket...I don't need it...but I just feel better having it there and I do look at it before each approach. I hate hearing stuff like folks having to endure things like this. I rarely make the trip without seeing something that makes me scratch my head and thank God I have been blessed not to have fallen prey to some of these mistakes...not that I haven't made some....but thank God it didn't involve having to be rescued in the process and being "taken off" my boat.

Stoney, what's funny is I have not pulled my charts out in 10 years. The only time the charts come out is for our guests to peruse.

I doubt very much most charterers download entrances to the harbors like Stoney does.
But considering the thousands of charters per year the accident rate is still pretty low.
Remember as long as your vigilant you won't have a problem but problems occur the day you're over confident.