Yesterday we endured a harrowing experience. We ran aground on an uncharted reef off the remote Eastern Fijian island of Vanua Balavu. The skies were overcast and the light was very flat. We were travelling with two other sailboats. Matilda was in the middle following the Swedish flagged Hallberg-Rassey 64 Hoka Hey with the Dutch flagged Oyster 56 Amanzi bringing up the rear. We were about 400 yards behind and twenty feet to the port side of Hoka Hey motoring at about 6.5 knots when we heard and felt Matilda’s keel scrape the reef then bounce along for a couple of boat lengths finally settling on top of the reef. The swell was pushing the boat around causing a horrible noise as we bounced around atop the reef. I immediately put the boat in reverse and ran the engine to full speed. Then yelled to Fiona to call Amanzi on the VHF as they were tracking directly behind us, heading for the reef. They may have heard her without the VHF as she screamed into the microphone, “We’ve gone aground, we’ve gone aground !!!!!”.

Amanzi quickly changed course and came to a stop a couple of hundred yards from Matilda. Hoka Hey turned back to help, too. It was comforting to have two boats close by in case things got really bad.

In full reverse Matilda wasn’t moving. It didn’t help that we had 20 knots of wind from behind trying to push us farther onto the reef. Matilda’s rudder is quite deep. I was afraid we might back onto the rudder which could easily snap. We had no choice but to try to back off the reef. Matilda started moving backwards at an excruciating slow 0.2 knots at full throttle scraping along the reef. Fiona stood at the stern to try to see what was behind us and guide us back without hitting the rudder. The stern was drifting to port where there was a big shallow “bommie” (submerged reef). “Go right, go right” Fiona yelled, pointing to starboard. “I’m trying, I’m trying”. I had to let off the throttle and let Matilda drift forward enough that we could clear the bommie in reverse.

Full left rudder, bow thruster to port and full reverse throttle. We started creeping backwards again. Our stern was slowly moving to starboard and the rudder cleared the bommie by a couple of feet. We were finally off the reef. No water in the bilge. The rudder feels fine at the helm. We made it.

My first thought was a story from our friends Lance and Pam Johnson on the Hylas 49 Shamaya. They went onto a reef in the Sea of Cortez a few years ago. They suffered a much harder grounding than we did and actually had to be dragged off the reef. After a thorough inspection it was found the only damage was scrapes and gouges to the fiberglass – a testament to robust build quality of Hylas yachts.

The story doesn’t end here.

Single file at a snail’s pace

After freeing ourselves from the reef the three boats continued toward our anchoring destination single file at snail’s pace with spotters on the bows. Hoka Hey was in the lead followed by Amanzi with the gun-shy Matilda bringing up the rear. As we entered the Bay of Islands Amanzi took the lead. Mark, the skipper of Amanzi had carefully charted the approach to the anchorage with the most accurate, up-to-date charts. We watched as Amanzi crawled toward the anchorage and seemed to come to a stop when over the VHF comes Mark’s voice, “We are stuck”. Amanzi had run aground. Fortunately, the water inside of the bay was dead calm unlike the conditions when Matilda went aground. Amanzi was stuck fast and no amount of engine power was moving her. Mark’s wife Clare donned mask and fins and dove under Amanzi to have a look. She found that the very bottom of the keel was sitting atop a bommie. As the tide was coming in they decided to wait to be floated off. After about 30 minutes they were able to gently motor off the bommie.

Eventually we all got safely anchored and met aboard Hoka Hey for afternoon celebratory drinks.

The story doesn’t end here.

Eight more World ARC boats arrived in the Bay of Islands late yesterday afternoon. One had run aground on the way. The other seven arrived without incident thanks to the intrepid three trailblazers Hoka Hey, Amanzi, and Matilda.

ARC boats safely anchored in Bay of Islands

After an afternoon of celebratory drinks Hoka Hey decided to continue the festivities into the evening with most of the crews from the other ARC boats joining in. The party was still raging when we went to bed last night.

On a side note. I estimated that we were on the reef for about five minutes. I asked Fiona this morning how long she thought we were on the reef. She said four minutes. According to the Hoka Hey crew we were on the reef for at least twenty minutes. Trippy.