SIGHTINGS
PETER GRANT
moonduster’s sad end It's fair to say that cruising the world aboard a sailboat requires taking an endless succession of risks. Longtime bluewater sailors like Wayne Meretsky know this well. During two mostly-singlehanded Pacific circuits aboard his Alameda-based S&S 47 Moonduster, he's logged more than 30,000 ocean miles — and has undoubtedly taken innumerable carefully calculated risks. Sadly, though, the chance that he and his Kiwi girlfriend Neria Brewerton took by cruising the Yasawa Islands of Fiji during cyclone season ended tragically last month. When Tropical Cyclone Mick built rapidly, reaching intensity far greater than predicted, the couple found themselves with no storm-proof anchorage to hide in. After a noble fight, Moonduster was driven onto a barren reef, causing irreparable damage to her wooden hull. Fortunately, Wayne and Neria survived the nightmare with only "a few scrapes and bruises," in addition to the inevitable emotional scars. For several weeks previously, the couple had been exploring the reef-strewn In happier times, Wayne and Neria during the Bay of Yasawa Islands of western Islands Race Week 2009. Fiji with the intention of crossing to New Zealand around Christmas. On Saturday, December 12, after downloading a GRIB weather file and text summary from Fiji's Nadi Met Service via SailMail, they learned that a low was forming to the north, and Wayne noticed "a slight, shallow bend in an isobar," roughly 100 nm north of their position. On the next morning's GRIB, that slight bend had clearly formed into a low, and the forecast included a tropical depression warning and a prediction for winds in the 20- to 30-knot range. As planned, the couple upped anchor and headed for Likuliku Bay on Waya Island. "It made good sense as a hideout from the forecast weather," Wayne explained later, "because, as the depression came closer, the winds would clock from the prevailing southeast trades to northerlies and then northeasterlies. Then, as the depression moved past, we could easily move the 3.5 nm to Waya’s northern Nalauwaki Bay for the forecast southerlies and westerlies." They anchored Moonduster in 35 feet of water near the middle of the bay, just north of the Octopus Resort, on a 55-lb Delta attached to 200 feet of 5/16" G4 chain and belayed by a 5/8" nylon, three-strand snubber. That afternoon, a Fijian came to the boat and offered a prophetic warning: “Whatcha doin’, man? There’s a hurricane tonight and you need to go to the marina or you’ll be on the beach in the morning.” Wayne went ashore and spoke to the Nadi Tropical Cyclone Centre by phone and confirmed that the forecast remained for the storm to pass to the north of them with winds peaking at 40 knots. And even if Wayne and Neria had trusted the well-meaning Fijian's prediction, the closest marina facility was Vuda Point Marina, located 35 miles to the east-southeast. Moving there would have required "sailing upwind, at night through reef-strewn waters with charts that aren’t GPS corrected, and through areas that have never been fully surveyed," explaied Wayne. "There was simply no way I was going to risk putting the boat on a reef in open water at night, which would mean us in a liferaft in a country with no SAR capability. Staying in Likuliku Bay gave us an escape route to shore — one that we unfortunately needed. Given the forecast, when weighed with the comparable risks, staying put made far more sense than running at night through reef-strewn waters." continued on outside column of next sightings page Page 76 •
Latitude 38
• January, 2010
climbing masts For all our reservations about the latest crop of teens determined to set the record for being the youngest solo circumnavigator, we have to admit that 16-year-old Jessica Watson’s blog makes for some interesting reading. From her waxing rhapsodic about seabirds to her description of climbing the mast to check out her rigging before she gets into the rough stuff, there’s no other way to say it: Watson sounds like a sailor. It’s easy to imagine a teenage girl would get lonely at sea — as we went to press, Watson had just celebrated her 65th day
Roy Disney, one of sailing’s most beloved and respected supporters, passed away last month. Read our tribute to this one-of-a-kind sailor, seen here aboard his freakishly fast ‘Pyewacket 4.5’, starting on page 92.