And now the story of Anna, the capsized 57' catamaran.

It started the night we had a stormy, tumultuous Saturday night in Niue a few weeks ago. That same night, some hours earlier and a few hundred miles west, the same weather moved quickly toward Anna, undersail east of Tonga. Her crew was unable to respond in time and the rapidly escalating winds capsized the lightweight racing catamaran in minutes. The owner was thrown from the boat as it flipped, and was able to swim back and climb back aboard. His crewmate was trapped inside one of the hulls, but safe and mostly dry. They spent 18 hours awaiting rescue by a nearby supply ship, and 2 days later we met them in Niue, in good shape with only a few bumps and bruises, and in some measure of shock over the whole thing.

We spent 24 hours trying to avoid the capsized hulk on our way to Tonga, unsure of her actual position as she drifted, and here she is near the end of her story, upside-down on a reef, a few miles southeast of Neiafu. Apparently she travelled through a deep channel through an outer reef and finally ended up on a tiny 50-foot island. She had been seen first by our friends Melva and Steve on s/v Mary Powell, who spied her while they were looking for whales. As of now, she has now been claimed by a local salvage company who is working with the owner and the insurance company.

When we saw her on the reef, it looked as though the battered catamaran had already been somewhat plundered, with unusable detritus strewn about the tiny, sandy island. Her cabin looked like it had sheared off but her hulls looked pretty good. Knowing that her occupants are alive and safe, not to mention well-insured, made our drive-by rubbernecking seem okay.

She was towed into the harbor here in Neiafu yesterday and is resting, still upside-down, on the far side across from town.

And that's the story, as much or as little as we know of it, of Catamaran Anna.