Passion for Cruising

A fifty mile slog to windward in 20/25 kts, short seas. We have sailed nearly the length of Ritchies Archipeligo, but passed 2 miles offshore from Nicholson Island! Caught a barracuda, our first fish for about 11 months! We hope to catch Sea Bunny at anchor tonight. Next we caught a lovely yellow fin tuna.
However, then it all went wrong. First, the genoa snapped its webbing fixing to the sheets. The sun must rot that after a while. OK, so we furl it and motor sail the last 6 miles.
The final disaster ended with Pan Pan -
We caught one rudder, we presume, on an isolated rock or coral bommie - at the time the depth read 20 mtrs; then without warning, five metres under the port hull and a loud bang from the starboard side, before the gut wrenching moment when we knew it was serious. Stuart marked the estimated position of the obstruction on the course track, 12 12.62N, 93 04.83E. Steering jammed, started the starboard motor to get steerage then starboard motor failed with noise. Next moment the water was rising in the starboard hull faster than possible to stem it with our pumps. I got onto HF and called Pan Pan to Port Blair. No answer, no answer. Other yachts heard - Nimbus was at least 50 miles on her return to Phuket. So was Amoenitas. Both heard and tried Port Blair. No response. Then Vivace II called us and his wife went ashore at Long Island to telephone Port Blair and coastguard. At that time they said a boat was under way from Havelock Island. It never came!! Meanwhile we called Sea Bunny which was in the anchorage here. They came over to help; we were one hull down, almost submerged on starboard, as it was mid ebb tide we decided to put her onto a reef as no beach was accessible without fringing reef. Then Stuart and the 2 Richards set to work; luckily Sea Bunny carries a powerful pump, which in tandem with all we could muster, started to make inroads. The water was halfway up the stove, all food in the freezer no good, as the compressors were soon drowned. All this time I was manning HF and the wonderful yachties were working to help us. Crystal Blues was also a lifesaver as Nimbus could raise him on HF, whilst I could not. Crystal Blues, being back in Port Blair, immediately went ashore to raise the alarm and find the coastguard etc. Well, as we were not about to drown, they decided not to send a boat until day light. Yes, at least 12 hours later - then it has to travel the 50 miles to reach us!!
I am sitting here at 2.30 am, while Stuart and Richard try to sleep. They have managed to stem the horrendous flow with a temporary bulkhead dam. The 190 litre a minute pump is holding us comfortably now as the flow into the boat is now a manageable 20 or 30 lpm.
Back to Stuart, when we sat ourselves onto the reef as were about to sink, he went under the boat to see the reason for all this water.
The rudder has been pushed through the hull and is wedged into the hull at a 30o angle. An 1160 rudder is above the keel, so how we hit it and not the keel we have no idea. No marks on the saildrive leg.
Susan went back to Sea Bunny and kindly cooked us some food which she brought over. Our nerves were not the best, so food was hard to eat.
Back again, I was to try to talk via Nimbus relay to Crystal Blues at 9.30 pm. I heard the first few words, then the radio was jammed. I have been unable to talk again. However, I know all these wonderful people will keep pushing the authorities for us. I will talk at length about that when we are safe again!! As internet is almost impossible, I may not get this out for a while. Rest assured, we are very shaken, but OK. The rock or whatever is not on the chart, paper or electronics.
Thinking back, it was blowing 20 kts at the time and we must have been doing 6 plus kts, even though we were pinched up to wind, and I was standing by the plotter watching depth etc.
By midnight the tide is coming back up and the keels are beginning to grind on the reef so we decide to trust the pump not to fail and use the dinghy to anchor us about 80 metres off the reef in 18 metres of water.
Well, it is now 3 am; it gets light at 5 am, so we can re-assess then, and hope to see the coastguard but think that they won't leave port until well after 5!!