Monday morning I got up at dawn as is my custom to see this Catamaran aground on the reef behind me. The picture doesnt really do it justice but as I looked at it the small reef waves were breaking right at the boat.
I pumped up and pumped out the dinghy (it had been raining all night) and ran over to see if I could help. The owner said no he had a large boat try to pull him off the previous night to no avail and my 6hp dinghy would be no match. As I look around in the 3 ft water from my dinghy as I talked to the owner I could see bits of blue painted items. He had already lost his little keel skegs and parts of the rudders. He also calmly mentioned he was taking on water in the starboard hull. High tide was forecast for 8am and he had a local boat coming then to help. (the tide is 1 ft)
I went back to my boat chores as I would not be needed. I glanced out on occasion as I ran my generator to recharge the batteries and made water and progress seemed slow but finally about 10 he was off and being towed out of the harbor. I went below . Several minutes later I heard shouting and went on deck to see this 46ft catamaran under tow miss hitting my anchored boat by 3ft! As he went by he apologized and said the rudders were damaged. The local boat yanked him off me just before he would have hit. He will be spending the winter in the local yard making repairs. I am grateful I won't be beside him making my own repairs from a collision.
I have been secretly envying the shallow draft of these big Cats since they usually draw about 4ft and I draw 5th9in but even a Cat can get in trouble.
He had been trying to enter a difficult reef passage at night! He had sailed over from the Virgin islands and should have waited for daylight or gotten a local pilot to bring them in. I wish them good luck with their repairs.