By DariaBlackwell - 29 Jan 2016
From Sam Coles via the OCC Facebook Page
January 27 at 1:39pm · Brighton, United Kingdom
Loss of "Ramprasad" 27th Sept 2015 - Banc Ampamonty, Northern Madagascar
On 27th Sept 2015 my 37 '6" ferrocement yacht grounded on a reef in Northern Madagascar, got badly holed rather quickly (within a couple of minutes), was taking in water at an uncontrollable rate (like from a 6" diameter hole about 3ft under the waterline midships starboard side) and filled within half an hour or so.
The circumstances which led to the grounding are of some interest to yacht navigators some of whom will read this. We had arrived in Madagascar 's Northern waters two days earlier from Mauritius rounding Cap d 'Ambre around 0830 on 25th Sept. At about that time I had checked in with the 6646kHz yachtsman 's net (run by Kerstin on "Lopto"?) and that night anchored in the Baie d 'Ambarata (in posn 12deg17.9S 49deg4.0E). This is an area of many islands and reefs and it was during a period of quite strong SE-ley winds in the morning (typically SE 6-7 Beaufort force) which moderated to variable NW winds in the afternoon. I was navigating principally with Navionics charts running on an iPad making use of the iPads GPS to plot our position - a method which I had been using for about 5 years. This is quite similar to using a chart-plotter - many yacht navigators will be familiar to these systems which in large part have superceded the older paper chart based navigation systems. On the iPad one can change the scale in which the vector charts are displayed seamlessly by stretching and squeezing with finger and thumb - and it depends on the scale in use as to how much detail is displayed. The other electronic navigation system which I used was displaying C-Map charts on a PC laptop using the Cmwfw program (only indirectly linked to a GPS using paper and pencil). I had largely discontinued my use of paper charts due to the better detail available with the electronic systems especially in remote areas. Both of these systems rely on the accuracy of the electronic charts - at least these two are from independent sources - we shall come to see how the inaccuracy of one of these led to the accidental grounding and loss of "Ramprasad".
Next day (26th Sept) we left Baie d 'Ambarata in a good breeze (SSE6), unrolled a bit of Genoa, turned off the engine and then put some mainsail up with 3 reefs. We had reef to avoid extending out from the land on our port side and then the large "Grand Recif" and a couple of smaller ones to the South of it on our Starboard side. By this stage we had the sooner than expected wind change to NW2-3 and I turned the engine back on and rolled up the Genoa and we motor-sailed to pass inside Nosy Valiha off Marulexa Point. Here my hitherto totally reliable new Yanmar failed and we unrolled the Genoa and hoisted full Mainsail to pass inside Nosy Tonga and inside Mantazona. The new engine had done 300hours - I had done engine oil and filter changes but had neglected to change the fuel filters - it was these that I suspected to be the cause of the engine failure.
Past Mantazona we were going slow - I restarted the engine - then we had another wind change to SSE4 - Main 2 reefs and roll up Genoa - I decide we should head for Baie Ampamonty since Nosy Mitzio is too far for a daylight entry - then the engine stops again - we do a bit more sailing and tacking with various sail changes - we motor-sail inshore and the engine stops again - we do some tacking off the bay as it gets dark - when I judge that we have a clear run into the bay and that enough time has passed for enough fuel to get through the blocked filters I restart the engine and roll up the Genoa and we motor in avoiding rocks and reef to anchor in a well-sheltered position and good depth next to Nosy Antaly in 12deg34.2S 48deg51.7E. This kind of sailing I find more tiring than passage making. Dao makes supper and we sleep well.
In the morning I change the fuel filters and I start the engine after doing the rather simple bleeding routine - we get the anchor up in the strong breeze (ESE6-7) with Dao steering to my directions as I operate the manual windlass on the foredeck - we get the mainsail up with 2 reefs and unroll a bit of Genoa to less than Working Jib size - I turn off the engine, apply the prop-shaft brake and take a turn at steering to get us safely past Nosy Vory - in these gusty conditions it 's hard to get the Wind-Pilot to self-steer. I have the iPad running the Navioics chart above the companionway (forward end of the cockpit) in its usual position for pilotage - I recollect from the chart some island on the way to Nosy Mitzio (Nosy Lava) and get Dao to steer for it. I have no recollection of any dangerous reef on the way. I go down below and do some tidying since a few things have fallen out of their places in the lively sailing so far - I come up to the cockpit and almost immediately we hit the reef! Banc Ampamonty is coloured on my chart as land and NOT coloured as reef. Dao was steering as instucted for Nosy Lava and had not noticed the reef. I wasn 't expecting a reef since this was coloured as land - I try to steer downwind to get off the reef - we bump some more and then stop - I look at the iPad chart and realise the error - I go down below - within a minute or two we get a serious hole midships starboard side - a fountain of water breaks the storeroom door off its hinges - I make a VHF distress call "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY! ...." - I get no answer - the water has flooded the batteries (under the floor either side of the engine) - I put on jacket and lifejacket and make sure that Dao has got her lifejacket. We turn over the partially deflated dinghy on the foredeck, find the dinghy pump in the Lazarette and I set Dao on pumping - I try to launch the liferaft - it is out of service and does NOT work - we launch the dinghy - by this stage the foredeck is almost awash - we gather a few things from the cabin - passports, EPIRB, dinghy anchor, anything that floats up - I put some petrol into the outboard and then fit it to the dinghy - there is more petrol under the cockpit aft but this is now inaccessible (from forward or aft) - we put stuff into the dinghy including water cans from the cockpit - by this stage waves are breaking over the foredeck and the cabin is easily 5ft deep - any attempt to rescue stuff from inside I judge to be perilous. Our position where we struck the reef was close to 12deg38.1S 48deg49.5E.
We get into the dinghy, I start the outboard after several attempts and we let go - it has all happened rather quickly - I judge about half an hour from hitting the reef to abandonning. We haven 't got much petrol in the outboard and I don 't know how far it will get us. One or two of the waves I don 't get quite right and on at least one occasion we get close to capsizing. We get close to Nosy Vory - the beach doesn 't look very nice - black boulders a bit bigger than footballs - but with the fuel situation as it is we go for it and successfully land and unload the dinghy and pull the dinghy up a bit. There are oyster shells on the rocks - Dao has no shoes and I have one. We spot a fishing boat and I get Dao to wave a yellow jacket at them. They spot us and come close - we hadn 't seen much human activity over the last couple of days so we are glad to see some sign of possible assitance. Two of the fishermen jump out and swim ashore - we walk with them along the beach to their fishing camp - a few thatched huts.
Their boat is a heavily-built carvel open boat about 30ft long with 15HP o/b and short mast and lateen sail. They must have been to our wreck shortly after we left and they have salvaged 4 solar panels, kedge anchor, spare o/b, the life-raft and 3 cans of diesel. I speak French to them and they ask me if there was an echo sounder (-yes) and would I like to go back to the wreck (-yes). I leave Dao in charge of drying things out and I go back with them. By this stage the deck is about 6ft under the waves and the sails are still set - perhaps the boat is still bumping to a deeper part of the reef - we pick up a long mooring line and two of them jump in - they want to take the sails down to stop the wreck 's progress into deeper water. They succeed with the Mainsail but not with the unrolled Genoa - the foredeck is too far under to pull on the sail from the right place. They swim to the chart table and recover two drowned GPS sets, the Nasamarine barograph, two drowned mobile phones and two bottles - it 's a bit hard to direct their efforts and I think it 's ineffective and dangerous for me to jump in to try to help - we go back to the fishing camp, eat some rice and boiled fish and then begin our journey with them to civilization.
After a couple of stops we arrive next morning at their fishing village in Baie d 'Ambarata. We hadn 't spotted it from our anchorage of a couple of night 's previously since it is well hidden by the mangroves. They unload the boat as the tide ebbs and they prepare a meal - it 's rice and fish again. We wait for a taxi but none come - we walk with Rousi and his brother and we see why there is no taxi - there 's no road for the first half of the hour 's walk to the village. Clearly it 's a more important place since Rousi and his brother make a report about us to two ladies in uniform in an office next to the Mairie/Village Hall. We then get into the waiting "Taxi brousse". It 's a covered pick-up/ute and as it makes its journey along bumpy roads it gets ridiculously crowded and over-loaded - however we arrive in Diego Suarez in the early afternoon and meet Rousi 's father. We go by tuk-tuk/3-wheeler taxi to a bank and I get money from the ATM and we then attempt to check in with the Immigration Police. Our arrival in the country is of course rather unorthodox so the procedure is not straight-forward. After seeing some officials that afternoon they keep our passports and tell us which hotel they want us to stay in. At least my iPad still has some charge and I can use the hotel wi-fi to inform friends and family of our safety, the loss of "Ramprasad", and the dangers of Banc Ampamonty. Next morning I meet the policemen detailed to look after us. Dao stays at the hotel since she has lost all of her clothes apart from one nightdress and a jacket (what she was wearing the previous day). I go with the policeman to an office where he types a report based on what I tell him (- there is a computer in the office but it doesn 't work!) - I give Rousi 's brother and father enough money to pay for 100 litres of petrol to cover the fuel that they have used helping us and that afternoon we get our passports back with a 15 day permit to stay in Madagascar.
This is however not the end of our dealing with the local beaurocracy - we are taken by the policemen to make a report to the Harbour Masters dept. There we met the Maritime Inspector of Antsiranana M Jaona RAMANANTSOA who spoke very good English. As it got dark he turned the light on in his office using a pair of pliers to connect the bare wires coming out of the wall where the switch should have been! Despite the level of their beaurocracy it was clear that their Health and Safety department was not all that active. M Jaona criticised the fact that we did NOT have Seaman 's books. I replied that I had NEVER been required to have a Seaman 's book despite having travelled on my yacht to many countries. He took our passports and filed them with some Seaman 's books which he had shown us. I protested that we had only just got our passports back from the Police and M Jaona claimed he had put our passports into his filing cabinet only as some oversight and then returned them to us. I had not brought my iPad to this meeting having thought that I had provided sufficient explanation to the officers that morning - I agreed to provide M Jaona with a written report next day and we were free to go.
I provide this account of our unorthodox arrival in Madagascar to the interested reader partly for me and partly for others to learn from mistakes that I may have made. I would strongly encourage navigators to properly prepare a pilotage plan and to be aware of any dangers in their vicinity and their expected future vicinities. In these days of electronic navigation I would like to make navigators aware of the risks involved in seamless scale-changing as I am used to doing on the vector charts that I display on my iPad. I would encourage navigators to check their pilotage plan against an independent navigational source. Had I looked on my C-Map charts I may well have noticed the discrepancy between the two charts and the dangerous nature of Banc Ampamonty.
After the boat was holed we didn 't have much time and I think we used the time fairly effectively - some things were saved and many things forgotten and lost. Some years before I had enquired about servicing the liferaft - I had had that liferaft serviced twice before and I concluded that I would be forced to buy a new one - something that at that time I could hardly afford. In this case as it turned out we were better off making our own way in the dinghy. I forgot the flares and the YB tracker (satellite communicator) and the VHF hand-held. I remembered the EPIRB and some important things were saved by good luck. The EPIRB 's signal alerted Falmouth CG to our situation but since Madagascar has no lifeboat service/Search and Rescue organization nothing more than informing my sisters in England could be done. As it turned out the fishermen helped us reach civilisation. As they explained to me they were poor fishermen and I hope they felt quite rightly rewarded for their assistance.
I am glad that the fellowship of seafarers still seems to count for something. I am grateful to have been able to discuss these events with other sailing friends. Also I am very glad that both of us came through this disastrous experience alive and uninjured. So easily things may not have turned out this way. "There but for the grace of .........." has been uttered.
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By Hasbun - 15 Feb 2016
What a story, how straightforward and clear the writing, and what a lesson.
Thanks.
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By bwallace - 18 Feb 2016
Hi Sam, Sorry to hear of the loss of Ramprasad. Glad you are both safe though. We met you in Bayona in 2005. Brian and Sue S/V Darramy
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