essence yacht sinking

Maritime NZ Report: Storm covers may have prevented the loss of sailing vessel, Essence

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The tragic sinking of the New Zealand yacht Essence, returning from Fiji, has safety lessons for all international sailing vessels.

Essence  foundered in heavy seas on 14 October 2019 off Northland’s east coast on a voyage from Fiji to New Zealand. The crew abandoned the vessel and were rescued from the sea by helicopter. The skipper did not survive.

Maritime New Zealand has released a detailed report that reveals if storm covers had been fitted to protect the cabin windows, it’s possible the loss of  Essence  may have been avoided.

Safety regulations have now been updated to prevent similar incidents from occurring.

Neil Rowarth, Maritime NZ’s Northern Compliance Manager, said regulations at the time did not require vessels sailing from New Zealand on international voyages to have storm covers fitted in heavy seas but the regulations did require storm covers to be available if required.

“Following the recommendations of the report, Maritime NZ has worked in collaboration with Yachting NZ to amend the safety regulations to require storm covers to be positioned on windows over a certain size on sailing vessels.”

The four experienced crew on  Essence  had prepared for the forecast heavy weather. All hatches were checked and loose gear was secured. Storm sails and a storm drogue *  were prepared. Storm covers, however, were not fitted to cabin windows.

As conditions worsened, crew described a series of semi-knockdowns during which waves broke onto the cockpit. During the final severe knockdown crew saw the starboard windows explode, followed by an inundation of water below deck.

Considerable damage was observed and it was determined the vessel was sinking. A distress message was sent, a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) activated and the decision taken to abandon ship. The liferaft had been washed off deck so the crew had to abandon into the water.

Essence  sank and after approximately two hours, the crew were sighted by search and rescue teams. Although he did not survive, the skipper was found to be instrumental in contributing to the survival of his crew throughout the ordeal.

Whilst the failure to have storm covers fitted in heavy seas to protect cabin windows contributed to the loss of the  Essence , Maritime NZ says it is important to remember the high standards observed by the owners.

“High standards were maintained, both in terms of maintenance and equipment on board, which in some cases, surpassed Category 1 requirements.

“The tragic story of the  Essence  should prompt others venturing offshore to take notice, read the report and make changes to their vessels and procedures,” said Mr Rowarth.

*Correction:  In the original media release (22 July 2021), Maritime NZ incorrectly stated that a storm drogue had been deployed to help make the vessel easier to control in heavy weather. The report (p4) states that “Storm sails and a storm drogue* were prepared.” We apologise for the error.

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Yacht sinking that killed stuart pedersen leads to rule change.

The sinking of a yacht which left the skipper - an ACT Party candidate - dead could have been avoided if storm covers were fitted to the cabin windows, a Maritime NZ report has found.

Plywood storm coverings in position, but not secured over windows, on a Bavaria Oceans 47 sister ship. Photo: Maritime NZ

The 14m yacht Essence foundered in heavy seas off Cape Brett in Northland on 14 October 2019 on a return sailing to New Zealand from Fiji.

The skipper, Stuart Pedersen, died after it started taking water and sank 37km from the Cape. His wife and two others were also on board.

Pedersen was a well-known Tauranga sailor , an entrepreneur, chair of the Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust, and a candidate for the ACT Party, though Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat club commodore Andy Knowles said he "absolutely hated the idea of actually going into Parliament".

The report said the ship began sinking after repeatedly striking heavy waves, which entered the cockpit and smashed the rear windows.

"As conditions worsened, crew described a series of semi-knockdowns during which waves broke onto the cockpit. During the final severe knockdown crew saw the starboard windows explode, followed by an inundation of water below deck," it said.

The crew abandoned the vessel and were rescued from the sea by helicopter about two hours after it sank.

Maritime NZ northern compliance manager Neil Rowarth said regulations required that storm covers be on board - but not necessarily fitted - on international voyages from New Zealand in case they became needed.

He said the rules had since been amended so the covers would be required to be fitted to windows of a certain size.

"Under the amended regulations, storm coverings must now be fitted over windows for all windows more than 1852cm2 in area," the report said.

"The amendment thus avoids the need for crew to fit storm coverings at sea, which can be a difficult and dangerous undertaking, particularly in heavy seas."

Maritime NZ said although he died, the skipper was found to be instrumental in contributing to the survival of his crew throughout the ordeal.

It found that abandon ship procedures were discussed, but the crew said no written procedures document was posted on the bulkhead.

It said the yacht's liferaft was likely washed off the deck by waves, or the unit securing it was activated by pressure from the knockdown.

"When sighted by the Orion P3 crew, it appeared fully inflated. Regardless of the mechanism involved, this highlights the vulnerability of safety equipment stowed on an exposed deck during heavy seas."

The report said high maintenance and equipment standards were otherwise maintained on the vessel.

'Stu was particularly brave'

Before his death, Pedersen got a crew member who was on deck out from underwater and made sure two crew got into a liferaft.

Yachting New Zealand chief executive David Abercrombie - also an old friend of Pedersen's - said he put others first.

"The report demonstrates that Stu was particularly brave in making sure that he did everything he could to save the lives of others on the boat."

Maritime New Zealand northern compliance manager Neil Rowarth hoped the regulation change would prevent similar tragedies.

"When New Zealand-registered pleasure vessels leave the country the inspection that they have to have before they leave will ensure that adequate storm covers are available and in place to prevent the windows breaking like they did on the Essence."

Bruce Carley had been out on the Essence with his dear friend Stuart previously - and said he took "extremely good care of his yacht and extremely good care of his crew".

Carley was looking after the Pedersens' cat while he was away on his Fiji voyage.

He said his old friend was a popular Tauranga community member and very caring.

"[He was] extremely generous and very diligent. There were no half measures with Stu, if he wanted something to be done, he would go absolutely all out to achieve it, and if he saw that somebody needed some help, he would give them every assistance available."

ACT leader David Seymour said the loss of Stuart Pedersen was still "very fresh" for party members.

He said he was a "great man with a gleam in his eye" and "gone too soon".

"I remember people in an internal Facebook group saying 'there's a yacht missing, it could be Stu'. And I thought 'not a chance that wouldn't happen to Stu'. And of course that's what tragedies are like, they suddenly become real. We feel a huge sense of loss and sadness."

Seymour hoped the report would bring the Pedersen family some closure and said his thoughts were with them.

Copyright © 2021 , Radio New Zealand

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Sunk in a storm with no liferaft: lessons learned

• Bruce Goodwin
• September 27, 2021

Bruce Goodwin's ocean crossing with friends was nearing an end when they encountered a storm; the liferaft was lost, the yacht sank. Skipper Stuart Pedersen tragically died just as he was being plucked to safety

Swimmer descends to the liferaft in breaking waves; two casualties were still in the storm-battered sea after the yacht sunk. Credit: Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust

Sailing is one of my passions, so I needed little persuasion when my good friend Stuart Pedersen asked if I could help him and his wife Pamela sail their yacht Essence back to New Zealand from Fiji, writes Bruce Goodwin .

I flew out on Sunday 6 October 2019 and joined the boat’s crew, which also included Pamela’s brother-in-law, Steve Newman.

The next morning we motored down the coast of Viti Levu island to Denarau to clear customs. While waiting for Customs, Stuart and I worked through the pre-voyage job list while Pamela and Steve went to the Nadi market for fresh food.

By evening, we had anchored in Momi Bay, ready for an early getaway.

Fateful decision

After breakfast on Tuesday we raised the anchor and stowed it under a bunk down below, thinking that our next stop would be a customs wharf in Tauranga, New Zealand, nearly 1,400 miles south – this action was to impact our decision-making during the fateful storm six days later.

For the first 24 hours we sailed through showers with light, variable winds as we cleared the inter-tropical convergence zone. By Wednesday we were on a broad reach for home, and the blessed conditions would continue through to Sunday.

Stuart Pedersen, the owner and skipper, who died after his Bavaria 47 sunk off New Zealand. Credit: Jason Marra

Essence was a joy to sail. Launched in 2000, it was a mid-cockpit cruising version of a Bavaria 47, well equipped and maintained. She could easily make 7 to 8 knots in little wind.

Conditions were forecast to turn gnarly so Stuart wisely decided to head for shelter at Opua in the Bay of Islands rather than continue towards Tauranga.

The worst of four weather forecast s showed a maximum 45 knots from an easterly or north-easterly quarter. I felt comfortable with this, because it meant we could sail a broad reach straight into the Bay of Islands.

It was not an option to heave-to and wait north of the storm area, because the rest of the week’s forecast showed strong winds from the direction that we wanted to travel.

Battened down

Sunday saw us still broad-reaching in about 25 knots with reduced sail, still feeling quite comfortable.

Early on Monday Pamela and Stuart set the storm staysail and put the third, final reef in the mainsail . I was due on watch at 0800 but Stuart, who was hand steering, told me not to hurry.

I appeared on deck before 0900 dressed for a wet and cold last day at sea; layered in polypropylene clothing, a lifejacket and safety harness .

Bruce Goodwin is a verteran ocean voyager, having cruising the Pacific Islands and around New Zealand. He has written about the accident in The Final Voyage of the Essence, available to buy via [email protected]. All proceeds from the sale go to the Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust

The wind had risen overnight to 35 knots, and there was a light, driving rain. We were well past North Cape at this point.

Stuart was happy to remain at the wheel, so we stayed on deck together. Pamela and Steve were taking their minds off the conditions by making funny videos down below.

When I took a turn on the wheel, I noticed the touchscreen chartplotter was no longer functioning due to the continuous rain. We had a choice of a digital or magnetic compass to steer by.

I opted for the digital one – part of the autopilot system. Pamela provided occasional progress updates and sweets.

Safety tethers

Stuart and I decided to use second safety tethers, which proved to be wise. As we approached the Northland coast, Stuart and I discussed the idea of turning west to seek shelter in Whangaroa Harbour or the Cavalli Islands.

I concluded that it would be risky to close the coast without the chart plotter to indicate hazards, and without the anchor being immediately available to drop.

It would have been a 20-minute job in calm water to refit the anchor ; impossible in those conditions.

The Essence , a Bavaria 47 (mid-cockpit version), in happier times. Credit: Bruce Goodwin

Entering Whangaroa Harbour in bad weather is daunting, so we pressed on for Opua. Essence was making 7 to 8.5 knots.

As we rose up the steep swells we could hear and sense the breaking tops approaching from behind, so we would turn downwind and take them across the stern before resuming the broad reach once the swell had passed.

This was working quite well. The wind speed now exceeded the 45-knot forecast. I was surprised by how big and steep the waves were.

I later found out that a sea condition monitor recorded waves off the Bay of Islands up to 7.5m high just eight seconds apart.

The problem was not so much the height of the swells, but their steepness and the breaking portion on their tops.

Due to the randomness, bigger waves inevitably occurred and struck the boat. About 1100 we got knocked over. Essenc e kept sailing well.

The boat tipped, the leeward railings went underwater and the solar panel was ripped from the stanchions .

Panel, stanchion, lifeline and electrical cable went flailing around off the stern.

Credit: Maxine Heath

I changed my tethers’ attachments one at a time to connect to a jackline across the stern, and began descending to the leeward quarter to clear the damage.

Another deluge ripped me from my handholds. I managed to hook a leg around the final stanchion on the starboard quarter. The damaged kit had broken free, so my efforts were in vain.

Stuart was feeling anxious, so I tried to reassure him by saying that we would be in Opua soon after 1700.

READ: Window storm covers could have prevented fatal yacht sinking: the full Maritime New Zealand report into Essence’s sinking here

About 1135, Pamela called New Zealand’s Marine Operations Centre (MOC) on VHF Channel 16 to report our entry into New Zealand waters, and that we were heading for Opua.

She gave our position, course, speed and other details, and set up an hourly trip report. I thank God for her foresight.

By midday the wind was hitting 60 knots.

Shortly before 1230 Stuart was at the wheel, and I was wedged into the cockpit.

We were 25 miles north-north-east of Cape Brett. I was holding on to stainless steel tubing both sides and felt secure.

We rose up on another swell and without warning, the boat suddenly rolled over as the wave broke.

My hands were ripped from their holds and I was free-falling, snapping to a halt mid-air as my tethers tightened. Then I was underwater, being dragged along fast.

My body was being painfully bent, and the pressure around my harness made it impossible to breathe, which was just as well.

In additional to the helicopter pictured here, an air force crew and a Royal New Zealand Coastguard boat crew also responded when The Essence sunk. Credit: New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)

I remember thinking, ‘I’ll just have to wait it out.’ The next thing I knew I was pinned down on the aft deck tangled in the mainsheet.

Stuart was clearing debris off me and reorganising my tethers. I couldn’t feel any injuries: the adrenaline was working pretty well by then. I looked around the deck.

The dodger was ripped to shreds and the steering was still functioning, but the fibreglass cover and electronics around the steering pedestal were smashed.

The mast was still up, the boom was right out – we had set the boom brake – the sails were luffing wildly, and the boat was sitting stably in a semi-hove-to position.

The only thing preventing us from sailing on seemed to be that the mainsheet was entangled with the bimini remnants. We tried to clear it but without success: it required a hacksaw.

We checked on the others down below. It was a shock: they were knee-deep in water, blood was pouring from a wound on Pamela’s head, and Steve was trying to restore order in the saloon.

Stuart and I jumped below, into the water: the companionway steps had been ripped out of place. The starboard saloon windows were smashed and every wave brought a water-fall.

Steve and Pamela stuffed squabs into the window frames, but it was a fruitless exercise. The boat was sinking.

Pamela very calmly put out a Mayday call: ‘We can give no position. Our equipment is damaged.’ Shore station: ‘Turn on your EPIRB .’

We searched frantically for the EPIRB in its cabin wall holder. It was gone. I remembered my personal locator beacon (PLB) . It should have been fitted to my lifejacket , but I hadn’t got round to it.

Essence crew approach liferaft. Credit: New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)

I waded to the forward cabin, spotted the blue lanyard and put it over my neck. The previously locked forward hatch was wide open so I pulled it shut. I tried to turn on the PLB, but my salt water-soaked eyes couldn’t see which button to push. I pushed both, and Steve confirmed it was indicating correctly.

I climbed out to the cockpit to set up the liferaft that was strapped onto the aft deck, but just an empty cradle remained.

I called to the others below: ‘The liferaft’s gone. We’ll have to swim for it. Don’t worry, we can do this.’

Stuart, Pamela and Steve brought up a spare lifejacket, the grab bag, chocolate, and a four-litre bottle of water.

Sunk without a liferaft

I saw no fear or panic on anyone’s face, only a determination to make this work. We ate as much chocolate and drank as much water as we could and checked one another’s lifejackets.

We agreed to connect our tethers after we had left the boat to minimise the risk of snagging on something and going down with it.

Stuart and Steve used the bilge pump in the cockpit, but it was only buying a little time. There was another manual pump in a cabin, but we feared getting trapped.

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It would only have bought us a few minutes, and used up vital energy. The boat gradually sank lower in the water.

Pamela suggested that I open the gate to make it easier for us to depart together. As the bow started to go under, holding the grab bag, I jumped out as far as I could, pulling Pamela with me.

Steve and Stuart followed seconds later, bringing the Danbuoy and life ring. They were lucky to clear the davits, because the boat dived very quickly.

The davits were the last we saw of the Essence .

We tethered ourselves in a ‘daisy chain’, while trying to cope with the shock and breathing problems caused by the cold water.

I was coughing and spluttering, and had to make a conscious effort to close my mouth and breathe through my nose to regain control.

We all huddled for warmth, but it made me feel claustrophobic, so I excused myself and floated on my back with my head towards the on-coming waves, with my PLB stuck into the cleft of my lifejacket with the aerial pointing up.

Huge waves tumbled us around. For a time we were underwater: all I could do was hold my breath and hug my lifejacket, knowing its buoyancy would eventually bring me to the surface.

I remembered the handheld VHF radio in the grab bag and passed it to Stuart to use. We were surprised to get a quick reply, confirming that a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion would be overhead in 10 minutes.

The liferaft being hit by big breaker. Stuart and Pamela were still in the water enduring this. Credit: Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust

The sight of that plane roaring past will remain with me forever. I raised my hand and yelled, ‘You beauty! We’re going to make it!’

It flew by very low about 200m away, and I was sure the crew had seen us.

They hadn’t.

Later, when I saw the aerial photographs, I realised how desperately difficult it must have been to spot four tiny figures in a storm-swept ocean.

The Orion disappeared and came back five minutes later. This pattern was repeated four or five times.

Stuart asked on the radio : ‘When are you dropping the liferaft? We’re getting very cold.’

A floating smoke flare landed 100m away. The crew still hadn’t seen us. They got Stuart to countdown on the VHF radio: ‘Now, now: on your port side.’

Apparently because they were flying so low, my PLB position was cutting in and out between the swells.

Eventually, the Orion flew past us waving its wings. They had spotted the Danbuoy.

Test of strength

The Orion disappeared, then moments later a long rope with flags and small parachutes came floating down. I knew a liferaft would be at the end, so I struck out swimming for it.

I was soon out of breath. It seemed to be an impossible task, I kept striking out, then pausing, again and again.

I had no idea how the others, attached behind me, were getting on, but they must have been going for it too. It felt good to grab the rope.

Bruce Goodwin spends a few emotional moments in the seat in the helicopter in which he sat after being pulled from the sea, during a visit to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust base to thank his rescuers.

I started pulling myself along. Initially it wasn’t too difficult, but as the raft was blown past, still some distance away, a tremendous pull came on the rope as 50-plus knots of wind propelled it away.

I locked my hands onto the line, knowing it could be my only chance of survival. Every so often the raft dipped between waves and out of the wind, so the tension eased, enabling us to progress.

Then the pull would come on again, and I would hang on with all the strength I could muster.

The Orion crew logged at least 20 minutes between our getting hold of the rope and reaching the raft: the hardest physical battle of my life.

The liferaft

Grabbing the liferaft’s webbing handhold was another milestone, but with a tangle of people, ropes and equipment I couldn’t get onboard.

Eventually, I got part-way in, feet first, and battled to release the hook from my tether to fully board. I turned to help Steve, but nothing worked until we released the tether connecting him to Pamela.

Now Pamela and Stuart were alongside. The unzipped sides of the raft were flapping wildly. Breakers were crashing through the raft.

Steve and I tried to get Pamela and Stuart aboard. Pamela was floating on her back with one hand holding a webbing handle. Her eyes were open, but she was unresponsive as waves washed over her.

Her face was blue-grey, and that moment became the epicentre of the post-traumatic stress disorder which I experienced for months afterwards.

I spoke to Pamela to try to keep her fighting, and pulled at her lifejacket, but she kept slipping underwater.

I yelled at Steve: ‘What’s the plan? I can’t get her in.’ He didn’t know either.

All I could do was hold Pamela’s head out of the water, while Steve looked after Stuart. We were in this position for around 15 minutes, then a helicopter whizzed past and I yelled: ‘Hang on. It won’t be long now.’

There was no sign Pamela could hear me. Soon the rescue swimmer was in the water, attached to the helicopter winch cable.

When he reached the raft, Steve indicated he should take Stuart first. The swimmer cut Stuart and Pamela free and the raft quickly drifted away from them.

Steve and I watched as the helicopter hovered over them. Eventually Stuart and the swimmer were lifted up with a trail of ropes. The swimmer had lost his knife and was unable to clear the lines.

This gave the helicopter crew anxious moments because of the entanglement risk with the tail rotor.

The winchman cut the ropes before swinging Stuart aboard.

The swimmer – a paramedic named Karl Taylor – was a strong, fit man, but he was pushed to his limits that day, going straight back in for Pamela. Steve and I zipped up the sides of the 10-person, oblong liferaft and it felt like the Hilton.

However, the swimmer soon returned. We drifted away and he was airlifted and repositioned beside us. He chose me to go next.

I passed Steve my PLB, while Karl placed a lifebelt around me. In an instant we were being dragged along in the water.

We were soon in the air beside the helicopter, and practised hands swapped carabiners over and swung me aboard.

I was dumped on the deck, then lifted into a seat, and someone put a seatbelt on me. Steve appeared. The smile on his face was precious.

I looked at Pamela. She was very pale, wrapped in aluminium foil thermal blankets. She managed a small smile, which meant so much to me.

Between us was Stuart, wrapped in a tarpaulin. I couldn’t see him, so I started to clear a small area around his face. I needed to get that same smile from him, but a crewman waved me away.

I didn’t understand what he was telling me, so I tried again, and got the same reaction from the crewman.

Journey home

The side door was closed, then crewmen wrapped thermal blankets around me and Steve as we settled in for the long flight to Whangãrei.

I could feel the cold body of Stuart leaning against me, and I slowly realised that he had died.

He had been so close to making it home.

Many wonderful, true, things have since been said about Stuart, but what remains with me is his devotion to Pamela to the end.

Just minutes earlier, while alongside the liferaft, he had been asking: ‘Where’s Pamela? How is she?’ At Whangãrei, we were met by an ambulance and taken to hospital.

I called my wife, Elaine: ‘Honey, it’s me. I’m okay, but I’m in Whangãrei Hospital. The boat has sunk, and we’ve lost Stuart.’

Survivors Bruce Goodwin and Steve Newman (3rd and 4th from left) with the helicopter and crew which rescued them during a visit they made to the helicopter base

That was all I could get out. We each gave a report to the police for the coroner’s inquest.

We had no dry clothing, but three cheers for Sharron Beck from Whangãrei’s Town Basin Marina office who visited us, offering hugs, and later, sets of clothes.

Elaine contacted our niece Pam, who lived locally. Steve and I were discharged at 2200 and taken to her home. Pamela stayed in the intensive care unit, being treated for water in her lungs.

The whole thing has changed my life.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my survivor buddies, and how their lives must also be impacted.

That all four of us didn’t perish is due to the teamwork, rapid response, skill and courage of New Zealand’s rescue services.

To lose a good mate has been traumatic beyond what I could imagine.

Stuart had a wonderful zest for life, was successful in business, retired young, and lived life to the full. Despite the voyage’s disastrous end, I don’t want this to be a scare story.

Sailing is still my happy place. I only want to make it safer for us all in the future.

Sunk in a storm with no liferaft: Lessons Learned

• Wear a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB): You can fall overboard any time, not just in bad weather. If your crewmates lose sight of you, you can still be found. Know by touch which buttons to push – you might lose your specs, it might be dark, or your vision might be blurred by salt water.
• Energy & warmth: Dress for the worst-case scenario and eat and drink well, before standing watch in bad weather. You probably won’t get time to eat or put your thermals on in an emergency.
• Beware hypothermia: Lean people succumb to hypothermia far quicker than those packing a bit of weight. They need to be watched and given more food, rest and warm clothing.
• Cold shock: Be prepared for the cold shock if you have to abandon ship. Keep your mouth shut and breathe through your nose to minimise the amount of water you ingest. Getting your breathing under control must take priority.
• Teamwork: Look out for one another when abandoning ship: check lifejackets and harnesses, and be mindful of one another’s needs. Talk each move through, then act together. Positive talk is incredibly important. Once you’re in the water, tether yourselves together.
• Place your EPIRB in a grab-bag: …or risk losing it. Also, having the EPIRB, flares, handheld VHF radio and other rescue essentials all in one, secure place can save precious time.
• Use lanyards: Ensure that the items in the grab-bag, the bag itself, and other emergency essentials such as your PLB and knife, have lanyards – and use them. The risk of losing items in an abandon-ship situation is high. Luckily, we lost our VHF unit only after we no longer needed it.
• Liferaft mountings: Consider how well your liferaft is mounted to the boat. Would the mounting survive the enormous hydraulic pressures that would be exerted on it in a knockdown or roll-over?
• Use flares : Use your flares even if you think your rescuers have seen you – it removes all doubt.
• Beware touch-screen chart plotters: They interpret rain and spray drops hitting them as your finger. Use a different type, or have a back-up.
• Storm shutters or battens: Fit them when bad weather is forecast – waiting until the storm is raging is too late. Battens reduce the likelihood of the windows being burst by the distorting forces exerted on the roof and hull during a knockdown or roll-over. Shutters can significantly reduce water ingress if any windows are burst. This could make the difference between the boat sinking and making it home.
• Accessible bilge pumps: Site manual bilge pumps where they can be used safely. A sinking proceeds frighteningly fast in the final stages. Consider fitting the largest-capacity electric bilge pump possible.
• Know your boat’s limitations: Do not expect your boat to cope with conditions it is not designed for. Don’t take it on a long sea passage if it’s not designed to survive knockdowns and roll-overs: stick to coastal waters where you can run to shelter if the weather turns nasty.
• Anchor readiness: Keep it ready for use at short notice, but ensure it’s well tied down.
• Weather forecast caution: Expect worse than the weather forecast, and sail accordingly. In our case the wind reached 15 knots higher than forecast.
• Tracking app and AIS: Use a tracking app and AIS , and have someone on shore monitor the app. Brief them to alert the emergency services if it stops working, in case the worst has happened and you can’t send a Mayday message yourself. It will assist your rescuers.

Published on October 14th, 2021 | by Editor

Fatal yacht sinking was preventable

Published on October 14th, 2021 by Editor -->

by Katy Stickland, Yachting Monthly An investigation by Maritime New Zealand has concluded that window storm covers could have prevented the fatal sinking of the Bavaria 47 Ocean, Essence off North Island.

New regulations on window storm covers for yachts have been introduced, following an investigation into the fatal sinking of the Bavaria 47 Ocean, Essence off the coast of New Zealand.

Maritime New Zealand now requires all boats undertaking international voyages to fit storm covers on windows of more than 1853cm², and have updated the Regulations and the Yacht Inspectors’ Manual.

The story of the sinking of Essence, with the loss of the skipper Stuart Pedersen, was featured in Lessons: Sunk in a storm with no liferaft .

The boat was on passage from Fiji to Tauranga, New Zealand when heavy weather forced the crew to change course towards Opua in the Bay of Islands, a lee shore.

Although the four-strong experienced crew prepared for the storm, window storm covers were not fitted, despite being onboard.

Essence suffered multiple knockdowns in heavy seas before foundering in 60 knot winds off the east coast of Northland, North Island on 14 October 2019; the final knockdown resulted in the starboard windows breaking, and water flooding the saloon. – Full report

Tags: Man Overboard , Safety , tragedy , Yachting Monthly

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Yacht lost in storm off north NZ, respected yachtie dies

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Posted: 11:15am Thu 22 Jul, 2021

Tauranga yacht‘s sinking prompts safety reminder

The crew abandoned the vessel and were rescued from the sea by helicopter. Photo: Maritime NZ.

The tragic sinking of the Tauranga yacht Essence has safety lessons for all international sailing vessels, says Maritime NZ.

Essence foundered in heavy seas on October 14, 2019, off Northland's east coast on a voyage from Fiji to New Zealand.

Well-known Tauranga man Stuart Pedersen died when the 47-foot yacht sank.

Stuart's wife Pamela, fellow club member Bruce Goodwin, and Pamela's brother-in-law Steve were also on board.

They survived the sinking, but suffered injuries.

Maritime New Zealand has released a detailed report that reveals if storm covers had been fitted to protect the cabin windows, it's possible the loss of Essence may have been avoided.

Safety regulations have now been updated to prevent similar incidents from occurring.

Maritime NZ's northern compliance manager Neil Rowarth says regulations at the time did not require vessels sailing from New Zealand on international voyages to have storm covers fitted in heavy seas, but the regulations did require storm covers to be available if required.

'Following the recommendations of the report, Maritime NZ has worked in collaboration with Yachting NZ to amend the safety regulations to require storm covers to be positioned on windows over a certain size on sailing vessels,” says Rowarth.

The four experienced crew on Essence had prepared for the forecast heavy weather.

All hatches were checked and loose gear was secured.

Storm sails were prepared and a storm drogue had been deployed to help make the vessel easier to control in heavy weather. Storm covers, however, were not fitted to cabin windows, says a statement from Maritime NZ.

As conditions worsened, crew described a series of semi-knockdowns during which waves broke onto the cockpit.

During the final severe knockdown crew saw the starboard windows explode, followed by an inundation of water below deck.

Considerable damage was observed and it was determined the vessel was sinking.

A distress message was sent, a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) activated and the decision taken to abandon ship.

The liferaft had been washed off deck so the crew had to abandon into the water.

Essence sank and after about two hours, the crew were sighted by search and rescue teams.

Although he did not survive, Stuart was found to be instrumental in contributing to the survival of his crew throughout the ordeal.

Stuart was one of the leading members of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club, a tornado sailor and chair of the Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust.

Martiime NZ says whilst the failure to have storm covers fitted in heavy seas to protect cabin windows contributed to the loss of the Essence, it's important to remember the high standards observed by the owners.

'High standards were maintained, both in terms of maintenance and equipment on board, which in some cases, surpassed Category 1 requirements," says Rowarth.

'The tragic story of the Essence should prompt others venturing offshore to take notice, read the report and make changes to their vessels and procedures."

Posted on 23-07-2021 20:13 | By morepork

As a sometime yachtsman myself, condolences to all concerned.

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Anatomy of a Rescue: Essence Pt 2

Continuing Bruce Goodwin’s account of the sinking of the yacht Essence off the east coast of Northland in October 2019, and the crew’s rescue.

As planned, the first thing we did after jumping off the sinking Essence was link ourselves with our safety tethers so we wouldn’t be separated. The shock of cold water literally took our breath away. Then an incredible thing happened: an enormous albatross landed right beside us. Having this big bird sitting not much more than an arm’s length away was amazing. It had a long, hooked beak that looked powerful enough to rip me apart, but its head looked aristocratic and wise, caring and compassionate. I am a Christian, and it suddenly filled me with confidence that I was exactly where God wanted me to be. From then on it didn’t worry me whether I should live or die: it would be God’s plan for me. I didn’t see the albatross leave, but I don’t think it stayed long. Despite that sense of spiritual calm, the first minutes in the water were, physically, extremely hard. Breakers were crashing over us and I took in a lot of salt water, with a lot of coughing and spluttering. I knew I had to do better. Making a conscious effort to close my mouth and breathe through my nose, I gradually got my breathing under control and adjusted to the temperature.

Huge, breaking waves washed over us, tumbling us around as in a washing machine. Once we were pushed deep under water. I held my breath and hugged my lifejacket, knowing it would eventually bring me back to the surface. To begin with we talked a little. I remember thanking Pamela for her wonderful cooking, although I’m not sure she heard me. Despite the conditions, she had produced a gourmet breakfast that morning. Steve’s lifejacket was deflating and we needed to sort out his manual inflating tube. His lifejacket had auto-inflated during the rollover, and probably developed a leak in the process. We knew the first sign of rescue would be a P3 Orion aircraft. From his experience in the Defence Force, Steve calculated the time before the plane would be overhead, factoring in the pre-flight checks and the flight time from Whenuapai. I thought his calculations were optimistic, and I mentally prepared to swim through the night. Gradually the talk died away, and time went fuzzy-wuzzy for me as we settled into the wait.

At some stage I remembered there might be a hand-held VHF radio in the grab bag, so I unzipped a small opening and poked my hand in to feel around. Eventually I found it. Unfamiliar with the brand, I handed it to Stuart. He called and a reply came back quickly, confirming that an Orion would be overhead in 10 minutes: our first positive news. Steve’s calculations had been pretty accurate. The sight of that big, grey, four-engine plane roaring past will remain with me forever. I raised my hand and yelled “You beauty! We’re going to make it!” It passed about 200m away, flying very low, and I was sure the crew had seen us. We didn’t see it again for about five minutes, then it returned. This pattern was repeated four or five times, and I heard Stuart say on the radio “When are you going to drop the life raft? We’re getting very cold here.” On one pass they dropped a floating smoke flare about 100m away. All this time I’d presumed they’d spotted us, but Steve hadn’t seen them wave the wings, and he was unsure. They got Stuart to do a count-down on the VHF to help them get our position. When it flew by Stuart would call over the radio “Now, now: on your port side.” They were apparently getting our position from my PLB, but because they were flying so low the signal was cutting out as we sank into the troughs. Eventually, the Orion flew past very one, but none of us thought of it, or even remembered they were there. Perhaps hypothermia and fatigue diminished our mental capacities. The Orion disappeared, then moments later a very long rope (about 100m) with flags attached came floating down. This is what we’d been waiting for: although I couldn’t see it, I knew there was a life-raft attached to the end. I struck out swimming for the rope as fast as I could, but soon had to pause for breath. At first it looked like an impossible task, but I kept swimming, resting and swimming. I had no idea how the others were getting on behind me. Each time I rested I could see the rope being blown off the waves, then coming back down onto the water a little closer to me, which was encouraging. I felt good when I eventually got hold of the rope, and I started pulling myself along it as fast as I could. In the distance I could see the life raft. Initially it wasn’t too hard to make my way towards it, even though the other three were tethered behind me. They must have been pulling too, and the wind must have been blowing the raft towards us.

But the raft then drifted past us, still some distance away, and the pull from it being driven by the wind was tremendous. Just holding onto the rope was all I could do. I locked my hands on, knowing it might be my only chance of survival. I had no idea how the others were getting on. I was focused to the max. Now and then the pull on the rope would ease when, I presumed, the raft dipped into the troughs and out of the wind. This enabled a little more progress. Then the pull would come on again, and I’d have to hang on with all the will I could muster. Then the pull would ease again, and I’d make a little more distance. The search and rescue operation (SAROP) report indicates that it took at least 21 minutes between my reaching the line and getting into the raft. It was certainly the hardest physical battle I’ve ever tackled. Loops of webbing ran along the raft’s side, with arrows pointing the way for boarding. It was another milestone to put my hands on the webbing, but as I started to work my way around to the boarding position I could feel a tangle of people, rope and equipment behind me. I could only get partially up the boarding slide before I was totally stuck. Our tethers were too short, and the strain on my tether to Steve would not let me go any further. Eventually, by turning my body 90o and entering the raft feet first I was able to get myself three-quarters of the way in. To get in I had to release my tether. It wasn’t a snap-shackle type hook, and it was quite difficult to remove, but eventually I freed it and got into the raft. I then tried to help Steve in. I pulled on the tether, then on his lifejacket, but it seemed I was going to pull the lifejacket off him. I even pulled on his head until he yelled at me to stop. Despite the effort I was only able to get him half-way up.

The only option left was to release the tether connecting him to Pamela and eventually Steve was aboard. Pamela and Stuart were alongside in a tangle of the life-raft’s rope and the line connecting the dan buoy and life ring. Breakers were crashing through the raft. The wind howled and the raft’s unzipped sides flapped wildly. It must have been very noisy, but I have no memory of the sound. I thought we’d be blown over like tumbleweed at any moment and was worried that we no longer had tethers attached to the raft or each other. We focused on Pamela and Stuart: I helped Pamela – Steve helped Stuart. Pamela was floating on her back, one hand on a webbing handle. Her eyes were open, but her face showed little expression. Waves were washing over her but it didn’t seem to bother her. Her face was blue-grey. That moment became the epicentre of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) I’ve since experienced. I talked to her to try to keep her fighting, but she was mostly unresponsive. She was tangled in ropes, and the dan buoy rod was stuck on something under the raft. I pulled at her lifejacket, but she slipped through it and her head went under water: she was too firmly anchored to the tangle under the water. Nothing I did seemed to help. I yelled at Steve: “What’s the plan? I can’t get her in.” His reply was much the same as my question: “What’ll we do? What’s the plan?” I didn’t know. After that, we settled for supporting them as best we could. All I could do was hold Pamela’s head out of the water a little. Fortunately, we weren’t in this position for too long: the SAROP report suggests it was probably a little more than 20 minutes. Then something made me look up, and I spotted a helicopter. I yelled at Pamela “Hang on! There’s a helicopter here. It won’t be long now.” There was no sign that she could hear me, and I just kept on holding on to her.

HEAVY-WEATHER OBSERVATIONS

Since Essence ’s loss I’ve reflected long and hard on what we did right and wrong, or could have done better, before, during and after the event. I share my thoughts and conclusions in the hope that it might help prevent, or at least mitigate, accidents like ours. Central to these issues is that Essence did not hit anything solid: all the damage was done by water. We under-estimate the power of the ocean at our peril.

Was the boat fit for purpose? I’m not going to express an opinion on this point, but offer a few reflections. Essence , a Bavaria 47, was a purpose-built cruising boat. She’d coped well in 20 years of cruising the world but met her match in conditions not uncommon in New Zealand waters. She was certainly very well-equipped and had been sailing beautifully right up to the roll-over. So why did she sink? There’s no simple answer, but design might have played a part. Cruising yacht design is often a compromise between speed, manoeuvrability, comfort and safety. A fast, easily-manoeuvred boat requires light weight and a relatively flat bottom, and a fin keel or similar. A cruising boat that will handle large seas, preferably on auto-pilot, requires a heavier displacement and a longer keel, and perhaps a rudder post on which to hinge the rudder. But such boats are slower and less manoeuvrable, so designers – no doubt influenced by buyers’ preferences – often compromise between the two. Similarly, to have a pleasant, airy feel down below requires large windows, but small windows better withstand the impact of large bodies of water, and of boats being thrown on their side or roof. Again, compromise is often the result. Essence was the central-cockpit version of the Bavaria 47, with much bigger cabin windows than her aft-cockpit siblings. I’m no expert on yacht design, but I know my own experiences. I own a Pacific 38 called Vara , a yacht of moderately heavy displacement, with a three-quarter-length keel and a rudder post. On Vara I can confidently use the auto-pilot in all conditions. This means that being knocked down, mast into the water, can happen multiple times a day in conditions like those we experienced. Vara has always righted herself relatively unscathed. Essence, with a wider, flatter bottom, reached her tipping point more quickly, and probably stayed over longer, than I’d have expected with Vara. Although auto-pilots can break down or be damaged, they don’t get tired, or suffer lapses of concentration and vigilance, or make errors of judgement. But because of her different hull, keel and rudder design, Essence couldn’t be sailed on auto-pilot in storm conditions, so we steered, leaving us potentially at the mercy of our own fallibility. Questions I expect the Maritime NZ investigation will address include: • Were the windows’ size and strength rating within the specifications recommended for NZ Category 1? The windows were larger than those on most cruising boats, but I understand they’d recently been fitted with specially-strengthened glass • Why did the windows burst outwards, as my crewmate Steve Newman swears he saw? • Did the cabin roof have the structural strength to withstand being dropped into the sea? • Why did the forward hatch, which was locked shut, burst open? • Was the boat’s design suitable for offshore cruising? Did we heed the weather forecasts? Yes. We departed Fiji when the forecast for the next several days was favourable, and so it proved. But a crew preparing for a long ocean passage doesn’t often have a choice of weather beyond the first few days, nor is there always a nearby sheltered anchorage. So a boat on a long passage must be capable of sailing in all conditions. To illustrate the point: I had sailed that same passage about 14 times in the previous 20 years, and on three or four of them I experienced winds stronger than 45 knots. I once experienced winds of more than 70 knots for 11 hours.

Were we sailing appropriately for the conditions? This question encompasses issues such as speed, course, sail choice, tactics and precautions. At the time of the incident we were broad reaching at 7 – 8.5 knots with a small staysail and a third reef in the main. I was pleased with the boat’s speed, and quite happy that we weren’t sailing faster than we/she could handle. I honestly don’t believe boat speed was an issue. We’d been hand steering for some time and held course well, steering diagonally across the line of the waves. As larger, steeper waves approached we would steer more downwind, to take the waves across the stern if they broke. This worked well. I’ve been asked why we hadn’t deployed a sea anchor, or drogue, to slow the boat down. We felt our speed was under control. Drogues also reduce the helm’s directional control so that the boat sails predominantly downwind. We needed to avoid downwind sailing to avoid being forced on to the coast. Overall, I think we were sailing the boat very well.

What worked well? • Preparing for the bad weather – knowing a big blow was imminent, we prepared well before the worst of it hit. This certainly made things far less traumatic than they might have been, and included the following actions: setting the storm sails before the wind increased to storm force; dressing well with warm clothes and wet weather gear before going on deck • Eating well and keeping hydrated – I’m sure the good breakfast I had before I went on deck that morning, the sweets that Pamela gave us every 30 minutes, and the chocolate and water she got us to gorge on just before we jumped into the water, helped to save our lives. On a related topic, in my experience leaner people become hypothermic earlier than heavier folk, even if they’re fit, and their crewmates need to keep a close eye on them. Steve and I were more heavily built than Stuart and Pamela, and we fared better. But I hesitate to draw too many conclusions from our case because other variables were, or might have been, in play. For example, Stuart and Pamela had been on deck since about 3am, while I’d had a good sleep, so exhaustion might have been as big a contributory factor in Stuart’s death and Pamela’s close call as anything else. • Double tethering – when Stuart and I were in the cockpit we connected second tethers to our safety harnesses. Our main tethers went down to a jackline in the cockpit floor, and the second to the windward jackline. While moving around the boat we could move one tether while staying connected with the other, and at roll-over it meant we didn’t fall too far. This worked well when I went aft to clear damage, and at the roll-over. • Setting up an hourly radio schedule – Pamela set this up on her own initiative, anticipating the bad weather. But skippers should order it as part of preparations for bad weather in case it gets overlooked among the myriad of other tasks that need to be done. This meant that, although we were unable to provide a precise position at sinking, Marine Operations Centre had the information it needed to calculate it to within a small radius: our last known position, time, course and speed over ground. Tell the shore station how many people are on board, so that if necessary, the rescuers know when they’ve got everyone. On a related note, on my own boat I’ve sometimes been the only person who knows how to operate the radio and make emergency calls. After this experience I am making a point of training at least one other crewmate in case something should happen to me. • Using a satellite tracking app – Essence had Iridium GO! Although it didn’t actually play a part in our rescue, it might have. It enables people on shore to follow a boat’s progress on a smart phone or similar via a satellite link. My wife Elaine was following us at home and noticed that it stopped working about the time of the sinking but thought nothing of it. (Perhaps it was just as well for her nerves that she didn’t think too hard about it!) But an assigned person monitoring the app on shore could raise the alarm in case the crew were unable to make a Mayday call. The marine version of Iridium GO! is portable and has a built-in SOS button which does not depend on a smart phone. • Our hand-held VHF was in the grab bag – this meant we had one less thing to think about before we abandoned ship. It played an important part in our rescue, although it was lost during the later stages because it didn’t have a lanyard for attaching to a crew member.

Preparation to abandon • Working as a team – fortunately, we had enough time to talk about what to do when leaving the boat. This might not always be possible, but it sure made a difference for us. We encouraged one another and ate chocolate and drank water as fast as we could. We decided to attach tethers by both ends to our harnesses to link ourselves in the water. We checked one another’s life jackets and fitted crutch straps. We agreed to leave the boat to windward, presuming the boat would drift away from us, and this seemed to work well. By the time the boat went down we knew exactly what we had to do. • Opening the gate in the railings – we could get off the boat quickly when the time came, reducing the risk of stumbling and tangling which climbing over the railings might have incurred. It also enabled us to land in the water close together, making it easier to link our tethers before drifting apart.

What could have been done better? Not everything identified below was within our control, but they’re factors worth considering (and having possible workarounds ready) before putting to sea. • The EPIRB should have been in the grab bag – the EPIRB, hand-held VHF and flares are critical items when abandoning ship. Our EPIRB was in a bracket on the bulkhead (a typical location) and it was lost in the roll-over. I can’t think why it can’t be kept in the grab bag, with a lanyard to attach it to a crew member. That way, it’s one less thing to think about when things get hairy. Other items in the bag could also have had lanyards. • My personal locator beacon (PLB) – it should have been attached to my safety harness before I went on deck that morning, but I’d left it in the forward cabin. It could easily have been washed out when the forehatch was forced open in the roll-over. It’s still the stuff of my nightmares. • We’d removed the anchor – we’d stowed it under a bunk but didn’t tie it down. We’d presumed our next stop would be at a wharf. That raises two issues which, in retrospect, concern me: the anchor can’t be deployed quickly. Re-fitting it is a 20-minute job in calm water, let alone doing it in wild weather; and what happened to it during the roll-over? We’ll never know but if it had come loose it could have caused considerable damage. Had the plotter been working to identify the charted hazards (with the anchor mounted on the bow ready to deploy), we might have turned downwind to seek shelter along the Northland coast. This might/might not have prevented the roll-over, but it shows how two or three small things can lead or contribute to disaster. • Huddling together for warmth in the water, as is recommended, did not work for me – I felt I was being pushed lower in the water which made it harder to breathe. I eventually settled for lying on my back with my head towards the breakers. I welcomed the little bit of floatation provided by my plastic boat shoes. I was able to relax lying horizontally on the surface. • We didn’t fire a flare – we presumed, wrongly, that the Orion crew had seen us so we didn’t think about firing a flare. We should have briefed ourselves earlier: when a rescue boat/aircraft arrived we would fire a flare regardless of whether we believed its crew had seen us. That way, when our brains were slowing from the effects of cold and exhaustion, the chances were better that at least one of us would remember to do it. • Different weather models created uncertainty – for our voyage we looked at four weather models that were often quite different for the same period, including the day of the sinking. This shows that weather forecasting is not a precise science, even for the experts. When selecting a passage time it’s difficult to predict the conditions more than a few days ahead: it becomes a bit of a lottery. We wisely worked on the basis of the worst forecast – even then the wind exceeded the forecast strength by up to 15 knots. • The life-raft fixings broke – we trust the designers to specify and fit crash-tested materials and fixings, but our life-raft was ripped from its cradle. I don’t remember how it was affixed, but no doubt the Maritime NZ investigation will report on it. Less crucially, before the roll-over we also lost a set of solar panels attached to the stanchions. It reminded me of a saying I heard when I first started offshore cruising: ‘Don’t tie anything to the deck unless you’re prepared to lose it.’ • The touch-screen chart plotter – it stopped working when rain and spray hit the screen. I won’t be fitting one to my boat. Chart plotters are an amazing sailing aid, and most yachts rely on them now, but touch-screen versions no longer seem a wise choice. • I believe there were plywood shutters for the boat’s large cabin windows, but they weren’t fitted – I never saw the shutters, nor do I remember seeing any permanent fixing points for them. Fitting them after the roll-over to prevent or slow water ingress would therefore have been impossible. Furthermore, I doubt whether they could have been fitted before we sailed without drilling holes into the cabin sides. Realistically, one of the manual bilge pumps was not useable – two were fitted, as required for Category 1. One was in the cockpit – we used it constantly until the boat sank. The other one was in the aft cabin. As such, it was too far from the escape route through the main companionway, so we didn’t use it in case its operator couldn’t get out in time. But I believe that even with both pumps the boat would have sunk only marginally more slowly. Finally, there are two things to bear in mind if you ever have to abandon ship: • Don’t imagine a yacht will sink gradually – the last stage of a sinking happens frighteningly fast. Make sure you can get well clear when you need to. • Cold shock – it’s literally breath-taking and will claim as many lives as drowning. Just being aware of the shock of the first moments in the water, and what your reaction might be, could save you. I thought I’d be okay, but I found myself gasping for breath and coughing and spluttering to prevent water getting into my lungs. The first task on entering the water is getting your breathing under control. This was one of my very difficult moments, but I found a simple remedy: shut my mouth and breathe through my nose. It took about 10 minutes to settle into the swim, and even with waves crashing over me I didn’t have the same problem again.

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New Zealand: Safety Regulations Updated Following Yacht Tragedy Investigation

A Maritime New Zealand investigation into the sinking of a yacht off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island in October 2019 has found that if storm covers had been fitted to cabin windows, they could have prevented the loss of the vessel and the skipper’s life.

Published 3 years ago

Safety regulations have now been updated to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future, Maritime NZ said in its report into the sinking.

The 47-foot Ocean series Bavaria centre cockpit vessel “Essence” was returning home to New Zealand from Fiji when it encountered wild seas 37kms off Northland’s Cape Brett on October 14, 2019.

On board were Mt Maunganui couple Pamela and Stuart Pedersen, Pamela’s brother-in-law Steve Newman and Bruce Goodwin, a member of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club. 

All four were plucked from the water in a heroic air rescue by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, supported by an RNZAF Orion aircraft, but tragically the skipper Stuart Pedersen died just before reaching safety.

Crew were Experienced and Prepared

The four crew were all experienced and had prepared for the forecasted heavy weather, Maritime NZ’s northern compliance manager Neil Rowarth said.

“The yacht, which was maintained to a high standard, had all hatches checked and loose gear secured.

“Storm sails were prepared and a storm drogue had been deployed to help make the vessel easier to control in heavy weather.   However, storm covers weren’t fitted to cabin windows. “

Mr Rowarth said that following the recommendations of the report, Maritime NZ has worked in collaboration with Yachting NZ to amend the safety regulations to require storm covers to be positioned on windows over a certain size on sailing vessels, “ he said.

A Warning for Others

“The tragic story of the Essence should prompt others venturing offshore to take notice, read the report and make changes to their vessels and procedures.”

The Maritime NZ report also acknowledged that the skipper, Stuart Pedersen was a highly experienced blue water yachtsman who, in the face of testing conditions, adopted a commonly-used strategy of running before heavy seas. The report stated it was clear from the evidence of the survivors that he (Stuart Pedersen) was instrumental in contributing to the survival of his crew throughout the ordeal.

The new Yachting New Zealand (YNZ) Safety Regulations of Sailing 2021–2024, available on the YNZ website state:

• 13.11 (K) Change from: Storm coverings are required for all windows more than 1852 cm2 (2sqft) in area
• Change to: Storm coverings shall be fitted for all windows more than 1858 cm2 in area

Note: This means that storm coverings must now be fitted as opposed to just being on board.

New Zealand Search and Rescue also undertook an independent report on the incident which recommended several areas for further discussion including how SAR co-ordinating authorities handle media awareness as well as next-of-kin notification.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Related Links:

Maritime NZ:  Report into the Loss of the Sailing Vessel Essence

Yachting NZ Safety Regulations

NZSAR: Essence SAR Operation Review

Related News:

Essence Yacht Sinking:  Storm Covers Could Have Prevented Loss of Life (NZ Herald)

Yacht Sinking Leads to Rule Change (Radio New Zealand)

Yacht Lost in Storm off New Zealand (Sail-World.com)

Noonsite has not independently verified this information.

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Ferocious weather first claimed their life raft, and then their yacht. This is how three Kiwi sailors survived

Cherie Howie

Reporter, NZ Herald

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A year ago this week four Kiwi sailors found themselves stranded in towering seas and fierce winds off Northland aboard a yacht sinking beneath their feet, and with an empty life raft cradle. Three, including Pamela Pedersen, speaking for the first time about the loss of her husband, Stuart Pedersen, in the tragedy, tell Cherie Howie their story of survival, and the heroism that made it possible.

When help came for four stricken sailors floating in, and frequently under, waves more than six metres high, amid howling winds and horizontal rain 37 kilometres off Northland's Cape Brett, it looked like a "giant, beautiful spider".

"I remember someone shouting about the Orion flying over," Pamela Pedersen says of the moment she first thought, almost two hours after the family yacht Essence sank on October 14 last year, that "maybe, just maybe, we're going to be okay".

"That was a moment we were all excited about, and then they dropped the life raft and it was like, oh, imagine the most beautiful fireworks display that you've ever seen, and we're all staring up in wonder at this thing."

There was the main part of the Royal New Zealand Air Force liferaft, a bright yellow and orange sanctuary with plenty of room for Pedersen and the three others with her in the water after Essence was rolled by a wave so powerful its cabin windows were smashed and its own life raft was ripped from its cradle.

But also dangling from the falling raft were several long guide ropes, fixed with flotations and arrows to help those in the water - Pedersen, her husband and Essence's skipper Stuart Pedersen, their brother-in-law Stephen Newman, and friend Bruce Goodwin.

"So, it's a really pretty thing," Pedersen says.

"Because it looks like this giant, beautiful spider in the sky just coming down over you."

Seven days had passed since they'd sailed away from the gentle trade winds of Fiji on a planned seven or eight-day ocean voyage home to Tauranga, aiming, as so many yachties do, to avoid the looming tropical cyclone season.

Conditions were perfect - blue skies and wind just aft of the beam, and Essence was comfortably averaging around seven knots as they sailed south, Pedersen says.

"We were marvelling at the conditions and how wonderful it was, and just loving it."

The couple's journey home came after six months sailing around Tonga and Fiji, a return to the months-long voyages which took their family to more than 50 countries over seven years when their two children were young.

It'd always been in the back of their minds to head off again once the kids were grown - as a boy Whakatāne-raised Stuart Pedersen sailed P-class, the small, single sail dinghies popular with young people, and the couple later half-owned a Raven 31 coastal yacht before buying Essence, their dream boat, in 2000.

Sailing allowed them to see the world beyond the tourist trail, and to experience the adventure, beauty and freedom of independent travel by water.

"[There's] this sense that you're just this tiny thing in a majestic universe," Pedersen says.

"And you're out there on the ocean, and you're completely on your own."

'We'll be fine'

Skinny, mountainous, surrounded by thousands of kilometres of some of the world's biggest oceans and smack bang in the mid-latitudes, New Zealand gets its share of foul weather.

Sometimes it rolls down from the tropics, and this was the case with the low-pressure system that struck the country's north - and the sailors aboard Essence - on October 14 last year.

The centre of the system passed directly over Northland on October 14 and 15, when its pressure fell as low as 986hPa at midday, MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris says.

The strongest wind gust from the system - 131km/h - struck Cape Reinga at midday on October 14; at Bay of Islands' Okahu Island, 11km west of Cape Brett, a gust reached 124km/h between 2pm and 3pm the same day, Ferris says.

Essence wasn't the only watercraft affected by the atrocious conditions - an 11-metre yacht moored off Russell boat ramp almost sank and two other vessels, one weighing 100 tonnes, broke their moorings on October 16.

While the system was the kind more often seen during the tropical cyclone season between November and April, it could occur at any time.

"This is the kind of system that brought quite a lot of rain to Northland in July," Ferris says, referring to the one-in-500-year flood that blocked roads, damaged properties and forced evacuations.

They'd been keeping an eye on the low in the days before October 14, Pedersen says.

"Stuart was reviewing it and thinking we were going to be okay ... I remember him saying, 'This is where the centre of it is,' and it was up off the top of Northland and we were well down from that."

Lengthy discussions took place before it was decided, because of conditions which included huge waves coming from different directions, to take the shortest sailable course to safety - Ōpua, in the Bay of Islands.

"We worked it all out and thought, 'No, we'll be fine,' with where it was tracking. But no, we weren't [fine].

"It changed its course, as these things do, and I guess it had our name on it."

Those aboard began preparing for rough seas, including alerting the Coastguard to Essence's position and intentions, and later arranging to check in hourly, Pedersen says.

"We just did everything we could, really."

'I went into free fall'

By the early hours of October 14, when she was on the watch between 2am and 4am, Essence was sailing "beautifully well", Pedersen says.

It was late morning when things began to feel "not as comfortable".

By then her husband was at the helm, with the mainsail at the third reef - effectively the same as using a trysail, she says.

"It's just a tiny little handkerchief of sail."

Goodwin, the second most experienced sailor aboard, went up to help, but felt comfortable enough to have breakfast - "flash muesli" prepared by Pedersen - first.

He felt less comfortable when he got there.

"The waves were steeper than I'd expected for the wind strength."

Winds were blowing at 35kts when he arrived on deck, but they "just continued rising right up beyond 60kts".

Waves arrived from different directions and while the rain was light, it was also horizontal.

It was "active" work as the pair took turns hand-steering the yacht - it was too dangerous for the auto-pilot - but not exhausting, the 66-year-old says.

But a big hit sometime before midday tossed Essence to the downwind side, ripping away the solar panels fixed to that side.

Worse was to follow.

"We started to rise up a wave," Goodwin says.

"Usually we could hear the breaking wave coming towards us, but I didn't hear any breaking wave at all. We rose up and rolled over, and I went into free fall.

"I remember snapping up on to the end of my harnesses in mid-air, and then all of a sudden I was pushed underwater - the boat went right over, and it dragged along at quite a speed because the boat was travelling between 7.5 and 8.5kts.

"There was this enormous pressure on the harness, but I had two tethers attached [to the yacht] in different places so I was held under the boat."

He doesn't know how long he was underwater, but there was no panic.

"I could do what I could do in those circumstances, which was effectively nothing."

Essence righted.

"The next thing I knew I was on deck and Stuart was trying to clear some debris off me, untangle me and get me back into position."

His skipper must've had a similar experience trapped underwater, but they didn't talk about it, Goodwin says.

"I was suddenly wide awake and ready to go … I ran my eye over the boat, and we could've kept sailing. The mast was still up. Most of the things on deck were wrecked … the electronics were gone, but the steering was still working and we still would've had a compass to steer by.

"But I didn't realise how bad it was down below."

'I didn't know which way was up'

It was bad.

"It happened just like that," Pedersen says of the moment Essence went over.

"All of a sudden Stevie [Newman] and I were on the saloon floor, water over our heads, with stuff on top of us, like the table and the stairs. I had a blow to my head and ankle, and I didn't even know which way was up.

"All I knew was I was underwater. I didn't even know what had happened."

Newman, who felt as if the yacht was sliding on its side down the wave before hearing a booming sound and feeling himself tumbling, thought he'd passed through Essence's broken windows.

"I felt I was fully immersed … I remember struggling in the water trying to push my head up, and arms and legs out, and felt nothing but water and debris brushing me.

"I was convinced I was somehow out of the boat."

Fumbling for his life jacket's deployment cord, Newman, a Wellington-based New Zealand Army lieutenant colonel, eventually emerged in mid-thigh deep water inside the saloon.

The saloon was in such disarray Pedersen at first wondered if she was dreaming.

"I'm just seeing incredible amounts of water just gush through big gaping windows. We had quite big windows and we think we'd fallen off a wave. We think the wave was quite steep and maybe there was air underneath us and we'd fallen over to starboard, and the two starboard windows breached.

"There were enormous amounts of water in our boat and everything was everywhere."

She tried to push one floating object, a large squab, into the space where the windows were, Pedersen says.

"Then I thought, 'Futile.'"

It was time to call for help.

"I said, 'I suspect we're sinking and we'll be getting into the life raft,'" Pedersen says of her 12.29pm Mayday call over the VHF marine radio.

The GPS had failed so they went to grab the yacht's Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon [EPIRB], which sends a homing signal for rescuers to pinpoint the location of those in distress.

But the beacon wasn't there.

"I couldn't believe it had gone … I needed two hands to wrench it off its bracket and it had been swept off by the water that came through."

The pair searched with their hands through the flooded saloon to no avail, but there was no panic, Pedersen says.

"Your instinct kicks in and you know you have a better chance if you stay calm. So you stay calm."

'The life raft's gone'

Still, she was worried for her husband and Goodwin on the deck.

Newman opened the hatch, but neither man above realised Essence was taking on water, Pedersen says.

"Stuart shouted, 'Stay down, stay down.'"

When the pair entered the saloon soon after, he could see the skipper was stunned by the situation - which included Pedersen's bleeding head wound - and he later apologised for "telling me to get back into a sinking boat", although there were no hard feelings, Newman says.

He also brought with him bad news - the yacht's life raft had, like its EPIRB, been swept away.

"I think we all coped quite well with this unfortunate news. Pamela ... advised the Coastguard the liferaft was also gone."

There was even a moment of levity after Goodwin sloshed through the sinking yacht to retrieve his personal locator beacon, fixing it - strobe flashing - around his neck.

"I remember saying to Bruce, to the laugh of the others, that Bruce was now our new best friend and he'd never be alone till we stood on dry land."

Using a hand pump to buy time the group calmly prepared to abandon Essence, talking about "what we'd do [and] how we all intended to survive" while eating chocolate and drinking bottled water Pedersen had seen float past, Newman says.

"One enduring image was looking up at the mast and seeing stuck on the spreaders a T-shirt of Bruce's that'd been sucked out of the cabin through the broken windows."

Goodwin also remembers the sense of calm despite the worsening situation.

"It might seem strange but fear wasn't an issue. It was just going from one plan to the next ... when I went to get the life raft, and there was just this empty life raft cradle, I remember saying, 'The life raft's gone, but we can do it.'

"We only had each other's encouragement to keep us going, and I couldn't have been with three better people for a situation like that. Everyone contributed."

'1, 2, 3 - now'

They stepped into the water about 12.50pm, after Essence's stern rose and the Bavaria Ocean Centre Cockpit yacht's bow started sinking into the sea, Newman says.

Soon tethered together, they tried in vain to stay close together for warmth.

An albatross landed at their side, bobbing on the water and offering comfort especially to Goodwin, a Christian.

"When I saw that albatross … it gave me confidence to know that whatever happened, I'm in His hands."

For Newman, it was the beauty of the waves that caught his attention, even as they rose at times to 10m, broke and then pushed everyone underwater.

"I noticed, from the crest of the rollers, the amazing blue of the phosphorescence of surf waves atop other mountainous rollers … it was just amazing colours."

Pedersen remembers her husband's voice.

"He was the strongest of all of us and he took charge and was encouraging us. And he'd call the waves as they came, 'This is a big one, we're going to need to hold our breath, 1, 2, 3 - now,' and we'd be under the water for some seconds, and because we were all tied together it was like being in a washing machine.

"We were all tangled up with lines, I got a line around my ankle at one stage and it was stretched tight. We had too much spare line and they were causing problems, mostly for Stuart. But he was still really strong."

He also called to each of them as the group, losing energy, grew quiet, Pedersen says.

"I didn't answer once because I was in a trance. The way I coped was to imagine I was in the hot pools at Lake Rotoiti, I imagined I was in the hottest one and had to keep really still because to move would hurt.

"I said, 'Stuart, I'm in the hot pools, you should try.'"

More than 200 kilometres away, help was on its way.

And quickly.

"It takes an hour and a half to two hours to get ready and take off," Air Force squadron leader Mark Chadwick says of the 1.45pm Orion flight out of Whenuapai, in Auckland.

"This day we got airborne in about 45 minutes."

Across the city at Ardmore Airport, two Auckland Westpac Rescue helicopters were also heading north, they'd refuel at Whāngārei before one - Westpac 1's AW-169 - continued on to the sailors and the other stayed behind as back-up.

The Orion arrived first, descending to a search altitude of 152m, just below the cloud base.

Visibility was about two kilometres and the signal from Goodwin's beacon was coming in and out as the waves pushed him underwater.

But Stuart Pedersen was also using a waterproof handheld VHF radio to speak with the Orion crew, counting backwards from 10 as observers tried to spot the sailors.

"We could tell how hard it was for them," Chadwick, the tactical coordinator on the rescue mission, says.

"Some of the transmissions were pretty garbled."

Just after 2.40pm, almost two hours after the group entered the water, they were spotted. The Orion wagged its wings and a mark was dropped into the aircraft's computer system so, based on drift, the sailors could be found again if sight was lost - which it immediately was thanks to the poor visibility, Chadwick says.

But the crew managed again to spot the sailors and the Air Force life raft was soon falling from the sky.

Goodwin began swimming as hard as he could, stopping repeatedly when he ran out of breath, before reaching the rope.

For 20 minutes he struggled to pull himself towards the life raft chute, eventually going in feet first because of the tangle of people and ropes behind him.

He then pulled in Newman, an "enormous battle" because the younger man was still tethered to the Pedersens, who were completely tangled outside the life raft.

"They weren't going anywhere … it was just one great big mess of ropes."

Each man held one of the pair - for Goodwin, this was Pamela Pedersen.

"Each time I tried to haul her in it felt like she was slipping out of her life jacket, so I ended up just holding her head out of the water."

His friend's eyes were open, but she was grey and blue in the face and non-responsive, Goodwin says.

"The waves would wash over her head at times and it just didn't seem to bother her. That's where my post-traumatic stress is centred, in that moment, when I just didn't have a Plan B."

At his side, Newman was also struggling to get any more than Stuart Pedersen's head and shoulders on to the liferaft, at times yelling at him to keep his eyes open.

"Pamela seemed to hear this as I heard her shout, 'You keep those eyes open Stuart, don't you give up.'

"He seemed to rally a little at her voice and his eyes focused a bit."

But the surging sea was relentless, dragging his brother-in-law down again and again, Newman says.

"[And] one of his hands was locked on Pamela's hand and I couldn't get him to let go to try and hold the boat to help me lift him up."

Then, a shadow appeared over the life raft.

The 400m sprint while holding your breath

Karl Taylor's been a paramedic for 20 years, and part of the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter team for eight.

As he and the crew of a second intensive care paramedic, a winch operator and two pilots arrived to help, the danger to those below was immediately clear.

"The sea state was massive, a few waves were coming through at 10m … and these swells were breaking, which makes them quite dangerous. The whitewash is really powerful.

"That's when you really feel the power of the ocean, when you see those white caps and those breaking waves hit you."

He dropped from the helicopter into the water and made his way to the Pedersens, drawing out his knife and ducking, and being pushed, underwater again and again.

"I had to cut them out of that tangle of ropes, lines and drogues before I could put the strop on them … I felt like I was doing a 400m sprint while holding my breath and being beaten around by the waves.

"It's definitely the most taxing rescue, probably the most complex rescue, I've had to perform."

Still holding his brother-in-law, Newman had to tell the skipper - still clutching his wife's hand - to "let go of Pamela".

"[I said] 'We're safe, let her go.' This story, it's a love story."

With that, the 58-year-old was winched 20m up to Westpac 1, which was also chasing Pamela Pedersen as she now, untethered, drifted away from the life raft, Newman says.

"I remember Stuart was festooned in claggage like the dan buoy, life ring and grab bag."

Inside the helicopter, the crew realised Stuart Pedersen had died, but there was no time to dwell - Taylor feared Pamela Pedersen, whose body temperature had fallen to 28C, also might not make it.

She remembers little from the rescue, but she knows she gave Taylor a fright when she suddenly grabbed the winch cable in a dangerous place as he attached the strop to her.

"He thought I'd gone."

Goodwin was next on the winch, describing the experience as "a bit like a Disneyland ride".

"But it was also a salvation moment. I thought, 'Right, I don't have to do anything now, I'm in his hands.'"

The Waihī grandfather was so weak when he was put in the helicopter he couldn't even lift his head off the floor, but after being put in a seat was cheered by a small smile from Pedersen and a big one from Newman, last to be rescued 25 minutes after Westpac 1 arrived.

He looked for a third. It didn't come.

"I realised, 'Stu can't be alive.'"

'He had so much more to give'

Stuart Pedersen might've become an MP today.

A two-time candidate for Tauranga, he was tipped for a high list place for his party and would likely have won a seat in Parliament.

"He would've just loved it," Pedersen says.

"On the way back from Fiji he was speaking about it a lot. He said, 'I'm really going to give it everything.'"

She's "so incredibly proud" of her husband, for his actions on October 14 last year, and every day before that.

A successful career in finance was mirrored by his voluntary and charity work, including as a Rotarian and as chairman of the Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust, which gave all kids the chance to learn to sail.

"He just wanted to make a difference ... he was successful, but he cared. He thought you should have freedom of choice, but with that comes responsibility.

"Stuart gave so much and he had so much more to give, and I miss him hugely, as do a lot of people. And I'm also so sorry for him because he's missing out on so much now, too."

But she's thankful, too, for the support from family, friends and the wider community, including ongoing care from Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter staff and volunteers.

"Nothing over the top, but just in a kind way, they'll say, 'I'm thinking of you,' or give you a hug."

And she's thankful for those who gave everything to help after Essence was lost.

That started with Goodwin and Newman, for their mighty efforts at the life raft, the Orion and rescue helicopter crews who came from afar and saved three lives.

"It was unbelievable what they did.

"It was ridiculously difficult conditions, and they effected the most absolutely extraordinary rescue."

*To support the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust visit rescuehelicopter.org.nz or freephone 0800 4 RESCUE (0800 4 737283).

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> >   First Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. 31-08-2021, 16:47   37 which punched out the fwd bulkhead and broke the tabbing on one side of the main bulkhead I can easily see something like that dumping on the being enough to pop the windows.. the down pressure is huge. 31-08-2021, 16:59   Boat: Taswell 49 Cutter 31-08-2021, 19:12   Boat: adams 35 37 which punched out the fwd bulkhead and broke the tabbing on one side of the main bulkhead I can easily see something like that dumping on the being enough to pop the windows.. the down pressure is huge. 31-08-2021, 20:10   Boat: Serendipity 43 01-09-2021, 03:31   with bigger windows. 01-09-2021, 04:32   Boat: Paper Tiger 14 foot, Gemini 105MC 34 foot Catamaran Hull no 825 wave crashing down on a of a ship takes out the covers on bulk freighters, A wave is not a bucket of water thrown at the windows, A single wave will be many Tons in weight and the volume of that same wave is Massively huge, A single wave coming over the transom could easily fill a boat full of water if the rear door or is open to allow ingress, The Tasman Sea, The Western , Are not Millponds when the decides to turn its angry button on, A 20 foot wave or above crashing inside any boat thru an open door, has a very good chance of popping windows out, The Force of water in Bulk volumes has a very destructive behind it, The Spirit of Tasmania had its windows smashed in on the tenth floor a few years back in Bass Strait, 01-09-2021, 06:06   in a modern production yacht it might be worthwhile looking at doing some mods to allow for deflections. Screw-on outside window covers are not going to help. 01-09-2021, 06:22   Boat: Serendipity 43 or Nature.. 05-09-2021, 10:45   Boat: Boat “ would suggest air pressure was the issue ie explosive decompression . 05-09-2021, 22:38   Boat: Hanse 531 A recreational craft given design category A is considered to be designed for winds that may exceed force 8 (Beaufort scale) and significant wave height of 4 m and above but excluding abnormal conditions, such as storm, violent storm, , tornado and extreme sea conditions or rogue waves. 03-10-2021, 21:34   Boat: Outbound 44 of the crew. Harrowing account. Interesting comment in the lessons learned section: Storm shutters or battens: Fit them when bad is – waiting until the storm is raging is too late. Battens reduce the likelihood of the Shutters can significantly reduce water ingress if any windows are burst. This could make the difference between the boat sinking and making it home. 03-10-2021, 21:54   Boat: Still building could have pumped it out as fast as it was clearly coming in, but with storm boards....maybe a good - or two - might have made the difference. I also question why they were sailing, and had not thrown a . Wonder if he discusses this in the book? 03-06-2022, 14:54   Boat: Custom sailing catamaran is not a very populous area, a small nation, and they are responsible for rescues at sea for their surrounding oceans till they get to the border with , who also have a lot of sea miles in their jurisdiction. And they will tell you their overkill ways are best for sailors. We may beg to differ, but they are unlikely to change. Ann, aboard in Australia 03-06-2022, 22:05   Boat: Outremer 55L could have pumped it out as fast as it was clearly coming in, but with storm boards....maybe a good - or two - might have made the difference. I also question why they were sailing, and had not thrown a . Wonder if he discusses this in the book? 04-06-2022, 01:19   Boat: Bavaria 36   First , Thread Tools Rate This Thread : Posting Rules post new threads post replies post attachments edit your posts is are code is are are are Similar Threads Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post B23iL23 Emergency, Disaster and Distress 153 29-09-2020 09:19 Seymore Seamanship & Boat Handling 361 13-10-2016 15:15 swagman General Sailing Forum 15 13-04-2007 15:17 - - - - - - - Privacy Guaranteed - your email is never shared with anyone, opt out any time. Essence yacht sinking: Storm covers could have prevented loss of life, Maritime NZ investigation finds - NZ Herald An investigation into the fatal sinking of a yacht off the Northland coast has revealed storm covers - fitted to protect cabin windows - could have prevented loss of life.Safety regulations have now been updated to prevent similar... Skipper's death could have been avoided with simple yacht upgrade, report finds Stuart Pedersen's yacht might not have sunk off Northland, and he might not have died, if storm covers had been fitted, Maritime NZ says. Yacht sinking that killed Stuart Pedersen leads to rule change The sinking of a yacht which left the skipper - an ACT Party candidate - dead could have been avoided if storm covers were fitted to the cabin windows, a Maritime NZ report has found. Coverage Details Bias distribution. 67 % of the sources are Center To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium To view ownership data please Upgrade to Vantage Similar News Topics 2024 Sexiest Men Of the Moment Of The Essence Celebrity News If Not For My Girls The State Of R&B Time Of Essence SSENSE X ESSENCE 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards 2023 Fashion House Fashion News Accessories 2024 Best In Beauty Awards Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities 2024 Travel Awards Relationships Bridal Bliss Lifestyle News Health & Wellness ESSENCE Eats Food & Drink Money & Career Latest News Black Futures Paint The Polls Black Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023 2024 Black Women In Hollywood 2024 ESSENCE Hollywood House 2024 ESSENCE Film Festival 2024 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture 2023 Wellness House 2023 Black Women In Hollywood Girls United Captain In Missouri Duck Boat Sinking That Killed 17 Charged With Negligence, Misconduct COMPANY INFORMATION Our Company Customer Service Essence Ventures Change Your Address Contact Us Job Opportunities Internships Media Kit SUBSCRIBE Newsletters Give a Gift of ESSENCE Print & Digital App FOLLOW US MORE ON ESSENCE Home Love Celebrity Beauty Hair Fashion ESSENCE festival ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc. As you sail into port, all heads turn. Everyone holds their breath. What a jewel, what a yacht. That austere interplay of lines with such an eye for detail. Everything about this yacht is pure custom-made, designed with style. Such timeless class. Watch video Being a succesful entrepeneur, Michel Hof was and still is always creating. Driven by his urge for perfection and with a sharp eye for quality, he know how to disinguish himself in the market. By building the Essence range, he has done it again. Yachts of Classic beauty with all the modern sailing qualities ... Classic Boat 2015 Yacht capital 2014, botentv.nl interview, winnaar hiswa 2014. © 2024 Essence Yachts Privacy policy Essence Yachts T: +31 (0) 71 342 10 10 E: [email protected] Essence Line Craftsmanship UK Edition Change UK Politics News Videos Paris 2024 Olympics Rugby Union Sport Videos John Rentoul Mary Dejevsky Andrew Grice Sean O’Grady Photography Theatre & Dance Culture Videos Fitness & Wellbeing Food & Drink Health & Families Royal Family Electric Vehicles Car Insurance Deals Lifestyle Videos UK Hotel Reviews News & Advice Simon Calder Australia & New Zealand South America C. America & Caribbean Middle East Politics Explained News Analysis Today’s Edition Home & Garden Broadband deals Fashion & Beauty Travel & Outdoors Sports & Fitness Climate 100 Sustainable Living Climate Videos Solar Panels Behind The Headlines On The Ground Decomplicated You Ask The Questions Binge Watch Travel Smart Watch on your TV Crosswords & Puzzles Most Commented Newsletters Ask Me Anything Virtual Events Wine Offers Thank you for registering Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in Dramatic video shows 130ft superyacht sinking off Italy coast after being battered in storm Nine people rescued before boat went under, article bookmarked. Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails, thanks for signing up to the breaking news email. Dramatic footage has captured the moment a 40-metre superyacht sank into the Mediterranean sea after being battered in a storm. The 40-metre-long luxury vessel was sailing from Gallipoli to Milazzo overnight on Saturday when it got into trouble around 15km from Italy’s Catanzaro Marina. Footage shows the yacht, named My Saga, rapidly disappearing beneath waves, as lifeboats appear to float beside it. The captain sent out a distress call to the Port Authority of Crotone, with officials told the yacht was taking on a significant amount of water from the stern. The Italian coastguard dispatched two patrol vessels and rescued all four passengers and five crew members on board. A tugboat sent out at dawn was unable to save the superyacht from sinking because of worsening weather conditions, the Super Yacht Times reports. The Saga finally sank at around 1pm on Sunday. The outlet reports the yacht, which was built in Monaco back in 2007, was flying under the Cayman Islands flag with an all-Italian crew when it sunk. An investigation has been launched into the cause. It comes after a £6 million superyacht sunk after it went up in flames in the UK on the Torquay harbourside. The 85ft vessel was consumed by fire , with thick black smoking billowing into the sky. The yacht reportedly drifted out into the harbour after the fire burnt through ropes securing it to the pier, but the vessel was later secured by the fire service. A fire service statement revealed that the vessel contained approximately 8000 litres of diesel fuel. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. New to The Independent? Or if you would prefer: Want an ad-free experience? Hi {{indy.fullName}} My Independent Premium Account details Help centre Philippine oil tanker sinks, raising fears of major oil spill in Manila Bay One crew member from the tanker terra nova died as a result. Marine tanker capsizes near the coast of the Philippines Social sharing. A Philippine oil tanker sank in Manila Bay early Thursday after encountering huge waves, leaving a crewman dead and 16 others rescued in a late-night operation by the coast guard. The force was also assessing whether the vessel was leaking oil — in what could be a major spill — that could reach the bustling capital. The tanker Terra Nova left Bataan province en route to the central province of Iloilo with about 1.4 million litres (370,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil stored in watertight tanks when it got buffeted by huge waves and took on water. The crew struggled to steer the tanker back to port but it eventually sank shortly after midnight, coast guard spokesperson Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said, citing statements from surviving crew members. The sinking followed days of monsoon rains, exacerbated by a passing offshore typhoon, that caused landslides and floodings across the archipelago, leaving at least 22 people dead and displacing more than half a million people. An aerial survey spotted an oil spill about 3.7 kilometres long near the rough seawaters where the tanker sank but that may have come from the fuel intended to power the tanker's engine, not the much greater amount of fuel the Terra Nova was carrying as cargo, Balilo said. The coast guard ship BRP Melchora Aquino was in the waters where the tanker sank, more than six kilometres from Bataan province's coast, to search for the last missing crewman, whose body was later retrieved from the waters, and to carry out an initial assessment of the tanker's fuel oil cargo, Balilo told an online news conference. He said that the coast guard was bracing to contain a possible major oil spill. "There's a big danger that Manila would be affected, its shorelines, if the fuel leaks because this happened within Manila Bay. It's part of the contingency we're preparing for," Balilo said. "The effect on the marine environment would not be good." Last major spill harmed reefs, marine life Balilo later said the oil tanker sank at a relatively shallow depth of 34 metres, based on an initial assessment, and raised the possibility that its fuel oil cargo could be siphoned off by special ships in a delicate operation that could take about a week. "Siphoning will not be very technical and can be done quickly to protect the vicinity waters of Bataan and Manila Bay against environmental, social, economic, financial and political impacts," Balilo said. He did not say if the tanker has been located on the sea floor and did not specify the status of its fuel oil cargo. Balilo compared the magnitude of the possible oil spill to one caused by the sinking of another Philippine oil tanker, which was carrying much less fuel oil cargo, in February last year off Oriental Mindoro province north of Manila. That spill took about three months to contain, caused massive damage to coral reefs and mangroves in a region known for its rich biodiversity, and affected tens of thousands of fishermen and beach resorts in at least six provinces. Manila's shoreline is a major tourism and business hub, where the main seaport, a historic public park, the U.S. Embassy and upscale hotels and restaurants are located. Land reclamation efforts are also underway in the bay to create space for entertainment and tourism complexes with casinos. The bay for years has been notorious for its pollution but famous for its picturesque sunsets. The United States and Japan helped the Philippines with the last major oil spill's massive cleanup and rehabilitation efforts. Related Stories Oil spill cleanup underway in Montreal's Pointe-aux-Trembles district Entertainment Newsletters WEATHER ALERT A heat advisory and a rip current statement in effect for 6 regions in the area Authorities respond to sinking boat near fort lauderdale park, no injuries reported. Ryan Mackey , Digital Journalist FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Authorities responded to reports of a sinking boat at a park in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday afternoon. It happened around 4 p.m. near Esplanade Park at 4200 Southwest Second Street. Greg May, a spokesperson with Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, said the 70-foot boat sank to the bottom of the water but did not impede marine traffic. The boat is located along a city dock and no injuries have been reported at this time. May said marine units and SeaTow have responded to begin the cleanup process. The cause as to why the boat sank is being investigated at this time. No other details were immediately released. More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter Copyright 2024 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. About the Author Ryan mackey. Ryan Mackey is a Digital Journalist at WPLG. He was born in Long Island, New York, and has lived in Sunrise, Florida since 1994. Recommended Videos Shopping Cart Best Seller Marine News Fatal yacht sinking was preventable [ad_1] Published on October 14th, 2021 by Editor --> by Katy Stickland, Yachting Monthly An investigation by Maritime New Zealand has concluded that window storm covers could have prevented the fatal sinking of the Bavaria 47 Ocean, Essence off North Island. New regulations on window storm covers for yachts have been introduced, following an investigation into the fatal sinking of the Bavaria 47 Ocean, Essence off the coast of New Zealand. Maritime New Zealand now requires all boats undertaking international voyages to fit storm covers on windows of more than 1853cm², and have updated the Regulations and the Yacht Inspectors’ Manual. The story of the sinking of Essence, with the loss of the skipper Stuart Pedersen, was featured in Lessons: Sunk in a storm with no liferaft. The boat was on passage from Fiji to Tauranga, New Zealand when heavy weather forced the crew to change course towards Opua in the Bay of Islands, a lee shore. Although the four-strong experienced crew prepared for the storm, window storm covers were not fitted, despite being onboard. Essence suffered multiple knockdowns in heavy seas before foundering in 60 knot winds off the east coast of Northland, North Island on 14 October 2019; the final knockdown resulted in the starboard windows breaking, and water flooding the saloon. – Full report Tags: Man Overboard, Safety, tragedy, Yachting Monthly [ad_2] click here to visit original article Share this post About the Author: Captain Jim Orcas sink sailing yacht in Strait of Gibraltar An unknown number of orcas have sunk a sailing yacht after ramming it in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain’s maritime rescue service said on Monday, a new attack in what has become a trend in the past four years. The vessel Alboran Cognac, which measured 15 metres (49 feet) in length and carried two people, encountered the highly social apex predators, also known as killer whales, at 9 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) on Sunday, the service said. The passengers reported feeling sudden blows to the hull and rudder before water started seeping into the ship. After alerting the rescue services, a nearby oil tanker took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar. The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank. The incident is the latest example of  recurring orca rammings  around the Gibraltar Strait that separates Europe from Africa and off the Atlantic coast of Portugal and northwestern Spain. Experts believe them to involve a subpopulation of about 15 individuals given the designation “Gladis.” According to the research group GTOA, which tracks populations of the Iberian orca sub-species, there have been nearly 700 interactions since orca attacks on ships in the region were first reported in May 2020. Researchers are unsure about the causes for the behaviour, with leading theories including it being a playful manifestation of the mammals’ curiosity, a social fad or the intentional targeting of what they perceive as competitors for their favourite prey, the local bluefin tuna. Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. They can measure up to eight metres and weigh up to six tonnes as adults. Advertisement Questions deepen in Russia, days after the sinking of a warship. A talk-show host, who usually reflects the Kremlin’s line, questioned how the ship was lost. Share full article By Neil MacFarquhar April 17, 2022 A video released by Russia’s Ministry of Defense purporting to show dozens of uniformed crew members from the missile cruiser Moskva standing in formation, apparently days after the ship sank, did not answer lingering questions about the fate of the vessel and its more than 500 personnel. The questions reached the point Saturday where even Vladimir Solovyev, a popular prime-time talk-show host whose pronouncements often reflect the Kremlin line, began asking what went wrong. Mr. Solovyev, describing himself as “outraged” over the sinking , then asked a series of rhetorical questions that picked at both versions of how the Black Sea fleet vessel sank overnight on Wednesday. If the ship caught fire before sinking, as the Russians claim, then why did it not have a system to extinguish such blazes, the television host wondered aloud. If the ship was sunk by two Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles, as Ukrainian and unidentified U.S. Defense Department officials have claimed, then why did it lack an antimissile system? “Just explain to me how you managed to lose it,” Mr. Solovyev asked no one in particular on his Saturday show, Solovyev Live, when he has no guests in the studio. The segment was unusual not least because Mr. Solovyev broached the idea that Ukraine had managed to sink the Moskva, one of the biggest naval losses anywhere in the world since World War II. It comes as more pundits and other television talking heads in Russia have started referring to the fighting in Ukraine as a “war” — although they have tended to use the term when suggesting that the whole of NATO, including the United States, is ganging up on Russia. They do not describe Russia’s invasion itself as part of a war, nor do they mention the fact that the Kremlin started the conflict. The Kremlin squelched any open discussion about the conflict by promulgating a law in early March that criminalizes spreading any “false information” about what Russia calls its “special military operation,” including calling it a war, with violators facing up to 15 years in prison. Over all, official Russian media continues to refer to the invasion as a “special military operation,” even while expanding the definition of the enemy. One state paper last week referred to the enemy next door as “Ukrainian-American neo-Nazism.” While carefully scripted television news programs still use the “military operation” formula, guests in the heat of the shouting that is a trademark of Russian TV talk shows often yell about “war.” The even angrier tone than usual when discussing the sinking of the Moskva indicated that many commentators found Ukraine culpable. Skipping the official explanation that it caught fire, for example, Vladimir Bortko, a film director and former member of the Duma, Russia’s parliament, said on Thursday that the assault on the vessel should be treated as an assault on Russia itself. “The special military operation has ended, it ended last night when our motherland was attacked,” he said, after asking the other panelists to remind him what Russia was calling the war. “The attack on our territory is casus belli, an absolute cause for war for real.” He suggested that possible responses included bombing Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv; the transportation networks that allowed foreign dignitaries to visit; or something more sinister: “Bomb them once and that is it.” His ranting about war brought an admonition from Olga Skabaeeva, the host of the popular “60 Minutes” program, who said that he was talking in the context of NATO aggression against Russia. Some analysts think all the talk of NATO attacking Russia is meant to lay the groundwork for a possible general mobilization of the male population — martial law is a necessary prior step, and a declaration of martial law requires going to war or being under threat. Until now, however, Russian news programs are not calling the events in Ukraine a war. They take their cues from the Ministry of Defense’s briefings. “It is all the presidential administration with their giant printer, there are no differences of opinion available,” said Vasily Gatov, a Russian media analyst based in the United States. “They will not risk interpreting reports from the Ministry of Defense.” When it comes to the Moskva, Russian media reports have stuck to the official version promulgated by the ministry and echoed on TASS, a state news agency. That version held that a fire onboard had ignited an ammunition magazine, seriously damaging the Moskva, named for the Russian capital. After the crew of at least 510 men was evacuated, according to the ministry, the ship sank in rough seas while being towed back to Sevastopol, the fleet’s Crimean headquarters. Ukraine has said it struck the ship with two missiles and the vessel rapidly sank. The defense ministry posted a video on its official Telegram channel, as well as on the channel of its Zvezda television network, on Saturday, showing Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, the commander of the Russian Navy, and other officers purportedly meeting with what it said were some Moskva crew members in Sevastopol. The 26-second clip showed the admiral addressing dozens of sailors, but there was no explanation about the fate of the rest. “The traditions of the missile cruiser Moskva will be carefully preserved and continued in the way it has always been accepted in the navy,” he said, adding that the crew would continue to serve elsewhere. Social media posts suggested that some of the crew members had died, but the toll is unclear. Videos posted online from an unofficial memorial service at a monument to the 300th anniversary of the Black Sea fleet showed a wreath with a ribbon bearing the inscription “To the ship and sailors.” Radio Liberty, a U.S. government network based outside Russia, reached the widow of one midshipman who confirmed his death and said that 27 crew members remained missing. Neil MacFarquhar is a national correspondent. Previously, as Moscow bureau chief, he was on the team awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting . He spent more than 15 years reporting from around the Mideast, including five as Cairo bureau chief, and wrote two books about the region. More about Neil MacFarquhar Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine News and Analysis Ukraine’s top diplomat met with China’s foreign minister in talks that signaled Kyiv’s increased willingness to pursue  a diplomatic solution to the war with Russia and to have China play a more central role in the effort. Ukraine said that it had struck a preliminary deal with a group of international private creditors to restructure more than $20 billion of the debt it owes them, a step that would save the war-torn country billions  and preserve funds to support its battered armed forces. President Biden’s stance on Ukraine was shaped by a deep commitment to America’s trans-Atlantic alliance. Some Europeans fear he may be among the last of his kind. What happens now  that Biden has decided to step aside? Russia at the Olympics: Only 15 athletes from Russia will compete  at the Paris Games, under a “neutral” designation. The Kremlin is framing the ban as part of its showdown with Western adversaries. The Decathlete With a Gun: About 500 top-level Ukrainian athletes and coaches have died in the war. Volodymyr Androshchuk promised his loved ones  he would make it back. Ukraine’s Literary Revival: To keep it from Russian forces, a writer hid his last manuscript  under a cherry tree. Its rediscovery became part of a flowering of interest in Ukrainian literature. How We Verify Our Reporting Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details. We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts . A whale flipped a fishing boat with people on board. Experts think they know why. Boaters off the New Hampshire coast have a whale of a tail to tell after a humpback whale slammed into a fishing boat and a pair of teen brothers caught the whole thing on video , then rescued the two fishermen who were tossed into the sea. In a highly unusual event, the humpback lunged out of the water Tuesday morning, then landed on the back of a boat, flipping the vessel onto its side. Video shows the fishers on-board, Greg Paquette and Ryland Kenney, fell into the water. They were soon rescued by Wyatt and Colin Yager of Eliot, Maine . The incident with the 21-foot vessel happened near the mouth of the Piscataqua River, located on the border between Maine and New Hampshire, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The boaters were uninjured, but it isn’t known whether the whale suffered injuries, NOAA said. Seeing the whale close to shore shouldn't have been a huge shock to boaters. The same whale or a different humpback has been spotted a few times times in or near the river in highly publicized sightings since July 2 , said Jen Kennedy, executive director of the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, a nonprofit based based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In three decades Kennedy had never heard of a humpback in the Piscataqua River, until just three weeks ago. And she’d never heard of a humpback lunging on to the top of a boat in the region, she said. “I’ve never heard of that ever and I’ve been whale watching here since the mid-1990s." Why did the whale lunge out of the water? In the Tuesday morning incident in the ocean off Rye, the whale appeared to be lunging in a classic humpback fishing tactic, said Linnea Mayfield, a natural manager at Boston City Cruises, affiliated with the New England Aquarium, after viewing the video. The whales blow large frothy bubbles in the water to help corral fish, then they lunge up through the bubbles to scoop up the fish, Mayfield said. The incident was almost certainly accidental, she said. Humpbacks have a blind spot, and it’s “very possible the vessel was in the animal’s blind spot as it came up to lunge and feed.” Both Kennedy and Mayfield said they occasionally hear reports of whales bumping into vessels in the region. While rare, such incidents happen from time to time, NOAA said. Almost exactly two years ago, a humpback leaped out of the water in the middle of a cluster of boats and landed on the back of a fishing vessel off Plymouth, Massachusetts . How unusual is a nearshore humpback sighting? A humpback thought to be a juvenile has been seen several times over the past three weeks, including between July 2 and 4 in or near Pepperell Cove along the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine. At the time, the Society and the Kittery harbormaster had warned the whale was feeding so close it could be a threat to boaters, the Portsmouth Herald, a USA TODAY Network property, reported. The whale had attracted large crowds of curious boaters. On Sunday, the same juvenile humpback was seen further upriver near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kennedy said. The juvenile whale seen in the river was thought to be chasing menhaden, a prey fish, NOAA said. It isn’t unusual for a humpback to linger in an area if it presents easy access to food, Mayfield said. “If their prey items are sticking around in one spot, they’re not going off in search of food somewhere else. They’re going to stay where that food is readily available.” Officials hope to identify the whale NOAA Fisheries is looking into whether the whale that hit the boat was the same whale previously seen in the river, said Andrea Gomez, a NOAA spokeswoman. The Blue Ocean Society is pleading with the public to share any photos taken of the whale off Rye, New Hampshire on Tuesday, Kennedy said. With better photos, biologists might be able to identify the whale, comparing it to a photo catalog of known humpback whales in the region. To make the identification, biologists need clear photos of the whale’s dorsal fin and the underside of its tail fluke, said Mayfield. Whale advocates and NOAA offer the following tips for boaters: Watch for bubbles — which turn patches of water a frothy, seafoam green — and avoid them. Maintain a healthy distance from whales, at least 100 to 600 feet from humpbacks and 500 yards from North Atlantic right whales, NOAA advises. In an area where whales are present, move at only 10 knots so whales and vessels have the ability to safely navigate out of the area. If a fisher has lines in the water and a whale is seen, the lines should be retracted as soon as possible. Immediately report all stranded or entangled marine mammals to NOAA’s marine mammal and sea turtle stranding hotline at (866) 755-6622. Are whales fishing close to shore this summer? It's possible more than one whale was on the hunt for menhaden, said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America. "NOAA has been getting multiple reports of humpback whales close to shore between Maine and Massachusetts as schools of bait fish are abundant close to shore," Asmutis-Silvia said. "We just reported three whales in Plymouth's outer harbor to NOAA earlier this week." The whales are primarily young and focused on relatively fast-moving bait and the typical lunges happen pretty quickly, she said. "These whales have the single-minded focus of that driver who eyes that one last open parking space after circling the parking lot for a while, they are not paying attention to anything but the food so it really is on the boaters to stay on alert." Contributing: Glenn Sabalewski and Ian Lenahan, Portsmouth Herald Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change, whales and other wildlife for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or @dinahvp. Election 2024 Entertainment Newsletters Photography AP Buyline Personal Finance AP Buyline Shopping Press Releases Israel-Hamas War Russia-Ukraine War Global elections Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East Election Results Delegate Tracker AP & Elections 2024 Paris Olympic Games Auto Racing Movie reviews Book reviews Financial Markets Business Highlights Financial wellness Artificial Intelligence Social Media Philippine oil tanker sinks in Manila Bay, raising fears of a possible major spill near the capital In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, aerial survey is conducted by Coast Guard Aviation Command as part of the oil spill response operation in in Manila Bay, Philippines Thursday, July 25, 2024. A Philippine oil tanker sank in Manila Bay early Thursday after encountering huge waves and the coast guard is now assessing the vessel for a leak that could cause a major spill that could reach the capital Manila, Philippine’s coast guard said. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP) In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine-flagged motor tanker Terra Nova sinks in Manila Bay, Philippines Thursday, July 25, 2024. The oil tanker sank in Manila Bay early Thursday after encountering huge waves and the coast guard is now assessing the vessel for a leak that could cause a major spill that could reach the capital Manila, Philippine’s coast guard said. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP) In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, crew on board the Philippine-flagged motor tanker Terra Nova are rescued as it sank in Manila Bay, Philippines Thursday, July 25, 2024. A Philippine oil tanker sank in Manila Bay early Thursday after encountering huge waves and the coast guard is now assessing the vessel for a leak that could cause a major spill that could reach the capital Manila, Philippine’s coast guard said. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP) Copy Link copied MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine oil tanker sank in Manila Bay early Thursday after encountering huge waves, leaving a crewman dead and 16 others rescued in a late-night operation by the coast guard. The force was also assessing whether the vessel was leaking oil — in what could be a major spill — that could reach the bustling capital. The tanker Terra Nova left Bataan province en route to the central province of Iloilo with about 1.4 million liters (370,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil stored in watertight tanks when it got lashed by huge waves and took on water. The crew struggled to steer the tanker back to port but it eventually sank shortly after midnight, coast guard spokesperson Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said, citing statements from surviving crew members. The sinking followed days of monsoon rains, exacerbated by a passing offshore typhoon, that set off landslides and flooding across the archipelago, leaving at least 22 people dead and displacing more than half a million people. An aerial survey spotted an oil slick about 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) long near the rough seawaters where the tanker sank but that may have come from the fuel that powered the tanker’s engine, not the oil cargo the Terra Nova was carrying, Balilo said. A coast guard ship, the BRP Melchora Aquino, was in the waters where the tanker sank, more than 6 kilometers (about 4 miles) from Bataan province’s coast, to search for the last missing crewman, whose body was later retrieved from the waters, and to carry out an initial assessment of the tanker’s fuel oil cargo, Balilo told an online news conference. He added that the coast guard was bracing to contain a possible major oil spill. “There’s a big danger that Manila would be affected, its shorelines, if the fuel leaks because this happened within Manila Bay. It’s part of the contingency we’re preparing for,” Balilo said. “We are racing against time and we will try to do our best to contain the fuel so it will no longer leak out.” Balilo later said the oil tanker sank at a relatively shallow depth of 34 meters (111 feet), based on an initial assessment, and raised the possibility that its fuel oil cargo could be siphoned off by special ships in a delicate operation that could take about a week. “Siphoning will not be very technical and can be done quickly to protect the vicinity waters of Bataan and Manila Bay against environmental, social, economic, financial and political impacts,” Balilo said. He did not say if the 65-meter (213-foot) tanker has been located on the seafloor and did not specify the status of its fuel oil cargo. Balilo compared the magnitude of the possible oil spill to one caused by the sinking of another Philippine oil tanker, which was carrying much less fuel oil cargo, in February last year off Oriental Mindoro province north of Manila. That spill took about three months to contain, caused massive damage to coral reefs and mangroves in a region known for its rich biodiversity, and affected tens of thousands of fishermen and beach resorts in at least six provinces. Manila’s shoreline is a major tourism and business hub, where the main seaport, a historic public park, the U.S. Embassy, upscale hotels and restaurants and huge shopping malls are located. Land reclamation efforts are also underway in the bay to create space for entertainment and tourism complexes with casinos. The bay for years has been notorious for its pollution but famous for its picturesque sunsets. The United States and Japan helped the Philippines with the last major oil spill’s massive cleanup and rehabilitation efforts. Associated Press journalist Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this report. 319 IMAGES WATCH: The Dramatic Moment a 40-Metre Superyacht Sinks Off the Coast of WATCH: 130-Foot Super Yacht Sinks In Mediterranean Superyacht sinks Italy $10 Million Yacht Sinks During Launch in Washington State VIDEO: 39m Luxury Yacht Sinks Off The Coast Of Italy SuperyachtNews.com VIDEO MrBeast 1 dollar yacht sinking Attempting to Salvage a Sinking Yacht LAGOON 620 ESSENCE Ultimate Yacht Sinking Challenge: Will it Survive? The burning Feadship superyacht “If Only” which eventually sank last Thursday COMMENTS Maritime NZ Report: Storm covers may have prevented the loss of sailing The tragic sinking of the New Zealand yacht Essence, returning from Fiji, has safety lessons for all international sailing vessels. Essence foundered in heavy seas on 14 October 2019 off Northland's east coast on a voyage from Fiji to New Zealand. The crew abandoned the vessel and were rescued from the sea by helicopter. Essence yacht sinking: Storm covers could have prevented loss of life An investigation into the October 14, 2019 sinking of the 47-foot Ocean series Bavaria centre cockpit yacht revealed storm covers - fitted to protect cabin windows - could have prevented loss of life. Yacht sinking that killed Stuart Pedersen leads to rule change The sinking of a yacht which left the skipper - an ACT Party candidate - dead could have been avoided if storm covers were fitted to the cabin windows, a Maritime NZ report has found. ... The 14m yacht Essence foundered in heavy seas off Cape Brett in Northland on 14 October 2019 on a return sailing to New Zealand from Fiji. The skipper, Stuart ... Dramatic video shows rescue from deadly New Zealand boat sinking Dramatic video shows rescue from New Zealand boat sinking that killed four. Chartered boat carrying 10 people sank early Monday morning after being caught in a storm since Sunday Window storm covers could have prevented fatal yacht sinking New regulations on window storm covers for yachts have been introduced, following an investigation into the fatal sinking of the Bavaria 47 Ocean, Essence off the coast of New Zealand.. Maritime New Zealand now requires all boats undertaking international voyages to fit storm covers on windows of more than 1853cm², and have updated the Regulations and the Yacht Inspectors' Manual. THE FINAL VOYAGE OF THE ESSENCE ~ Boating NZ A book has been published about the sinking of the Tauranga-based yacht Essence in a storm off the Northland coast in October 2019 in which the skipper, Stuart Pedersen, died.. Written by Bruce Goodwin, one of the three survivors of the tragedy, it is an expanded version of the story which we serialised in the August and September 2020 editions of Boating NZ under the headline Anatomy of a Rescue. Sunk in a storm with no liferaft: lessons learned READ: Window storm covers could have prevented fatal yacht sinking: the full Maritime New Zealand report into Essence's sinking here. About 1135, Pamela called New Zealand's Marine Operations Centre (MOC) on VHF Channel 16 to report our entry into New Zealand waters, and that we were heading for Opua. Fatal yacht sinking was preventable New regulations on window storm covers for yachts have been introduced, following an investigation into the fatal sinking of the Bavaria 47 Ocean, Essence off the coast of New Zealand. Yacht lost in storm off north NZ, respected yachtie dies A person has died and another is in a critical condition after a 47ft yacht sank in stormy conditions 20 nautical miles off Cape Brett on the east coast of Northland, New Zealand. The incident occurred around mid-day Monday, conditions at the time were recorded inside the Bay of Islands at 48kts gusting 60kts, blowing from the east, and would ... Tauranga yacht's sinking prompts safety reminder The tragic sinking of the Tauranga yacht Essence has safety lessons for all international sailing vessels, says Maritime NZ. Essence foundered in heavy seas on October 14, 2019, off Northland's ... Anatomy of a Rescue: Essence Pt 2 ~ Boating NZ Continuing Bruce Goodwin's account of the sinking of the yacht Essence off the east coast of Northland in October 2019, and the crew's rescue. As planned, the first thing we did after jumping off the sinking Essence was link ourselves with our safety tethers so we wouldn't be separated. The shock of cold water literally took our breath away. Noonsite.com Safety regulations have now been updated to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future, Maritime NZ said in its report into the sinking.. The 47-foot Ocean series Bavaria centre cockpit vessel "Essence" was returning home to New Zealand from Fiji when it encountered wild seas 37kms off Northland's Cape Brett on October 14, 2019. Ferocious weather first claimed their life raft, and then their yacht A year ago this week four Kiwi sailors found themselves stranded in towering seas and fierce winds off Northland aboard a yacht sinking beneath their feet, and with an empty life raft cradle. Maritime NZ report into the loss of the yacht Essence, October 2019 A single wave crashing down on a deck of a ship takes out the steel hatch covers on bulk freighters, A single wave is not a bucket of water thrown at the windows, A single wave will be many Tons in weight and the volume of that same wave is Massively huge, A single wave coming over the transom could easily fill a boat full of water if the rear door or hatch is open to allow ingress, The Tasman ... Essence yacht sinking: Storm covers could have prevented loss of life An investigation into the fatal sinking of a yacht off the Northland coast has revealed storm covers - fitted to protect cabin windows - could have prevented loss of life.Safety regulations have now been updated to prevent similar... Get access to our best features. Get Started. Captain In Missouri Duck Boat Sinking That Killed 17 Charged ... 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