Vestas grounding

On the face of it the findings of the independent report into the grounding of Team Vestas Wind on the Cargados Carajos Shoals in the Indian Ocean were straightforward, the crew had no idea that there was a reef blocking their path and as they barreled along at 16-21knots in the dark they slammed into it.

Once on the reef there was no way off. Miraculously no one was hurt.

Running into a reef that is marked on both paper and electronic charts and for which there are further published details in a variety of pilots and guides for the area, may seem difficult to understand at first. Surely the crew should have been aware of the reef?

But as far as the crew were concerned their route took them over an area of shallows, a sea mount, where the depth of the water would reduce to 40m. Their navigator had checked the information on several occasions and was satisfied that there was no danger.

Shortly after the incident the navigator Wouter Verbraak was relieved of his duties. And while the report doesn’t seek to apportion blame, it is clear that the root cause of the accident was indeed a navigational error.

But there is more to this story than simply an expensive and embarrassing mistake. Many of the contributory factors that we reported in the Feb 15 issue of YW have been borne out in the findings of this independent report where more specific information has now been published. Among them, the problems of seeing small but significant features at certain scales, along with last minute changes to the exclusion zones that altered the routes that the fleet could take, provide additional and contributory factors.

But there are some areas that remain less clear. In particular, how the reef could have been missed if …read more