It’s happened again, we got hit at night! We were anchored in the river at Burnett Heads last Friday evening, having returned from Lady Musgrave. We got woken up at 3am by some odd chain sounds then two alarming bangs.
Jumped out of bed, looked out the window: a catamaran called “Cool Change” had just dragged into us and was scraping along our port hull. Bloody hell!
This small cat was at Lady Musgrave when we were there and came back to Burnett Heads on the same day as us. Crewed by Haydn and Diana Rough, they anchored well away from us, but somehow when the wind picked up their anchor did not hold. They dragged over 150 meters before smashing into Anui.
As soon as we heard and felt the collision, we sprung up on deck. Wade was starkers – giving them the Full Monty – but he was more worried about minimising damage than offending the unwelcome visitors! Chris managed to put something on. We fended them off as best we could, and cool head Wade was quick at coordinating what needed to happen, but most of the damage was already done. It is pretty hard to push several tons of boat away! Our big fat fender saved us from worse damage. Pity it is the only one of that size!
The offending cat then got stuck right on the back of us and threatened to whack us on the stern, with its bridle tight under our port hull. Again we used the big fender to keep them off our sugar scoop. We got them to cut off their bridle so they could let chain out and drift away from us! The boat settled 15m away from Anui and we stayed on watch.
Not much sleep was had for the rest of the night, as we waited anxiously for daylight to survey the damage and deal with the likely anchor chain tangle. And it was so cold! We were frozen, dry mouthed and upset.
At dawn, we checked our side: scrapes along a strip two thirds of the length of Anui where their rubbing strip and the bolts from their chain plate gouged the hull, and a couple of deep divots down to the foam where they hit. Cool Change on the other hand was unscathed. Typical!
This shows the overall damage highlighted in red and close ups of the worst bits. It is mainly superficial but a pain nevertheless.
The next challenge was to move away from each other when we could see what we were doing and before the change of tide. We were worried their chain would be tangled with ours and we would have trouble extricating ourselves from the mess, but found their anchor was lying on top of our chain just down from where our bridle attaches!
We managed to remove it with a boat hook while Cool Change was motoring forward towards us to let their chain go slack. We were then able to lift ours up and re-anchor well away from them.
Haydn inspected the damage and was very remorseful. He immediately reported the accident to their insurance for Anui to be fixed; we have a claim number and have talked to his insurers.
Unfortunately most marinas don’t like grinding and sanding to be done along their pontoons, and don’t have the working berth or haul out facilities to accommodate big cats. So we cannot get the repair done at Burnett Heads. We will have this attended to when we are pulled out of the water at The Boat Works in late November. In the meantime we have the okay to do a temporary fix to the worst bits to stop any water ingress in the fibreglass or foam core.
We have talked to our shipwright and have added the repair to his task list! We will look a bit battered for six months, but if you stay far enough away – and please do – you won’t notice it too much. Not impressed though!
Now for the real reason we came back to Bundaberg; we have spent the week up river, while waiting for the new lithium batteries to arrive. They have been delivered at the electrician’s workshop. We are booked in at the marina on Monday for a few days and Jason the electrician from Dan-Kel Electrical is lined up and ready to go. He has checked our set up, the battery chargers, alternator, DC to DC converter and everything else that needs to be compatible with lithiums. Hopefully the work will go smoothly, but who knows!
Sometimes, the cruising life is not so cruisy! Number three on the list of calamities: Chris had a medical emergency which landed her in hospital two days after the collision! She collapsed at the laundromat of all places in a semi comatose state from a severe diabetic hypoglycaemic event and Wade had to call an ambulance. It’s one way to get out of doing the washing! All okay now, but just as well we were in Bundaberg and not on a remote reef!
The positive side of being up river: ease of access to the city for everything we need and beautiful sunsets.
Stay tuned for our account of the batteries change over in the next post.
Sv-Anui 
Oh boy! It’s never boring for you guys.
That’s one way to put it 😁!
My understanding is that in cases of damage from dragged anchors and the like, insurers don’t pass on costs – each vessel is responsible to their own damage.
Incorrect. Their insurer – RACQ – is picking up the costs as they should and have confirmed that with us.
I had a similar situation between GIO and Nautilus and they didn’t counter claim – it was a storm so maybe that was a factor.
I suspect your situation was quite different to ours. In our case our insurance is not involved. The offending boat did not sustain any damage. They put a claim to their insurance for the damage they did to our boat. They dragged, we did not, not even when they bashed into us and sat on our anchor chain for hours.
Oh Geez! Firstly, very glad Chris okay! That is the most important thing! As for boats dragging in the Burnett, even we have done that..once..but it was under very high winds in one particular spot (which we now avoid). I know how upsetting it can be when a boat drags into your home…we are delayed but promise not to anchor close to you if we catch up. X
Thanks Trish… our bubble of clear space around Anui is now even bigger!
Hells Bells Chris. 😳 NO MORE DRAMAS ALLOWED! Hope that is a sufficiently clear message from a concerned friend.
Thanks Annie. It’s time like this when I personally feel I have had enough! But this too will pass.
I really feel for you both (and Bengie).
And I understand the guilt that the other party must feel. 😞😞
It brought back memories, Bill. Good to talk this morning… 😘
I am so glad that Chris is okay! 🙏🏻 And, I’m so sorry that this collision happened, I would feel really bad about drifting into Anui. In times like this we need to be as positive as possible, right?
Hi John, accidents do happen. The string of mishaps has been hard to take but we soldier on!
We have no other choice, do we… Soldier on! 😎🇦🇺
Bloody hell is the right way of putting it. Damn, hate that it happened again. Glad they have insurance to cover you for the damage, though, like with car accidents, it is always best if they never happen. Take care.
Thanks Leanne. Yes upsetting but fixable and not our tab to pick up.
I enjoyed seeing Wade as chief artificer again, and hearing how well you coped with the night time collision. You are a resourceful pair! Go you good things!
Thanks Murray! We have to be… onwards and upwards!
Does swearing help? Other than that, > patience added to a few glasses of good vino when the day is done . . . I suppose ‘it could have been worse’!!!
There has been a lot of swearing and a fair amount of gin consumed, Eha. So yes it helps! It’s a wonder we don’t have a drinking problem by now!
Oh no!!!! Murphy is up to his old tricks again. You must feel you’re ready for a break from calamities. At least the silver lining for us followers of your blog, is the image of Captain wade fending off the attack boat in his tropical night attire!
So sorry to hear of your medical event Chris , you’re in our prayers.
All the best with the boat and batteries!
Hi Elgar, the night of the collision was a cold one, so not too much was disclosed by the good captain. There is always a funny side, isn’t there… let’s hope that’s it for Murphy’s activities for a while as we can’t take too much more.
Poor Anui. How awful for you and a shame for Anui’s appearance.. it would be good if boaties secured their anchors, like you do. It seems the stress of the collision did not do you any good Chris & keeping your levels steady is such an ongoing problem for you and other friends with diabetes. I’m so glad you were in town at the time. It is so good hospitals take care of us when we need it. Stay well and safe
Anui will look a bit battered on one side but we have the okay to get her properly fixed at the end of the year. So much for being boat proud!
As for me, OK too but a big shake up! Now have an emergency glucose pen for Wade to use on me if it ever happens again and a system of alerts on my phone app linked to the blood glucose sensor on my body if the levels go too low or too high. Advance warnings so I can take action give us a bit of reassurance.
We were impressed with the speed of action from the ambos and the ER medicos at Bundaberg Base Hospital. They did take good care of us.
Oh my goodness what a calamity of events 😬 I am so pleased to see the beautiful sunsets to light up your hearts after all that goes bump in the night and then the inflow of stressful events
Hugs to you both
It has been very testing, Wendy. But we have had a few days of pottering about away from everybody to sort ourselves out. We move to the marina tomorrow morning, get the batteries upgraded then hit the re-start button for Musgrave and the Swains.
I’m so sorry to read this, I can imagine it was a very stressful time. Glad no one bar poor Anui was hurt & glad too you are ok now Chris.
Thanks Lindy. It has been stressful and far from fun. But we move on and get sorted out!
So glad to hear that you are okay Chris !!
And so glad the medical incident didn’t happen whilst the collision occurred…the image of a naked man jabbing his wife with a Glucose Pen is too much…🤣 !!
Bummer about the damage but pleasing that you are able to get it fixed on their insurance.
Great that you didn’t suffer any super deep punctures or equipment damage.
I’ll text you a pic of a beaut Sundowners we scored and hope to bring you a smile.
Take care you two!!
Love Waz and Lisa
So nice to hear from you two. Hope you had a super time in the Maldives!
There is always a funny side to calamities and Wade’s state of undress in deck ordering people around in the middle of the night is definitely one! Let’s just say it was very cold so not too much visible! 😆
I love my GPS anchor watch. Lets me sleep at night. But only if others are also using it!
Yes, and have enough chain out… and react when their alarm goes off!