Seal Point - Catamaran runs aground at Seal Point – all four crew safe
What happened.
About 03:15 on New Year's Day 2026, in dense fog and 1.5-metre swell, a cruising catamaran on passage from Knysna to Port Elizabeth ran aground and began breaking up at Seal Point, Cape St Francis, South Africa — apparently after a change of watch. All four aboard survived: two teenage girls reached shore, and two men were recovered about 100 metres offshore. Two were hospitalised in stable condition.
In the small hours of Thursday 1 January 2026 — around 03:15, in dense fog with a swell of about a metre and a half — a cruising catamaran ran aground and began breaking up at Seal Point, Cape St Francis, on South Africa's Eastern Cape coast. The boat was on a coastal passage from Knysna to the Port of Port Elizabeth, and the grounding apparently came shortly after a change of watch in the early hours; investigators are looking at a possible navigational-equipment failure. The skipper, from Gqeberha, alerted the NSRT St Francis Bay duty crew, and a coordinated response by NSRI St Francis Bay and Jeffreys Bay, Gardmed Ambulance Service and the Transnet National Ports Authority swung into action despite the fog. Of the four people aboard, two girls aged 13 and 19 managed to reach the shore; the two adult men, aged 46 and 76, were located about 100 metres offshore and recovered from the water, one of them held by a life ring passed to him. All four survived. The 19-year-old and the 76-year-old were taken to hospital in stable condition and were expected to recover, while the 13-year-old and the 46-year-old were treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries. The catamaran, breaking up on the rocks, was lost.
What it teaches.
- 1Treat the watch change as a high-risk moment, especially near a coast at night. This catamaran grounded shortly after a handover. Do a real handover: brief position, course, the next hazard, traffic, and confirm the depth and cross-track alarms are set and on. Don't leave the deck until the new watch has the full picture and is awake.
- 2In fog at night, cross-check every source and slow down. Don't trust a single chartplotter; back it up with depth, radar, and a hand bearing where you can, and keep well offshore of hazards like Seal Point. A possible equipment failure is being investigated here — redundancy and a healthy margin are what save you when one instrument lies.
- 3Wear lifejackets and stay together when a boat hits. Two of these four ended up about 100 metres offshore and had to be recovered, one on a life ring. On any night or coastal passage keep PFDs on and lifelines clipped, brief the crew on what to do if you ground, and account for everyone the instant it happens.
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