Tai Tam - A yacht strikes a whale north of Norfolk Island and starts to sink; her four crew set off the EPIRB, take to the liferaft and are picked up by a cargo ship
The Australian-flagged Tai Tam began flooding after the collision. An RNZAF P-8A found the raft and the cargo ship Sofrana Surville recovered all four overnight.
What happened.
On 26 September 2026 the Australian-flagged 15.5 m yacht Tai Tam struck a whale about 250 nautical miles north of Norfolk Island and began to sink. Her four crew activated their EPIRB and abandoned into a liferaft. An RNZAF P-8A Poseidon found them, and the cargo ship Sofrana Surville picked all four up unhurt early the next morning.
At around 1 pm New Zealand time on Saturday 26 September 2026 the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand received an EPIRB alert from the Tai Tam, an Australian-flagged 15.5 m yacht sailing with four people aboard roughly 250 nautical miles north of Norfolk Island and 185 nautical miles south-east of Noumea. The yacht had struck a whale and was taking on water. As she began to sink, the crew abandoned into their liferaft, where they spent several hours in seas of up to two metres. An RNZAF P-8A Poseidon located the raft, and RCCNZ, working with Australian and New Caledonian authorities, diverted the 143 m cargo ship Sofrana Surville, with a private sailing vessel also assisting. The ship recovered all four at about 6 am on Sunday, with no injuries, and carried them to the nearest port. RCCNZ singled out the EPIRB as the key to getting them to safety. The accounts are brief, but the sequence is a textbook one: a sudden, unpreventable hull breach far offshore, followed by everything the crew controlled going right -- the beacon, the raft, and a timely decision to leave.
What it teaches.
- 1Register your EPIRB and check its battery and hydrostatic release dates before an ocean passage. Here it was the single piece of kit rescuers credited with saving four lives.
- 2
- 3Rehearse launching the liferaft and getting everyone into it. When the time comes it may be in the dark, in a seaway, with the boat settling.
Where this comes from.
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Procedures involved.
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