Incidents in the South Pacific.
Documented sailing emergencies in the South Pacific — 7 records, each with sources, lessons, and links to the SeaWise procedures involved. Search by the water you're about to sail.
← Search & filter the full LogbookOn 11 March 2026, a 44-foot catamaran capsized in open Pacific seas off Maupiti, in French Polynesia, with three people aboard. A distress beacon triggered the alert — two crew clung to the upturned hull and one waited in a deflating liferaft. A French military aircraft air-dropped survival gear, and a merchant ship about 13 hours away diverted and recovered all three, one of them injured, before carrying them on to New Zealand.
On 17 March 2026, a catamaran ran aground on the coral reef north of Moorea, in French Polynesia, near the Ava Iti pass. After the alert reached the Tahiti rescue centre early that morning, the four people aboard were evacuated unharmed once the hull's integrity could no longer be assured. The owner shut off the electrical, gas and fuel systems before leaving; no pollution resulted, and the wreck was removed days later.
While sailing from Whangarei, New Zealand, to Fiji in June 2026, the 14.6-metre yacht Cahuna lost her rudder in a Pacific gale near the Minerva Reef region, leaving four crew without steering some 300 nautical miles from Fiji. In winds to 40 knots and 5-metre swells they deployed drogues and improvised a rudder while a relief vessel, the YWAM Koha, diverted to tow them to Suva. This is a developing situation.
In Cook Strait around 20-21 May 2026, the 11-metre yacht Boxing Kangaroo issued two maydays. First, a seriously ill crew member was evacuated off Cape Palliser in an overnight, 82-nautical-mile Coastguard operation. The skipper then stayed aboard alone; as conditions worsened he became lost and called again. An RNZAF P-8A Poseidon found the boat near Baring Head and HMNZS Taupo rescued him before midnight. Both men survived.
In October 2025 a gale at Mount Maunganui, New Zealand — westerlies gusting near 80 km/h — dragged two yachts, Right On and Orinoco, aground in Pilot Bay. The harbourmaster later secured a beached yacht, and no injuries were reported. It's a plain lesson in ground tackle failing on a lee shore in a blow.
The Bavaria 47 Essence was abandoned and sank in 7.5-metre seas 25 nautical miles N-NE of Cape Brett; three of four crew survived.
The 42 ft monohull Rauruahine was abandoned 80 nm WNW of Cape Reinga after a chainplate failure flooded the saloon; crew of two recovered by container ship.