Flooding at sea.
Documented flooding incidents from the Logbook — 29 records, each with sources, lessons, and the SeaWise procedures that address it.
← Search & filter the full LogbookFlooding is the emergency that decides how much time you have. A hull breach, a failed skin fitting, a sheared rudder gland — water finds the fastest way in, and the pumps rarely win on their own. The accounts below show the same truth again and again: crews who taste the water to find the source, stem the biggest leak first, and judge early when to call for help are the ones who keep the boat, or at least keep everyone aboard.
Before dawn on 8 July 2026, a sailboat carrying two adults and six children began taking on water off Fort Monroe, at the mouth of the Chesapeake near Hampton, Virginia. The crew reached Hampton Police and the Coast Guard; a Hampton fire boat and the Coast Guard converged on the position around four in the morning. All eight aboard were rescued, with no injuries reported.
About 7 a.m. on 5 July 2026 a 30-foot sailboat was lost roughly five miles east of Hornby Island, in British Columbia's Strait of Georgia. The two men aboard said a rogue wave smashed her windows and flooded her, and she sank, leaving them in whitecapped seas. A Comox charter skipper heard their Mayday on VHF, raced over in his fishing boat, and with a helicopter overhead helped recover both. The Coast Guard took them to hospital; both survived.
The 60-foot sailing yacht Scotch Mist flooded through a deteriorating propeller-shaft seal about 170 nautical miles south of Block Island, Rhode Island. A Coast Guard aircraft dropped a dewatering pump while the cutter William Chadwick diverted and took all four crew aboard, treating them for shock and hypothermia. No lives were lost.
On 23 June 2026, two cruising catamarans collided in the Gulf of Cargèse, Corsica. One, a Looping 50 with three aboard, was holed and flooded faster than her pumps could keep up. The SNSM lifeboat crew took the three off and deliberately grounded her on sand to stop her sinking, then patched and refloated her the next day. No one was hurt.
On 16 January 2026 a 42-foot catamaran moored about 300 yards off Māla Wharf in Lahaina, Maui, took on water and sank, staying partly afloat where she went down. The one man aboard, 67, was helped off by a nearby boat and needed no medical treatment. No one else was aboard.
On Sunday 12 July 2026, the 35-foot recreational catamaran Alakai lost her steering and began flooding while crossing from O‘ahu to Kaua‘i. Her lone skipper reached the Coast Guard by text message, warning that she might sink. A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted him about 23 miles offshore and flew him to Līhu‘e, where he was checked and released unhurt. The catamaran sank shortly after the rescue.
On 19 July 2026, a yacht carrying a man and his dog began taking on water off Bangor, Northern Ireland, during a passage from Donaghadee to Belfast. Bangor RNLI's lifeboat came alongside, put a crew member aboard to check the flooding, and escorted her safely into Bangor Marina, where a salvage pump cleared the water. No one was hurt.
On 27 June 2026, a sailboat with two Greek nationals aboard began taking on water and partially sank near the Pergousa islet off Nisyros, Greece. The Hellenic Coast Guard located the boat, recovered both people safely, and brought them to Nisyros harbour. Neither was hurt.
On the evening of 30 June 2026 a sailing yacht sank about five miles west of Kefalonia in calm weather. The two Italians aboard abandoned in good time into the yacht's own tender and were picked up by a passing private vessel, escorted ashore by a Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat. Both were unhurt; the cause is under investigation.
On Friday 13 February 2026, the Dutch-flagged Bavaria 45 Vlie struck an unidentified submerged object off Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, and flooded so fast that she sank in about five minutes. All five aboard got into the liferaft, and a Spanish rescue helicopter lifted them to safety roughly 45 minutes later. The exact cause was not confirmed, but the underwater impact was blamed for the catastrophic flooding.
On a Friday evening in early May 2026, the 30-foot sailboat Jenny Lee ran aground and began flooding off Coffins Beach, near the mouth of the Essex River in Massachusetts. The boat's emergency beacon alerted the Coast Guard, and local crews rescued the two men aboard — brothers, 28 and 30 — and their small dog. Both men were treated for hypothermia; the dog was unharmed.
In late May 2026 off northwest Morocco, two French sailors believed their catamaran was sinking from water ingress and abandoned it for their dinghy. The catamaran never sank — it was found still afloat off Tangier and towed empty into Asilah, raising fears the pair were lost. In fact they spent four days and nights adrift in the dinghy before a merchant ship found and rescued them alive on 28 May. Both survived.
On the morning of 27 June 2026, the Penghu-registered yacht 'Daily Ocean' took on water in rough seas about two nautical miles off Dongji Islet, then lost power and capsized on a diving outing. All four aboard, including a captain surnamed Lee, went into the water and were pulled out by the nearby fishing vessel 'San Chuan Fa' before the coast guard arrived.
On the evening of 1 February 2026, a sailing yacht struck submerged rocks at an extreme low tide near the Rockpile surf break off Laguna Beach, California. Laguna Beach Marine Safety's vessel Wave Watch took all four people aboard off safely, with no injuries. The damaged yacht submerged overnight and was salvaged the next day and towed to Newport Harbor.
On 13 September 2025, about five miles off Fonte da Telha near Lisbon, Portugal, Iberian orcas repeatedly struck the club sailboat Oceanview, breaking her rudder and holing the hull below the waterline. With the boat flooding, a nearby club vessel took off all five aboard; a tow attempt failed and Oceanview sank. The same day, a second sailboat was struck off Cascais but stayed afloat. Everyone was rescued unharmed.
In November 2025 the sailing yacht Magic Bus, bound from Stonington, Connecticut to the Bahamas, began flooding about 260 nautical miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Her five crew abandoned into a life raft, were located by a Coast Guard HC-130, and were all lifted off by an MH-60 helicopter — refuelled via the carrier USS George H.W. Bush — unhurt.
On 10 October 2025, about 50 nautical miles off Peniche, Portugal, orcas battered the rudder of the French-flagged sloop Ti'fare. The helm spun freely and within roughly 20 minutes the boat was flooding faster than the pumps could handle. The family of five aboard — two adults and three children — abandoned to a life raft, were picked up by a fishing boat, and were airlifted to safety by the Portuguese Air Force, unhurt.
On the afternoon of 10 October 2025, about 90 km southwest of Peniche off Portugal's west coast, orcas attacked a sailing yacht carrying a family of five — two adults and three children. The hull was breached, the yacht took on water and sank, and the family took to their liferaft. A nearby fishing boat retrieved all five, and a Portuguese Air Force helicopter flew them ashore. Everyone was unharmed.
On a Sunday evening in November 2025, the excursion catamaran Boca de Yuma 1 — a roughly 40-foot boat carrying about 55 cruise-ship tourists on a sunset trip — flooded after a sudden leak and sank quickly near Samaná Bay, in the Dominican Republic. Everyone aboard ended up in the water but was pulled to safety by the Dominican Navy and local residents, with no injuries reported. The cause is under investigation.
In late December 2025, the Argentine sailing yacht Odisea, crossing the River Plate from Buenos Aires toward Riachuelo on the Uruguayan side, was left stranded and taking on water near the river mouth in the Colonia department. The Uruguayan Prefectura took the two crew off by launch, both in good condition, and the holed yacht was left beached. Reports differ on whether a malfunction or striking rocks caused it.
On a September 2025 night, the cruising catamaran Tayo, with four French recreational sailors aboard, began taking on water uncontrollably more than 50 nautical miles off Canet-en-Roussillon in the Gulf of Lion. The rescue centre CROSS Med was alerted around 4am and tasked a helicopter, which winched all four crew off the boat and flew them to Perpignan. Everyone was safe, with no reported injuries.
On 11 October 2024, a French sailor single-handing about 160 nautical miles from Mahé in the Seychelles found a leak and had just time to launch his liferaft before his yacht sank. He passed an approximate position by satellite phone but had no precise GPS fix, so it took about eight hours — by then tired and thirsty — before a diving support vessel located and rescued him. He survived unhurt.
The 40 ft J/122 Alliance struck a submerged object in the Gulf Stream around 2:45 a.m. on the third day of the 2024 Newport Bermuda Race, roughly 300 nm from land; she flooded and was lost, but all nine aboard were taken off by two competing boats that answered the Mayday.
On 29 October 2023 the Argentine sailboat Carpe Diem lost her rudder and began flooding near the Farallón Island light off Colonia, Uruguay. The crew could not stop the water, and a pump failed to hold her. About two hours after the first distress call, Uruguay's Navy took off all twelve aboard; the boat sank with half its mast still showing. All twelve survived.
In early September 2023, an inflatable catamaran on a round-the-world attempt was attacked by cookiecutter sharks in the Coral Sea, about 519 nautical miles south-east of Cairns. The bites holed both inflatable hulls over two days and sank the boat. The three crew — two Russians and a Frenchman — set off an emergency beacon and were recovered unharmed by a passing car carrier.
Overnight on 19–20 March 2022, the cruising yacht Lorrigray II sank off the coast of Madagascar while on passage from Mayotte toward Richards Bay, South Africa. Her three crew — Swedish, Canadian and Italian — were rescued by the cargo ship Petalouda in Madagascan waters and brought back to Mayotte by the SNSM sea-rescue service, reaching shore safely on 22 March. The cause of the sinking was not reported.
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.
On the evening of 16 April 2007, the sailing yacht Whispa collided with the LPG carrier Gas Monarch in dense fog about 6 miles ESE of Lowestoft. No one was hurt on either vessel, and the yacht's damage was minor at first, but progressive flooding worsened it as a lifeboat towed her to Lowestoft. The MAIB found that both vessels had broken the collision-avoidance rules and misused their radars in the fog.