Maupiti - A catamaran capsized off Maupiti; a distress beacon, an air-drop and a diverted ship saved all three
When their 44-foot catamaran flipped in open Pacific seas, two crew clung to the upturned hull and one waited in a failing liferaft until a beacon brought aircraft and a merchant ship to the rescue.
What happened.
On 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 11 March 2026, a distress beacon fired far out in the Pacific off Maupiti, in the west of French Polynesia, where a 44-foot catamaran had capsized with three people aboard. When help located them, two of the crew were clinging to the overturned hull and the third was in a liferaft that was deflating and taking on water. The Tahiti rescue coordination centre (JRCC) and a French Armed Forces Falcon aircraft responded across vast distances; to keep the survivors going, the aircraft air-dropped a survival kit — a self-inflating liferaft, shelter, water, food and signalling equipment. With no rescue vessel nearby, the JRCC tasked the closest ship, a Bahamas-flagged merchant vessel roughly 13 hours' steaming away, which diverted at once. In difficult seas the ship's crew recovered all three; one had been injured in the capsize. The merchant ship then resumed its passage to New Zealand, where the three were landed and taken into care.
What it teaches.
- 1Offshore, a registered distress beacon is what starts the rescue. This capsize far off Maupiti was found only because a beacon fired, and everything else followed. Carry an EPIRB and a personal PLB, register them, and mount the EPIRB where you can grab it or let it float free as the boat goes over.
- 2A capsized multihull usually keeps floating — stay with it. Two of the three here survived on the upturned hull, a far bigger target for searchers than a person in the water. Unless the boat is sinking, get up out of the water onto the hull, stay with it, and keep the crew together.
- 3Your liferaft and survival gear have to outlast a slow rescue. One crew's raft was deflating, and the nearest ship was about 13 hours away. Service the raft, carry water, signals and thermal protection for days rather than hours, and never assume help is close when you are mid-ocean.
Where this comes from.
SeaWise indexes and links to primary sources; it does not host their reports or media. Crew are referred to by role unless documented consent is on file.
Procedures involved.
More like this.
Share your story.
SeaWise records are richer when survivors and crewmates contribute what they remember. Submissions are private by default — your name and contact never appear on the public record.
Submit a story