A DARK DAY FOR WHITE KNIGHT

DARK DAY FOR

After a record breaking Adelaide to Lincoln Race many boats were returning home to Adelaide. A popular first leg is from Port Lincoln to West Cape Bay which is regarded as a safe anchorage on the western tip of Yorke Peninsula. It was Friday 28 February. Aquila had been cruising the Sir Joseph Banks group of islands and had returned to Spalding Cove near Port Lincoln on Thursday ready for the same leg to West Cape Bay. Still in cruise mode, we departed hours later than most of the racing boats on the Friday morning. Four of the boats were making their way across Spencer’s Gulf these being Kinetic Energy, School’s Out, Rock On and White Knight. Aquila was a good three hours behind them so by the time we arrived in West Cape Bay it was getting dark and the others looked well settled on their anchors, other than a rolling swell from the large breakers just beyond the rocks at the entrance. We had finished dinner and were preparing for an early night when we began to hear shouting. By now it was dark, very dark, but looking behind us we could just see the crew of White Knight scrambling to hang on to a boat that was suddenly pitching and rolling dramatically more than any other boat in the bay. We turned our radio to Channel 16 in case they were calling and indeed they were. She looked high in the water so we assumed she had dragged anchor and hit the bottom and I advised I would launch the dinghy. Kinetic Energy had also heard the commotion and had raised her anchor. I motored over to Kinetic Energy to see if I could help with a possible tow. We joined two sheets together to maximise the length for a tow line. Les jumped into the dinghy to give me some forward stability and after throwing the line to White Knight we motored backwards to attach the line to Kinetic Energy. Alas we were one metre too short and Kinetic Energy was unable to reverse any more for fear of running aground herself. With some further manoeuvering we made the connection but no amount of pulling would budge White Knight. During this time Rock On were calling VMR radio to advise them of the situation. We abandoned any further attempts and considered the safest option would be removing the crew from the boat. Many of us have done a safety course for survival at sea but nothing can prepare you for the opposing motion of two boats in a swell attempting to come together in the dark of night! White Knight was rolling to the extreme! Her water line was 400mm higher than it should have been so she was pivoting on the keel like a child’s punching clown! Her mast was swinging four metres off the water on the port side to four metres off the water on the

starboard side. Her bow and stern were pitching through two metres and the anchor line that hadn’t let go at all was loading up with the motion and amplifying the action through the spring tension. Les and I tried to get the crew to exit from the stern but the potential for the transom to smash down on top of the dinghy was far too risky. We then approached ahead of the boat using the anchor rode to pull on but discovered it lifted two metres in the air one moment to pinning us down the next! Keeping the rode as far forward of the dingy as possible whilst pulling towards White Knight was our only option. One by one the crew climbed over the bow pulpit literally letting go on the downward motion and falling into the dinghy. We were lucky not to lose anyone to the inky waters that night! Now safely on board Aquila the crew sat in the cockpit contemplating future moves. 0330hrs was the next high tide so the theory was to try motoring her off then. So at 0330hrs an unwelcome alarm was trumpeting in my ears. Three of us were back in the dinghy again! Fantastic, now was even darker, colder and rougher! We shone a light over to White Knight and motored in that direction. It didn’t look the same but we had no concept of her position in the dark. Rudely it became apparent she was on the beach now and very quickly it became obvious we were inside the wave breaking zone!! Seconds later we were rolled by a wave to 45 degrees and could easily have been capsized! I motored back to a position of safety and from there we all concluded there was no more we could do. Sadly, next morning nothing had changed, in fact it appeared she had been pushed even higher onto the beach. With that sad sight we started the motors and lifted the anchor and Aquila, now with six people on board, motor sailed back to Adelaide. Naturally the topic of conversation was what had happened that night. How could she be safely anchored one minute then without dragging, dumped on the sea floor the next!! Well the answer is obvious now! There is a large rock commonly called a Bommy in West Cape Bay. White Knight had inadvertently anchored alongside and with a rolling swell lifting our boats and the wind shifting them it simply landed on top!! It turns out our Club alone has had a few boats come to grief in the past let alone incidents we are unaware of and yet nothing has ever been done to identity this dangerous obstruction. Even the local fisherman know only too well of its presence and roughly its position and indeed there may be another not far away. With help from the guys and girls involved that night we have decided to put an end to this unknown by diving and logging its exact location and have the correct authorities mark its location physically and on marine charts! Had White Knight been alone in the bay that night…….well I hate to think!! Further news to this story has since come in advising that White Knight was unable to be towed away from its location. The current discussions are to dismantle the boat and remove her by land. A sad ending to a successful racing boat.

If anyone has any further knowledge of this rock or can help in any way please phone Mark Johns on 0412 027 330

Mark Johns