Seaquel Shipwreck May 19, 2014

 I believe that I arrived shortly after the Seaquel went aground. There was no one on the beach who looked like they belonged to the boat. In fact there were only about four people standing there looking at it and they looked like beach goers. There was no apparent damage to the hull or superstructure even though there was a solid south swell pushing it constantly shoreward.

I began to taking photos and thinking about how this very nice boat could have come to be hard aground at this place in Kona. As a sailor certain things began to emerge that didn't add up. Forgive me if I play Sherlock Powers the Sailor on this one.

Firstly, there was a light but decent wind blowing all day. More than enough to allow any sailor to sail his boat away from the shore. The sail placement indicates the boat was on a port tack approaching from the north with the wind. The placement and sitting of the hull on the reef also seem to show it was sailing from north to south.

No anchors were dropped. Why not?

Bow anchor secured.

Stern anchor as well.

The cabin boards were inserted and the hatch cover closed, but there was no lock on them. If you had left your boat and closed it up to protect your belongings below from scavengers, wouldn't you lock the hatch after closing it?

There were coke cans in the cup holders and a hand towel resting there as well. Not sure what this implies.

The main had been reefed, why? There hasn't been winds greater than ten knots within 50 miles of Kona for three days. Why reef the main and not the jib?

What looks to be yellow safety lines have been rigged on  both port and starboard sides of the boat. Why? You can also see that the jib sheet line is secured on the winch. Of note also is that the winch handle, visible in red, is still attached to the main winch. Don't know what that means.

So what happened? Hell if I know, but I wonder if this boat was unmanned when it went aground. I wonder if the sailor went overboard at some point and the boat was left to sail itself until it landed at the Old Kona Airport. Reefed main for heavy seas, safety lines rigged, cabin closed to keep out spray, no actors dropped to keep from grounding. Is there someone out there floating right now hoping to be spotted?

Any ideas on who I should send this to to see if a search is required would be appreciated.

Brian