Evans Starzinger posted this over on CA, the unfortunate result of a really, REALLY bad decision...

A South African yacht anchored off Hanga Roa, Easter Island, attempted to enter the very tiny small boat harbor of refuge there, under the guidance of a local pilot...

Aside from wondering "Why?" to begin with, they apparently passed on the opportunity to employ one of the best reasons for carrying the sort of SUV dinghy they had... An attempt to scout the route in advance, with a portable depth sounder and GPS, most certainly would have given them pause about the extremity of the risk they were about to undertake...

Seems they were a bit unlucky with their timing, as well... it appears that a larger set of swells materialized just as they were at the critical point, in the beginning of the video the conditions appear to be considerably more placid as they began the approach, waves didn't seem to be breaking across the entrance then...

Sure would be interested in learning more about the role of the Chilean Armada in this decision... From what I've read over the years, I've always had the impression that they always erred greatly on the side of caution, and highly discouraged the attempt of cruising boats to come into that harbor. And, more recently, I've heard that they have an absolute prohibition on leaving an anchored boat unattended in that roadstead, and that a singlehander would be required to hire a boatsitter if going ashore...

Really surprising, that they apparently endorsed this maneuver...

You've gotta admit, the aluminum hull of that Trintella held up amazingly well, considering the battering she took... A GRP hull probably would have been in pieces within a couple of hours...

Any French speaking folks out there who might add anything of import from the captions, please feel free...

best regards,

Jon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBe8Is3H69Y&feature=player_embedded