Sailing La Vagabonde

Collision in Japan

Rammed while at anchor by a fishing boat, the Rapido 60 La Vagabonde III belonging to Elayna and Riley and their two sons Darwin and Lenny sustained severe damage. Unfortunately, this damage is serious enough to put the boating adventures of sailing’s most famous YouTubers on hold.

Cruising is on hold for Elayna, Riley, Darwin and Lenny. © La Vagabonde III

This fishing boat was in collision with the trimaran. © Shodoshima Coast Guard

The structural damage to the link arm is clearly visible. ©Shodoshima Coast Guard

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Published 13/11/2024

By Kim Wellington

Issue: 199

Published: jan. / mar. 2025

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Who: Elayna, Riley and their two sons Darwin and Lenny
Where: Shodoshima, Japan
Multihull: Rapido 60
YouTube: @SailingLaVagabonde

The collision occurred in the middle of the night of November 4/5, while the crew was asleep, anchored just a few cables off Shodoshima, a reputedly tranquil island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. A trawler appears to have violently rammed one of the trimaran’s floats, causing serious structural damage to a link arm. Fortunately, none of the crew was injured in the collision, but the YouTubers have now put their multihull ashore so that the entire carbon structure can be carefully assessed – it’s possible that other, non-visible damage has been caused, and only an examination using ultrasound will be able to provide a reliable diagnosis.

According to naval architect Pete Melvin, the damage is, seemingly, repairable, as reported by Boating New Zealand. The problem now is, of course, one of investigation, liability, insurance and downtime. The incident has caused a stir among aficionados of the Australian sailors’ adventures - with almost 2 million followers on their YouTube channel, they are by far the most popular sailors in the world today.

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