Since Wednesday, August 14, most yachtsmen, especially those who cruise around the Balearics, are familiar with the term DANA. Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos translates freely as an isolated high-level depression. The result is a fierce but local storm. On that fateful day, it surprised practically all of the yachts that were anchored at Ses Salinas, Formentera. One of them was Asana, the beautiful Swan 62 owned by experienced yachtsman Andre Gumuchdjian. The Islander’s CEO (Creative Enthusiastic Owner), Jens, found Andre prepared to share his account of the event.
It’s the middle of the summer, I assume you had friends on board and everybody was enjoying the good life on your yacht in the Mediterranean. What happened next?
We were anchored in Formentera. My daughter Tatiana and a couple of her friends were on board. The sky was gray that Wednesday, August 14 morning. Then all of a sudden, I saw whitecaps in the distance arriving towards us, and I knew a squall was coming. I wasn’t worried as such squalls are frequent in the Mediterranean. My first action, after throwing the cockpit cushions below, was to have the dinghy lowered. It was hanging off the starboard side of the boat. In hindsight, I think this was a good decision as the strong wind could have thrown the dinghy around with its heavy engine, and it would certainly have caused damage to the boat and harmed the people on board.
At what point did you feel you lost control and what actions did you take?
After one of the crew lowered the dinghy into the water, I jumped in it while waiting for the knot of the painter to the cleat forward to be undone, as I could feel that the dinghy would otherwise be instantly flipped because of the strong wind. As I was letting the dinghy slide along the hull to the back of the boat, I saw that the waves had built up to about 2 meters high, and the bow was rising and crashing forcefully in the waves. At that point, I thought ‘this is not normal’. I had expected the usual 30 to 35 knots Mediterranean squall, but then I glanced quickly at the wind indicator and saw 50 knots on the display! At that point, I decided to jump back on board and forget about the dinghy, which, seconds later, flew away, losing the engine in the water. The boat was swaying and now was taking the wind from the starboard side. Then, to my horror, I realized that the anchor chain had completely rolled out of the windlass, and we were not held anymore. I quickly turned the engine on, revving it to the maximum, but I knew that it could never overcome the force of this wind. Sure enough, we started touching the sand, then we dragged for about 100 meters until we touched the rocky shore. There was nothing to do; we were sat on deck, waiting for the boat to stabilize itself. Unfortunately, because of the waves, the hull was lifted and then crashed on two large protruding rocks. I knew that she could not resist the shocks and water would soon enter the hull. After a couple of hours, the situation was calmer. The yacht was then heeled at 45° on top of a stony ledge.
What help, if any, did you receive during or after the storm?
Some people quickly came to offer help, but there was nothing much to do aside from securing the dinghy on the beach. One of them told me that the wind blew up to 70 knots that morning; this is hurricane strength.
Were there many people on the beach at the time?
There were many people constantly coming and going on the thin promenade separating the West and East bays, many taking pictures of the scenes; some even posed in front of the boat! However, what really struck me was that there were 14 boats thrown onto the rocks around me, including the 31m Wally Love, which was lying on its side 200 meters behind me.
At what point did you feel the ordeal was over and what were your thoughts?
The wind lowered less than an hour later, and two hours later, the wind was around 12 to 15 knots. I would say that that was the first part of the ordeal out of the way, but another, much bigger one, still had to begin. I was wondering, ‘How the hell can the boat be pulled out of the position it is in?’ It was lying on the port side leaning against a big flat rock formation, very similar to a stone quay. But the water depth was only 1 meter in front of it. If the boat were to be pulled away from the bow, the aft would press even harder against the rock, destroying the hull even more. I thought the only solution would be to bring a huge crane to lift it out. While these thoughts were going through my mind, I called the insurance company, Pantaenius in Hamburg, to inform them and ask for instructions. They quickly referred me to their loss adjusters in Palma: Marine Claims Services. They, in turn, were very quick to respond and contacted a towing company to salvage the boat. They would tow the Wally first, then me. This was a relief as there were more than 60 boats on the rocks in the area, all asking for help, and I wanted to be helped as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, some locals were saying that a second storm was expected in the evening, so with the help of my daughter, I partially unfurled then furled the genoa again very tightly, using a winch handle since the hydraulic hose had been damaged by the anchor chain.
Were you aware of a storm brewing and which precautions did you manage to make?
I was not at all aware of the storm. A friend in Ibiza told me that many people had warned him of a storm arriving but he hadn’t told me. In any case, he told me it was supposed to arrive Wednesday afternoon or evening, not in the morning. There was nothing on the Windy and Windfinder app that I use.
What do you feel you could have done differently?
I always put a security hook with a snubbing line on the chain, but I had removed it at around 5:30 am that fateful day. The reason was that the anchoring spot in La Savina, in front of the harbor, was very full. I had woken up to check on the neighboring boats and saw I was getting very close to a boat at my stern. So I removed the security to shorten the chain by two meters. It was very calm, and I thought I would hook it back on once the light wind would settle in another direction, and I could release the 2 meters of chain back in the water. I went to sleep again and forgot to put it back when I woke up later. Once the storm had arrived, I was too busy and forgot about it. As you can imagine, I bitterly regret it. We would have never lost the anchor chain had the snubbing line been hooked on.
There were many videos of the event circulating on social media. There is an army of keyboard warriors out there spewing their opinions. Was there a particular comment that stood out, or is there anything you’d like to respond to those people?
I saw some videos on social media but didn’t read any of the messages or the comments. Anyway, if they do not know anything about the sea, people’s comments or judgments do not affect me.
You posted a video of the salvage works. Can you tell us a bit about how that was approached? What did you learn from the process, and is there any advice you can give yacht owners and crew in case they are ever faced with a situation like this?
I was really impressed by the salvage work done by Eivisub. They are very good professionals and did their jobs methodically and thoroughly. Basically, the idea was to flip the boat on the starboard side! This would allow access to the cracks on the port side, fill them temporarily with quick-drying compound, and tow the boat to the nearest yard. The operation was hair-raising. They had put four 8-ton inflatable balloons on the starboard to soften the fall of the hull on the other side to prevent it from touching the bottom.
So my advice would be to always put a security hook on the chain with about 3-4 meters of strong mooring line. All the force from the anchor chain is then on a cleat and not on the windlass. I also advise not to keep the dinghy hanging on the side of the boat. It’s better to keep it aft in the water or, better even, strapped down on deck, even when there is no wind. With global warming in full swing, we can expect to see more of such events. Actually, I had never heard of DANA before. I didn’t know there was a term for this weather event.
Where is Asana now, and how do you see her future?
ASANA is at Varadero Ibiza, and the repair works will soon start. The yard’s director, Toni, recommended an excellent company from Galicia, Amuras, to do the fiberglass and carpentry work. A lot of the interior joinery is damaged unfortunately. I was there last Monday with an electrician from Italy, as I prefer to use someone from my home port in case there are issues later.
Is there any person or party you would like to thank?
I first would like to thank my daughter Tatiana for helping me during the storm and the salvage operation. I also want to thank Pantaenius for being so supportive of one of their clients. The last thing you want is to worry about your insurance. Marine Claims Services also has been very helpful. They have been very responsive in securing the salvage boat and crew. I want to thank Eivisub for doing a great job. They, understandably, first hauled the Wally 28m out on Thursday, then came to see my boat at the end of the day. They came back Friday early morning to start preparing my boat for the tow, but there were too many waves in the afternoon. There was no wind forecast for the night and the next day, so the operation was successfully carried out Saturday morning. The boat was immediately towed to Ibiza and out of the water by 4 pm. I want to thank Toni, the director of Varadero Ibiza; this is someone who loves boats and takes care of them as if they are his own.
Are there any other ideas or thoughts you would like to share?
Keep sailing and enjoy the sea, but keep your boat ready for sudden unpredictable weather.
