Can a Kite Safari Boat Sunk? Is it possible?
26
Nov

November 26, 2024
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in News

Can a Kite Safari Boat Sunk? Is it possible?

It’s on the news, so let’s go straight to the point: in the Red Sea a Safari Boat, Sea Story, sunk in the waters around Marsalam Area (300km south of Hurghada) during a Dive Safari. Sea Story was a popular boat for dive and kite safari, so it was a bit of a shock for the kitesurfing community here in Egypt. Let’s go more in details on what happened and why…

What happened

Sea Story capsized (probably after hitting the coral reef, but it’s still unsure) on Monday morning at 05:30am. Most people were rescued, but still some are missing. And there are not many hopes. There are no info on what exactly happened, but most of the time dive safari boat park very close to the coral reef. A small mistake or a strong wave can literally crash the boat on the reef. But again, I’ve no precise idea, as there are still no news.

Why it happened

The combinations of wind, rough sea & tides created the perfect condition for an accident. Some areas of the Red Sea, where people go diving, can have big waves, and on Monday that was made even more radical by strong wind.

Can it happened during a kite safari? Not really

The Red Sea is notoriously a very calm sea, and waters where we go kite are the perfect example of that. Our kite spots are 100km far away from the deep and rough waters that divers need. We need shallow and flat waters.

When our boat is at the kite spot, it stands basically still. And during navigation (we move the boat 3/4 times per week on average), there is just a little roll. Sea sickness is rare during a kite safari.

Even in the rare event that the sea is too rough to move the boat (it never happened), we will simply not move, and keep it anchored covered by the kite spot, away from any solid object (the kite spot in our case, that is anyway always upwind of us).

What went wrong? Could that accident be prevented?

Yes. The weather forecast was very precise – strong wind were expected. Someone should have cancelled the trip or take the decision of delaying it a few days. Better be safe than sorry. That would have been my responsability, if the diving trip was my trip.