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Hitting A Coral Reef While Escaping Indonesia on a Sailboat; The Last 7 Days + 400 miles!

September 21, 2025 · 48 min · 52K views · Lingga Islands

Sailboat cuts calm seas under full mainsail, horizon aligned.

What this video covers

James, sailing solo on his 1965 Alberg 30 Triteia, strikes a coral reef while approaching an anchorage in the final stretch of the Indonesian archipelago, roughly 2.3 miles from his destination.25:31 Navionics showed 10 feet of water at the position; the actual depth was shallower.27:15 He heeled the boat and motored in reverse to free her, succeeding without taking on water, though the extent of hull damage remained unknown.32:14 The incident capped a seven-day, 400-nautical-mile push from Bengka through the Lingga Islands, across the equator, and toward Malaysia.7:47 Throughout, he navigated Indonesia's dense fish aggregating devices (FADs) — many unlit or dimly lit, some anchored to reefs in 30 feet of water, others free-floating 30 miles offshore — which made night passages near shore dangerous.6:15 A contrary current of 1.6–1.9 knots in the Singapore Strait forced him to anchor overnight behind an island near barges and time his final 23-mile transit to Malaysia for a slack-current window between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. He arrived at an anchorage near a Navy base in the Johar Strait on a Saturday, requiring a two-day wait before clearing customs on Monday.38:31 Navionics chart data cannot be trusted for reef clearance in Indonesian waters.

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Boats in this video

Alberg 30Their boat

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