The Tale of the Loss of Yacht Elsewhere

by Lisa Vorderbrueggen/Sail-World on 4 Aug 2008 The loss of one's yacht on a remote reef is the stuff of nightmares for most sailors. Yet somewhere in the world on most days of the year, there is a boat lost. Sometimes the stories have good endings, sometimes they end in mysteries, always they are harrowing. This is the story of the loss of the yacht Elsewhere when her steering failed at a critical moment, and the luck that followed them to bring them safely home.

The hull's violent 'Bang!' 'Bang!' against the unforgiving reef sounded like gunshots. Tyler Johnston, 12, wanted off the sailboat. Now. The boy ran below deck to his berth and quickly stuffed his belongings into a plastic bag.

Minutes later, he and his grandparents, Matt and Judy Johnston of Antioch, sat in an inflatable raft in the South Pacific 5,000 miles from home watching the wind and surf slam their sailboat into a reef. 'The banging, it was pain to my ears,' Tyler said in the safety of his grandparents' Antioch kitchen.

The shipwreck began the Johnstons' harrowing seafaring tale, a saga of rescue by an exiled Russian media mogul, a night in luxury aboard a mega-yacht, and an arduous trip to port on a creaky freight vessel. 'We finally persuade Tyler's parents to let him come sailing with us, and look what happens,' said Judy, shaking her head in disbelief.

Matt and Judy Johnston, 64 and 63, successfully sailed the 38-foot Elsewhere thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean in the past decade, logging stops from Mexico to Ecuador to Bora Bora to Tahiti.

Their cruising days are over for now.

Elsewhere was lost in a June 28 shipwreck at the mouth of a narrow channel into the remote Aur Atoll in the Marshall Islands, a chain west of Hawaii. The fateful voyage began much the same as their others in the warm, cerulean South Pacific waters.

Tyler, who lives in Esparto north of Vacaville, joined his grandparents in the islands in early June for his first sailing trip. They wanted Tyler to see the islands' diverse culture. The three set sail from the Majuro Atoll the night before in seas rolling enough to make Judy and Tyler seasick and 18-knot tradewinds.

Between 9 and 10 a.m., they reached an entrance to the Aur Atoll's vast interior lagoon, dropped sail and fired up the diesel engine on their 1981 Cabo Rico sailboat.

Judy took the helm, Matt stood on the bow as a lookout into the clear water and Tyler positioned himself between them on deck to relay commands. But something went terribly wrong. Elsewhere began drifting dangerously close to the channel's left edge.

'Turn! Turn!' Matt yelled.

Judy tried but the wheel inexplicably spun freely under her hands. The wind and current caught the bow and drove the Elsewhere onto the reef.

Matt swore. Judy tried to back the ship out, but a steering chain in the steering mechanism may have broken, they theorize. Elsewhere was at the mercy of the elements. The swells kept lifting the boat four feet and dropping her back onto the reef with horrendous bangs. Tyler was distraught and the Johnstons decided to transfer to their dinghy to await help.

Matt triggered the boat's emergency position indicating radio beacon and launched the dinghy while Judy radioed a distress call to anyone nearby.

Aid unexpectedly came within the hour from Blue Star, a 144-foot motor-yacht owned by Vladimir Guzinksy, a Russian media tycoon exiled in Israel after he publicly criticized his government. The Gusinksy family was diving nearby when the ship's crew heard Judy on the radio.

Judy and Tyler boarded the Blue Star, a 'floating palace,' where she used its satellite phone to notify the Coast Guard of their rescue. Matt hoped the yacht's two powerful launches, equipped with 150 horsepower outboard motors, could free Elsewhere. But the stubborn reef mocked them.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard had called the Johnstons' daughter, Tracy Koens of Antioch, and advised her that Elsewhere's distress beacon had been activated. Tyler's dad, Trevor, also of Antioch, was worried. 'It took about four or five hours before we heard that everyone was OK,' Trevor said. 'It was pretty stressful.'

While their family sighed in relief, the Johnstons sat down to a gourmet dinner with the Gusinksys and spent the night in an elegant suite with a king-size bed and a bathtub. 'I didn't really enjoy the yacht,' Matt confessed. 'I didn't sleep for three days. We just kept going over and over everything in our minds, thinking that if we had done this or done that, we could have saved Elsewhere.'

That first night, the Johnstons still hoped they could free the Elsewhere. The Blue Star captain had called the owner of an island salvage company, which promised to send help. But what arrived the next morning was the Deborah K, a 1960s-era, military-style landing craft. Loaded with sand and construction materials, it carried no pumps or equipment to lift Elsewhere from her coral trap.

'I knew then that Elsewhere was lost,' Matt said. The Johnstons reluctantly spent four nights on the Deborah K as it chugged north to deliver its cargo before returning to Majuro. It was a big change from the Blue Star.

Its captain kindly gave up his meager cabin and shared his limited food stores Û' rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Tyler said Û' but the vessel didn't cater to passengers.

In Majuro, the shipwrecked Johnstons were celebrities and the local newspaper chronicled their travails. Fellow cruisers and resorts donated lodging. Children followed Tyler down the street and he was invited to speak at a school. Tyler enjoyed the attention and three weeks of island resort life. But he emphatically vows to remain on solid ground in the foreseeable future.

His grandparents still mourn Elsewhere and everything on it. They had climbed into the dinghy carrying little more than their wallets, passports and airplane tickets. By the time they realized Elsewhere was lost, it was listing severely, water filled the cabin and locals had stripped it of everything that could be removed.

The couple most regret the loss of their travel diaries from nearly nine years visiting some of the world's most beautiful tropical places. 'We think of something and we say, 'Oh, it was in the boat,' Judy said.

They had insured Elsewhere for 100,000 Euros, about $156,000, and await a decision from Commandeur, their Holland-based insurance company, about how much the boat was worth. If the settlement is sufficient, they may buy another sailboat. Or not.

A few days before the shipwreck, Judy successfully negotiated a deal with her sea-loving husband: Six months on the boat, six months at home in Antioch. She wanted more time at home but she never imagined becoming a permanent landlubber.

'We'll see how we feel,' Matt said. 'We're still grieving.'