A sailor’s nightmare

Great post on Bruce Smith's blog as they cruise the coast of the Dominican Republic. Clearly not a well-charted place as you can see from this excerpt:

At one point, while we were both below, the jib backed, making an annoying rattling sound and bringing the boat to an upright position. Bruce went out to adjust the course and came below again. Within minutes it happened again, and this time we both went on deck. While Bruce handled the tiller, I looked ahead to see breaking waves just minutes away. “Bruce, reef!”

He looked up, studying it for a few seconds before throwing the tiller hard to starboard. Woodwind would have hit for sure, ending our cruise. It was as if she had called to us, saving herself from destruction. Tacking further along the coast we came upon dozens more offshore reefs that weren’t on the circa-1988 chart. Coral doesn’t grow that fast, so someone made a huge mistake!