NEWS

The ship of a blind navigator crashed into the reefs

Share on social media

The 20-day voyage of the 40-foot sailboat Seaquel(Nordic 40) from Mexico to Hawaii ended in a wreck three miles offshore. The yacht crashed into the reefs near Kona County. The skipper of the yacht was blind yachtsman John Berg. Danny Peters was also on board.

The cause of the wreck was a mishandling of the vessel and a navigational miscalculation, experts believe: «The waves picked up the boat and tossed it ashore».

Some media also managed to blame Apple for the accident. According to them, the crew who used the iNavX program for navigation faced the following problem: users could not remove FaceTime and iCloud pop-up system notifications from the tablet's screen and return to the main program menu.

The yacht was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment adapted for use by blind people, including all electronics with VoiceOver (read out information on the screen).

John Berg is an experienced yachtsman, Seaquel was his home, he lived on this boat for 14 years.

Berg himself does not blame anyone for what happened:

«I just want everyone to understand: it was my boat, I was its captain and I'm the one who screwed up. And even though I had a sighted crew member with me, I am the only one to blame for the loss of the boat».

Fortunately, the navigator and his helper were not injured. They managed to reach the shore in the dark. At the same time, the yacht left at the site of the wreck was completely looted. Since the boat had no insurance, it would be almost impossible to recover the stolen and damaged property.

Share on social media