Sleeping in my bunk, on the morning of Friday 18 November 2022, I was woken by a loud bang. We were roughly 450 miles south east of South Africa, and it had been a nice Force 3 ENE wind when I’d gone to bed, with a relatively smooth, long swell. I am very well used to Asteria’s movements and despite sleeping like a baby in my bunk, I normally wake up when the movement or heel of the boat changes. Wild bangs against waves also tend to get me out of my deepest sleep. This bang was just a loud noise, not connected to slamming against a wave or any other impact.
My bunk is 55cm wide with a high leeboard and I had already rigged the safety net on top of it in order to prevent me from falling out of the bunk in a possible knock down or a rollover. It takes 20 seconds for an old, stiff guy like me to wriggle out of the bunk. By the time I put my feet on the floorboards they were almost knee deep in the water which was rushing into the cabin from under the companionway ladder and engineroom. It was clear to me that the water was coming at such a pace that the boat was sinking and I had to get ready
