Sailors Almost Lose Control Of Their Ship As The Sea Around Them Turned Into Stone
The last rays of the setting sun light the sky above the Pacific as an Australian couple, Michael and Larissa Hoult, skim across the waves aboard their catamaran, ROAM. But before they know it, they find themselves in the most extraordinary sea they’ve ever encountered. Astonishingly, its surface appears to be composed of a blanket of rocks stretching as far as the eye can see.
Late Island
The Hoults are sailing in the South Pacific Ocean. The nearest land mass of any size is New Zealand’s North Island, around 1,300 miles to the south-west. The closest land of any kind is an uninhabited volcanic speck some 45 miles to the east of ROAM’s position. Late Island is part of the Kingdom of Tonga and its main island, Tonga, is about 150 miles south of the Hoults.
A Trip To Paradise
Michael and Larissa had set off aboard their catamaran on August 7, 2019. Their departure point was Bora Bora, an idyllic tropical island that’s part of French Polynesia. Their first destination was the Tongan islands of Vavaʻu. In fact this footloose pair had only been on Bora Bora for a couple of days.
Pleasure Cruising
The Hoult couple spend much of their time sailing around the Pacific aboard their state-of-the-art catamaran ROAM. The craft was built by the Hoult family at their home in Tasmania, the large Australian island off the south coast of the mainland. Every sailing season from 2016 onwards, Michael and Larissa have sailed around the Pacific, pursuing their dreams of adventure.
Change Of Plans
Although the Hoults had planned to stop off on the Vavaʻu Islands before heading on to their final destination of Fiji, by day five of their trip, August 12, they’d had a change of heart. They decided that they would sail straight on to Fiji without a stopover. Larissa was booked to work a nutrition project on Fiji, and time was getting tight.
