Lagoon 500 Catamaran ONE WORLD is abandoned off the Sunshine Coast of Queensland Australia after battling 35-knot westerly winds and 3m seas. Thankfully, the family who'd traveled the world on the catamaran had not been on board. The vessel was occupied by the owner, United States mariner Wesley Garner and his crew of three males and one female, who were reportedly transporting her from New Zealand to Australia for better sales prospects.
The Latest blog post from ONE WORLD was from 6 months ago where they wrote about having her hauled out in NZ and placing her up for sale, "The final passage aboard One World was bittersweet. Within 36 hours of arrival, I watched as a large crane plucked One World from the river and placed her on solid ground for the first time since leaving Florida in December of 2011. The end has come. Our family adventure aboard One World is complete. Tears came to my eyes as I said goodbye to my crew and the boat. The memories will last a lifetime."
Peter Hall of The Courier Mail reported the story yesterday, stating the skipper said he had no option but to abandon ship:
United States mariner Wesley Garner and his crew of three males and one female were brought ashore at Mooloolaba after their harrowing night.
Mr Garner, owner of the catamaran One World, said he had been transporting the vessel from New Zealand to Brisbane, where he hoped to sell it for around $700,000.
Prior to this journey, the craft had been sailed all over for two years by his US-based family.
He said fortunately they had not been on board during this ordeal.
Mr Garner and crew were only 16 Nautical Miles from the mainland at 2am when the hull began to fill with water after being battered by 35-knot westerly winds and 3m seas.
“We were in the last leg of our journey,’’ Mr Garner said.
“The water was coming over the floorboards. We did our checks, but couldn’t detect where the leak was coming from.
