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In the early evening of Saturday December 21, a 16-meter-long tender, the Reel Wild, a tender for a yacht moored in Gustavia harbor, the Loon (68 meters), ended up on rocks at the tip of Anse des Cayes, near Anse des Lézards (JSB 1587 and 1598).tres), ended up on the rocks at the tip of Anse des Cayes, on the Anse des Lézards side (JSB 1587 and 1598). Among the eleven occupants, all members of the yacht's crew and of US nationality, six were transported to the Irénée de Bruyn hospital, including a young woman ejected from the boat when it hit land. Severely injured in the face (including several fractures to the jaw) and one leg, she was flown to Miami the following day by air ambulance. The victim, accompanied by two other crew members, has since taken legal action against the captain, Paul Reid Clarke.
Abandoned controls
According to the US website Triton, Natalia Niznik, Klara Holubova and Austin Scaccianoce are represented by Moore & Company of Coral Gables, Florida. All claim that Captain Clarke was at the helm of the Reel Wild on the night of the accident. "He allegedly abandoned the helm of the vessel and allowed the tender to sail at between 77 and 82 km/h in total darkness," reports the Triton article, referring to the contents of the complaint. The three crew members hope to have their claim upheld so that a jury trial can be held.
In early May, Paul Reid Clarke filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. The captain asserts that "the allegations set forth in the complaint do not constitute jurisdictional facts sufficient to subject him to Florida law since he is not a citizen of the United States, does not reside in Florida, does not possessof personal property in Florida, does not carry on business in Florida as an individual, has not caused bodily injury or property damage in Florida, and the events at issue occurred in Saint-Barthélemy", the Triton article details. The plaintiffs countered with a long list of evidence that Paul Reid Clarke does indeed reside in Florida (Fort Lauderdale): company files, P.O. box, criminal record extract for a traffic violation in 2017, fishing license dating back to 2023, testimonials from other crew members who explain that they were invited to the captain's home, etc. All these documents are currently being examined.
French investigation still underway
In the days following the accident, an investigation was launched by the maritime affairs department of the Cayenne public prosecutor's office in French Guiana. Onboard instruments were seized in order to determine who was at the controls of the boat at the time of the accident. In videos filmed with smartphones from the beach at Ti Saint-Jean, the boat's occupants can be seen leaving a beach restaurant after an afternoon of feasting and consuming large quantities of alcoholic beverages.
After being rescued by the Stis and the gendarmerie on the evening of the accident, the crew were taken to Bruyn hospital. There, on the advice of a US lawyer and a Saint-Barth lawyer, the crew refused to undergo toxicological tests. The Loon's Patreon page has since been deleted, as have its Instagram and Facebook accounts and YouTube videos.
For the time being, while legal proceedings have only just begun in Florida, the magistrate in charge of maritime affairs at the Cayenne public prosecutor's office has not revealed any progress in the French investigation.
