“That shit just started leaking!”

It's what happens when you rename a ship. Cursed!

The Quest 1 (formerly Martin Daly’s Indies Trader II)—the boat that putzed around the Indian Ocean in the 90’s with a legendary crew of Rip Curl riders while filming the late, great Sonny Miller’s, and somehow still un-remastered, The Search— has sunk to the bottom of the ocean in the Mentawais.

One of the boat’s guests, Pete Nevins, says that after a day spent scoring crowded Lance’s Left, they set out to find somewhere a little less traveled, and under night’s seemingly eternal darkness, the boat started taking on water in the engine room.

“It was a frenzy at first – people were just jumping off, going under the ski, all that stuff – the ski tipped over actually,” Nevins told Surfing Life. “We had a masseuse on board, who wasn’t a very good swimmer, and she grabbed onto one of the guests to stay above water, but was bringing the guest down in the process. We had to stop it. But in the end we regained composure and got everyone into the life rafts.”

They issued a distress call to Daly, nearby on the Indies Trader III, and the Ratu Motu, though for a time the shipwrecked Quest passengers didn’t know if anyone was coming to their aid.

“Me and another crewmember were the last two people on board,” Nevins said. “And I said we should grab stuff and throw it over – we picked up a lot of boards – in order to leave a debris trail and maybe get seen easier.”

The Ratu Motu arrived first, followed by Daly and the Indies Trader III, who watched the boat he once owned sink forever into the deep blue nada.

“But everyone’s ok and safe, and that’s what’s important,” said Nevins. “We’re just counting our blessings and figuring out what we’re gunna do when we get back to Padang. I mean, I don’t even have shoes. I’m just thankful that Martin and his crew were there to grab us.”

After only three days out, they’re all on their way back to Bali.

“It’s pretty funny though because right now we’re running back with the wind to Padang, and basically passing that same debris field,” Nevins says. “So we’re motoring along and see a stand up paddleboard, and then another, and then another board – it’s a trail of surfboards!”