Still no sign of yacht

2005-09-21 09:27

Durban - There was a very sombre mood at the Royal Natal Yacht Club on Wednesday morning with no news on the missing boat, Moquini, as the Mauritius to Durban yacht race comes to an end.

The search for the Durban yacht which went missing during the race on Friday last week ended on Tuesday night.

Richard Crockett, the spokesperson for the race's organising committee, said the last three boats were due to finish in the next few hours.

"There's a very sombre mood at the Royal Natal Yacht Club. The family and friends of the missing yacht Moquini are waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones," he said.

Moquini was declared missing last Friday after communications were lost with the yacht.

Distress signal

A very brief signal from her Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon was received indicating that she may be in some sort of distress.

The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Cape Town assessed the situation last Friday morning and decided to begin a search for the vessel or the crew of the yacht who may have taken to their life raft.

A South African Airforce C130 long range reconnaissance aircraft was dispatched from Pretoria on Friday afternoon. It has been combing the area around the last known position of the yacht since then.

"The worst case scenario is that Moquini has suffered some catastrophic mishap and the crew have taken to the life raft," Crockett said.

"The best case scenario is that the yacht has suffered damage which has caused the yacht to be nursed home at slow speed - and it may arrive within the next few days.

"However, as there has been no communication from the yacht for a week, these are educated summations of what might have occurred."

Search 'battle plan'

Crockett said race organisers were fully aware that the search and rescue authorities could not search forever.

He said a group of yachtsmen had met on Tuesday to strategise and come up with a "battle plan" for the continued search of the Moquni crew.

Professional yachtsman Matthew Thomas, who competed in the race, has agreed to head the task.

Crockett said the assistance and support of people throughout the country and around the world have been phenomenal.

"Air Charter companies have offered aeroplanes, fuel has been offered, and basically anyone who has expertise, knowledge or equipment needed have made very generous offers of assistance," he said.

Thomas said: "We are searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack."

Should the crew have taken to the life raft, it is estimated they could have enough water to survive for more than twenty days.

Yachtsmen have been known to survive for more than 100 days in a life raft.

The crew of six on the yacht are the skipper, Graham Cochrane, Neil Tocknell, Sheldon Dickerson, Mark Dickerson, Kurt Ostendorf and Michael Goolam.

- SAPA