Battleship 100 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Boat is a Euro production AWB they all have pretty good landing platforms. Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Sad. Still hoping for a miracle though. http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/news/media-releases-2012/20120216a.asp Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BeachBoy Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I was on a fishing trip with some mates on board the Vanavara (ex Whangamata) when we came across this vessel and there are certainly some strange things about this incident which yachties and their sailing knowledge may be able to help out with. For example, the anchor was down maybe 5 or 8 metres, dragging along in the water. I pulled it up manually as the winch buttons (located right beside the winch) were not operating. I restarted the engine in case it needed to be going, still to no avail. I even checked the switchboard to see if a circuit breaker had tripped, but all seemed ok; some were on and some were off but it appears that they are used as switches as well as circuit breakers... I dunno. Should the winch work with the motor running? Another 'very strange' thing that might help shed some light on what happened is the short frayed rope we found attached to the cleat on the starboard side at the stern; it was tied off ok but only dangled 1 foot or so (maybe 2 but definitely no more)... and I say frayed because it wasn't cut, unless with a very blunt knife... and it was braided rope, very strong so chafing would have taken bloody ages. This is a big part of the mystery! Also, the yacht was idling and in gear. The fuel tank was a good 3/4 full. Another interesting thing is that there was a bottle of wine in the sink, unopened and a packet of potato chips was open, some had fallen on the floor along with a chart - which I guess is normal on a boat bobbing around unmanned for any length of time. The stereo was going quite loud, not loud enough to be a nuisance (and good music too!) but too loud to be able to converse with my mates still on board the Vanavara, so I turned it down. Didn't bother turning if off, as didn't want to touch anything I didn't need to, as this was a possible crime scene! But the impression I got was the guy was about to relax for the evening, have a wine or two and some chips and probably think about dinner. There was cheese and yoghurt in the fridge (and something else I can't recall) but no meat or fish... and there was an empty packet of Jaffa Thins biscuits in the rubbish. Perhaps he was planning on catching a fish for tea, not sure... but the scene was set with some good music, a wine ready to go and snacking on potato chips... which by the way were stale, at least 24 hours old we reckon, maybe less with damp sea air around. It all seems very strange, the yacht was neat and tidy, there was one sleeping bag laid out nice and neatly with the corner turned down... the laptop was sitting on a bench, closed - not a place it would be if you were sailing. A cellphone and other gadget (maybe handheld gps?) was alongside the Acer laptop; the cops called me back asking if I had touched the gps and I hadn't so hopefully they tracked exactly where he went, and according to one of the posts he had been to Mayor. Our crew searched for him and then the plane arrived and did a pretty comprehensive search from what we saw... but of course you need to be searching in the correct place and that is the hard part to figure out. I tied the steering wheel to keep the tiller straight (used the frayed rope which was tied to the cleat, and told the cop this) but this boat was drifting quite fast and with 24 hours (probably less) would have been washed ashore. How fast does a person drift? Hopefully someone can work out where he could be and I hope they searched the island well, considering they know he was there... but it doesn't look good. Prayers and fingers crossed for this dude and his family. Link to post Share on other sites
morspeed 1 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Interesting Beachboy and thanks for posting. The windlass circuit breaker on these boats is usually located in aft quarterberth- located stbrd side on the lower front corner of bed...but sometimes on port aft quarterberth bulkhead. Maybe the windlass breaker had tripped. Motor needs to be running and usually at least 1000 rpm to supply enough current to drive windlass motor but given it had been idling for many hours and their was only a few meters of chain out then the windlass should have operated easily so long as the breaker was not tripped. The frayed rope is really interesting...not something Richard would have had dangling from a cleat..My thoughts were maybe the other end was wrapped around prop?...maybe it was the remains of a dingy painter after a prop wrap incident and Richard dove under boat to free it..dunno,,sure is weird. More than once i have had to dive under a boat to cut off a prop wrapped painter and in a rough sea it is a fairly unpleasant task. Bordering on dangerous when you have a hull stern slamming down on you in choppy conditons. Here's a possible scenario.. Richard is anchoring boat and has the boat in slow reverse to set anchor, gets about 8 metres of chain out before the dinghy painter rides under hull and into prop. Nothing to do now but dive under boat and cut off painter from shaft, thinks he has put motor into neutral but in his haste has put it into low rev forward, leaps over side with knife same time painter snaps from load and off goes the boat leaving Richard behind?. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I have been thinking a similar scenario for several days now. Either he had the anchor snagged, the water was shallow enough to have ago at diving down to it and freeing it was one of my thoughts. But a rope caught around the prop is yet another possible scenario. And while down there, something has gone wrong. Otherwise, if he was a strong swimmer, you would think making for an island a more than possible choice. Another possible was that he was using the anchor as a kind of drogue while then attending to a problem aft that had something to do with that frayed line. And thus being nowhere near any island at time of incendent. One other scenario is that the boat was anchored so he could sort a problem, something has happened, tide has risen and anchor has come free and boat has drifted away. But all just guesses and none solve anything. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BeachBoy Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 One of the first things we thought of was a prop causing the frayed rope... but we discounted this as a possibility as the rope was just too short, and wouldn't reach a prop. Also, I found a bank of breakers and none seemed off that should be on - and if the breaker had of tripped, it would have been easy for Richard to reset.. unless there was a fault and it kept tripping. Question; how deep are the keels on these yachts? What is the shallowest one would go in order to moor for the night? Because there wasn't very much chain out at all. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Great first post BeachBoy! Thanks very much for that. Welcome to Crew!! Link to post Share on other sites
Murky 1 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Question; how deep are the keels on these yachts? What is the shallowest one would go in order to moor for the night? Because there wasn't very much chain out at all. A draft of 2m or less is probably reasonably accurate, and if you knew the bay and were confident in the conditions, you might anchor in 5m of water (depending on the state of the tide when you went in). So the 5-8m of chain you found out would not be enough to have been anchored for the night. In the process of anchoring - as others have theorised - possibly. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 So the 5-8m of chain you found out would not be enough to have been anchored for the night. Not sure you can say that Murky. It's not enough to anchor 'successfully' but he may well have dropped anchor till it hit the bottom plus a few metres and hoped it would hold enough. That may have been the error........(or not!) Link to post Share on other sites
Marshy 30 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Would be interesting to see if the dinghy for the boat is missing? Like does it have a Dinghy, and ifso where is it stored, and if its not there did it leave with the boat? Could answer a few questions. Link to post Share on other sites
Absolution 7 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Would be interesting to see if the dinghy for the boat is missing? Like does it have a Dinghy, and ifso where is it stored, and if its not there did it leave with the boat? Could answer a few questions. ...and is the skipper still in the dinghy drifting towards Chile. Link to post Share on other sites
Megwyn 2 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 There was a dingy found some way off the boat, but it was unnamed. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 The game fisherman I know who spent alot of time at Mayor Is all say the same thing - OK anchorages but you often have to move at night if the wind changes. Not where I would stop for a night in a yacht on my own... The frayed line is odd - maybe it was attached to a fender? Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 The frayed line is odd - maybe it was atached to a fender? I think the key is whether it matches a frayed line on the dinghy they found? In which case it could have parted at any time, possibly if it was already thinning and it was given a tug by someone climbing aboard the dinghy as it was being towed behind the boat? But hey, we're grasping at straws here aren't we...? Sadly, I fear we'll never know exactly what happened. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Yep grasping Real shame.. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BeachBoy Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Yep, there was a dinghy but not when we got there, according to the news reports a dinghy had been found the day before, although nobody paid too much attention to it. However, it has since been ascertained (according to the news reports again) that the dinghy has been confirmed as coming from the Honfleur. Link to post Share on other sites
Megwyn 2 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I have a friend who believes that the Aliens are taking people off their yachts, and has warned me to stay off the water . . . Hoping to go sailing tomorrow Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BeachBoy Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 The game fisherman I know who spent alot of time at Mayor Is all say the same thing - OK anchorages but you often have to move at night if the wind changes. Not where I would stop for a night in a yacht on my own... The frayed line is odd - maybe it was atached to a fender? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Yep, there was a dinghy but not when we got there, according to the news reports a dinghy had been found the day before, although nobody paid too much attention to it. However, it has since been ascertained (according to the news reports again) that the dinghy has been confirmed as coming from the Honfleur. Was Honfleur the name of the yacht in question?......or is the Honfleur another vessel? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BeachBoy Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Honfleur is the name of the boat in question.. Link to post Share on other sites
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