A sad ending in Bass strait......

[idlerboat 116]

A LONE yachtsman spoke to authorities to say he was OK only hours before he drowned near remote Badger Island in Bass Strait.

 

Police are still trying to establish the last movements of Donald Joseph Marshall, 78, of Queensland, whose body was found floating 2km off the island about 1pm yesterday.

 

The Tasmania Police Westpac rescue helicopter made the discovery about 12 hours after Mr Marshall's 6m yacht, Aspro II, hit rocks and began to sink.

 

Tasmanian Police Inspector John King said the veteran sailor's last port of call was believed to have been Stanley.

 

Insp King said Mr Marshall's yacht had been within metres of shore when it began taking on water but an inflatable tender had not been deployed.

 

Police are uncertain why he had left the vessel. He initially indicated he was going to stay on board.

 

"When police first arrived the vessel was only partly submerged. So at some stage Mr Marshall has left the vessel, deliberately or by accident we are unsure," Insp King said.

 

He said Mr Marshall had told Tamar Coastal Patrol he would stay with the boat and if he were to leave he would reactivate his radio beacon.

 

Tamar Coastal Patrol co-ordinator Bryn Warrick said he had spoken to the sailor on and off for a couple of hours after getting a mayday call about 1am. "I was talking to him on the radio and he would go back up on deck and then come down to talk on the radio," Mr Warrick said. "We were talking until about 3am."

 

He said Mr Marshall's plan was to stay with the vessel.

 

"What he said was that if too much water came in as the tide came in, he would try to go to the rocks," he said.

 

The yacht's radio beacon was activated at 1.27am and detected by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

 

Insp King said there was no information on what Mr Marshall was doing before he ran into trouble.

 

"Our initial investigation would be centred on where he thought he was and where the EPIRB located him," he said. "Mr Marshall believed he was on the eastern side of the Furneaux group when in fact he was on the western side."

 

A police vessel found the Aspro II about 5.15am.

 

It was not the first time Mr Marshall had struck trouble.

 

In 2011, the solo sailor was rescued in heavy seas near Geraldton, in Western Australia. The retired painter and decorator from New Zealand had based himself in Hobart, Victoria, Queensland and Darwin since 1983.

 

"I love the sea and feel comfortable in my little home, except when I'm on my own and away from everyone, except in conditions like those," he told Geraldton Newspapers.

[Guest]

I 've seen TV footage of the yacht, well just the top of the mast with a sail attached, up against these rather large round boulders. Those boulders plus a 1.5 metre swell may have caused him difficulties getting from the yacht to the island. yacht was not far from shore so he may have thought it would be easy to get there rather than deploy the liferaft. Having surfed in similar places I know just how hard it can be to get out on rocks like those and for an older gentleman very very nearly impossible.

Actually , thinking about it , a liferaft would have been useless up against the rocks so he probably had no choice but to swim as his yacht sank.

He was Captain of his own life which is a dignified way to be remembered.

[Guest zhulin]

You need more of the statements in this matter, so that we can understand. Thank you for sharing. I hope you happy

 

 

 

 

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