Vessel believed to be Sunsail spotted

A year after they disappeared, the families of the three yachtsmen from the Sunsail RC044-978 have received news of another sighting.

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Durban - Exactly a year after they disappeared, the families of the three missing yachtsmen from the Sunsail RC044-978 have received news of another sighting of a catamaran.

An upturned hull was spotted floating in the Indian ocean off Port Elizabeth by crew on a Brazilian naval vessel. Photographs were taken and the position of the hull reported to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa).

Anthony Murray, 58; Reg Robertson, 59, a member of the Royal Natal Yacht Club; and first-time sailor, Capetonian, Jaryd Payne, 20, were delivering the catamaran from Cape Town to Phuket, Thailand, when they disappeared.

The families of the men announced on their Facebook page yesterday that a vessel believed to be the Sunsail had been spotted 113 nautical miles off Cape Recife, near Port Elizabeth.

“Although Samsa cannot confirm it is our hull, and have also informed us that they will not be deploying any recovery resources, photographs sent by the ship that sighted it lead us to believe that it is (the missing yacht). We have since learnt that the sighting was made by the Brazilian navy ship, Amazonas,” they said.

The sighting was made last Thursday.

“The hull is now within range of an air search as well as a sea search. We desperately want whatever answers the hull might provide and are urgently appealing for any and all resources and help to reach it,” they said.

Gail Dickerson, who lost her son, Sheldon, and nephew, Mark, on the Moquini, which disappeared more than 10 years ago on a Mauritius to Durban yacht race, said the families had held a farewell service on Sunday at the Royal Natal Yacht Club.

“You bid farewell and this comes up,” said Dickerson of the sighting.

Dickerson, who was a friend of Robertson, said Sunday’s service had been filled with friends, family, and sailors who had come to pay their respects.

“They had a memorial service and had three wreaths, which they released at the harbour mouth as they said farewell.”

Dickerson said the turnout to the ceremony was “phenomenal” and people who were not able to attend sent messages of support.

Family adviser and experienced yachtsman, Matthew Thomas, said he was not surprised the vessel had drifted so far from the last sighting.

The last believed sighting was in May last year, 600 nautical miles off Port Louis, in Mauritius.

Thomas said because the Indian Ocean current flowed anti-clock-wise, they expected it to drift south, but, “it was a bit further south than most people had expected”.

He said “sightings are, at best, estimates” and the vessel could have drifted a further 100 to 600 miles since last week, depending on the speed of the currents.

To conduct a search to find the vessel, the families would have to charter a salvage vessel, which could cost hundreds of thousands of rand. He said the family were raising funds to charter one.

“The probable search area is about 50x50 nautical miles, which is 2 500 square miles, which is a big area,” Thomas said.

Responding to social media comment about the lack of action by the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and Samsa, Thomas said it had to be understood that the NSRI and Samsa responded to situations where there were people who were still alive.

In the case of the Sunsail, he said there was scant chance of finding anyone alive.

On why the BNS Amazonas did not get the catamaran, he said the captain of the ship: “Will have to ask the question if sending people to a boat where there is a low probability of there being life is worth the risk.”

If something was to happen to the crew, then the captain would have to take responsibility, he said.

But even before that, a sign of there being a lack of life would be when the vessel would have blown its horn to see if anyone was in the boat.

He said the recovery of the catamaran would help bring closure for the family.

But in terms of presenting clues as to what happened, he said there was little chance of finding anything.

Daily News