Families praying for missing sailors
THE FAMILIES of three Durban men who were delivering a yacht from Cape Town to Phuket in Thailand are fearing for their safety after the yacht was reported overdue at its destination.
They have now called for public participation in a satellitebased online search.
Anthony Murray, 58, Reginald Robertson, 59 and Jaryd Payne, 20, were last heard of on January 18 by satellite phone when the men called families and friends. At that point, the trio were 2 190 nautical miles north-north-west of Perth in Australia.
The yacht should have arrived at Phuket on February 2, and is now a month overdue. It is believed the men had sufficient food aboard to last them only until February 26. They left Cape Town on December 14.
It is known that the yacht was in the vicinity of a tropical cyclone, Bansi, which had caused damage at Mauritius, at the time. But skipper Murray took evasive action, sailing southward to avoid the cyclone several days before contact was lost.
”We are praying,” said an anguished Lisa Green, Payne’s mother, yesterday. “I believe in God and that a miracle is possible. I have a prayer group who pray with me. It is all we can do.”
The families reported the boat overdue to maritime authorities and have engaged experienced Cape Town yachtsman Matthew Thomas as adviser. Thomas helped to co-ordinate the search for the Moquini, a yacht that went missing during the 2005 Mauritius to Durban yacht race. Moquini was later found drifting off the Transkei coast, its crew lost.
“We are looking for a needle in a haystack,” Thomas said. “The Australian Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre is deeply involved with this search, but they have worked out that the search area is about the size of California.
”It is actually a two-month voyage, so who knows, maybe they are out there close to their destination. At this point we have to stay positive.”
The delivery was on behalf of Tui Marine, a leader in the world maritime leisure business based in Florida in the US, with representatives in Cape Town.