Missing Tri found

[Alan Wheeler]

Some may remember a discussion here sometime back, about a Trimaran and it's two crew going missing. The vessel was Australian along with it's owner and the female was a Kiwi he meet here in NZ. They were last heard from on their way out of NZ on the way to the Pacific Islands.
Well part of the Hull has just been found washed up onto a deserted Island of the Tonga group. Some more info is here,
Missing yacht washes up in Tonga | NATIONAL | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz

A message had been written on the side of the hull, but it is being kept a secret as it is personal to the families.

[seafox]

"Help 2 p.o.b" was written in white paint on the blue hull

[Alan Wheeler]

How'd you find that out Darryl??

[seafox]

I would like to say I had an insider in Tonga but "Google News" was all I had

[southernman]

It had help 2 POB on the hull but I understand there was other information written on the hull for the families other than 2 POB. Sad story but the old question remains - if they had a 406 EPIRB would they have been in this situation?

[Alan Wheeler]

In this particular situation, if they had any safety gear they may not have been in the situation. No EPIRB, No VHF, No SSB, No Life raft, No flares. Nothing. The only and last communication was via Cellph just before they went out of range.
The New's kept saying it was a NZ boat, it wasn't. It was an Ozy boat. If it was NZ, it would have had to meet Cat1 before it could leave NZ.

[seafox]

but I understand there was other information written on the hull for the families other than 2 POB

where did you hear that? I have read everything I can find on the net and nothing makes mention of that anywhere.

[southernman]

lets just say I know people who know people in the Nelson region.

[Alan Wheeler]

Darryl, it was from one of the guy's that found the boat. He was interviewed and he said that he would not reveal the message as it was personal for the families and could be upsetting to them if it was made public. That is why I was surprised with you knowing what it was and also thought, well that ain't so personal. So now it makes sense that there was more to it.

[seafox]

probably said something like:
"Geez mum, why did you give me underpants for Christmas when I asked for an EPIRB?"

[Alan Wheeler]

By the look of what's left, I would say it was more like, "I think my design has a slight flaw in it".

[southernman]

rather strange looking boat that's for sure. It sailed all right but was certainly a bit of strange looking girl. Of course it was ketch rigged as well which added to the strangeness!!

[seafox]

Shows that monohulls are better than multi when all that survived was a monohull

[southernman]

hehe - of course if it was a lead mine it would have gone down completely due to the 'ballest'. Maybe keelers should have built in bouyancy and have a quick release keel arrangement for survival when they loose their rig or become unsailable. (just joking).

[Alan Wheeler]

Some do have a quick release. One was called Skandia ;-)
Some years back, the Ozies even had a boat that they could fold up and go home when they weren't winning. They demonstrated it in an Americas Cup. ;-) :-)