Solo Sailor Missing in Bass Strait

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, gazcubby.

[Frugal]

Up on the slipway at Lady Barron Flinders Island ( excellent and friendly facility and staff) and spent some time viewing Munyana. She is still tied up at the wharf and both jibs are in tatters. A heavy, high windage craft that would be undermanned with three crew. A sad sight. Would be far more at home in a coral lagoon fringed by coconut palms.
Cheers.
Frugal.

[gazcubby]

A year on and Munyana still remains at Lady Barron.

https://northeasternadvertiser.com/f...dy-barron-port

[Fore and Aft]

Thanks Gazza for posting that update, it's always interesting to hear what happens.
Not sure I would pay $261,000 for that yacht. I would have thought an experienced delivery skipper would be able to sort out the systems and get her running. Obviously she was usable until he fell overboard.
I imagine the lady in New Zealand has no idea how to deal with the logics of moving and selling the yacht.
Family, boats and deceased estates can be so messy. I was involved with an old 50 foot steel yacht last year and the widow/family was convinced the boat was worth a fortune. Between the brokers valuation and my report the lawyer convinced them the boat was more a liability than an asset.

Cheers

[chrisr]

possibly nothing could be done until the result of the inquest were known, which as always in australia took a ridiculously long time

sad situation on many levels

cheers,

[gazcubby]

This update was equally sad to read with what how they found from their investigations.

https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/stor...al-trip/?cs=12

[Martkimwat]

It would seem to me , the basis of the various reports, the the previous owner saw him coming. On a different note, the boat has a serviceable engine (apparently0 so I don't understand how local fisherman could say it needed to be towed to an alternate site. Are there no suitable mooring buoys it could be put on to free up the quayside and surely some kindly soul could have at least removed the sails and stowed them below, even if under the direction of the harbour master. I get very disillusioned of the so called camaraderie of fellow sailors when I read things like this. Very sad.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Martkimwat

It would seem to me , the basis of the various reports, the the previous owner saw him coming. On a different note, the boat has a serviceable engine (apparently0 so I don't understand how local fisherman could say it needed to be towed to an alternate site. Are there no suitable mooring buoys it could be put on to free up the quayside and surely some kindly soul could have at least removed the sails and stowed them below, even if under the direction of the harbour master. I get very disillusioned of the so called camaraderie of fellow sailors when I read things like this. Very sad.

I understand how you see it this way, but any kind of help offered these days is just as likely to blow up in your face.

For instance, I step aboard, stow the sails carefully, secure everything best I can then step back ashore. That night the boat either sinks, breaks her lines or catches fire.

Suddenly the estate is after me for $261K.

Nope, I’ve come to the realisation that in this litigious and self righteous society, offering unsolicited assistance is a potential for financial ruin.

It is a pity and it goes against my nature.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by GILow

I understand how you see it this way, but any kind of help offered these days is just as likely to blow up in your face.

For instance, I step aboard, stow the sails carefully, secure everything best I can then step back ashore. That night the boat either sinks, breaks her lines or catches fire.

Suddenly the estate is after me for $261K.

Nope, I’ve come to the realisation that in this litigious and self righteous society, offering unsolicited assistance is a potential for financial ruin.

It is a pity and it goes against my nature.

Edit: And I fully back the local fisherman for having nothing to do with the boat for much the same reason. They stand to gain nothing except a potential lawsuit if they try to move the thing. I think their proffered explanation is a smart way of staying well clear of the land mine this boat represents.

[Martkimwat]

Originally Posted by GILow

Edit: And I fully back the local fisherman for having nothing to do with the boat for much the same reason. They stand to gain nothing except a potential lawsuit if they try to move the thing. I think their proffered explanation is a smart way of staying well clear of the land mine this boat represents.

I did say under the direction of the Harbour Master, after all, if any fisherman has gone aboard to check it's fitness to move, they have already transgressed and could be sued, unless under direction of the Harbour Master who has an overarching duty to ensure the safety of craft along side the quay due to it's potential to damage other vessels. Who ever towed the boat to that location and placed it on the quay should also have a certain amount of liability and should have made sure the vessel was secure (sails are extra windage which could compromise the boats security). It would seem to me that the local authorities have a certain level of responsibility on the grounds of safety of nearby vessels and the fact they put it there in the first place.

[Apollo19.5]

'Harbour Master'? I assume you have never been to Lady Baron Island? Fairly remote sort of place with little infrastructure commercially. Stunning though! Pretty sure it was the water police who towed it in. Sad tale.

[Martkimwat]

Originally Posted by Apollo19.5

'Harbour Master'? I assume you have never been to Lady Baron Island? Fairly remote sort of place with little infrastructure commercially. Stunning though! Pretty sure it was the water police who towed it in. Sad tale.

'though I visited Oz a few times as aircrew, I don't know it at all well, being a predominantly Northern Hemisphere occupant. Mostly Sydney and Melbourne.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Martkimwat

'though I visited Oz a few times as aircrew, I don't know it at all well, being a predominantly Northern Hemisphere occupant. Mostly Sydney and Melbourne.

As Apollo19.5 suggested, the boat was probably placed there by the police when they towed it in.

As for harbour masters using fishermen in any capacity, I doubt it. Different jobs, different lives. If there were a harbourmaster I guess they’d have some kind of authority to handle the boat.

[Jim Cate]

Re the report: The emphasis on the "out of date" safety equipment is kinda specious IMO. His flares and life raft being in date would have had zero impact on his situation. Lack of tether is implied by his going off the boat, and that is the critical factor. A PLB possibly could have been useful, but in the cold water of Bass Strait and the relatively low occupancy by other craft I reckon that it wouldn't have changed the odds all that much.

In short IMO it wasn't the equipment that killed him, it was his age and his unwillingness (surmised) to wear a tether that did him in. And before I'm accused of ageism, I am about the same age and I know damn well that I'm not as physically able as I used to be... even as recently as in my 70's. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but I (and I suspect he) am not the seaman that I remember being... and he pushed it too far!

Jim

[HankOnthewater]

Indeed, slowly are our physical prowess is reducing, strength and agility is not what they used to be.

In regards to being a bad sailor/seaman, and out of date flares..... hmmm, might make sense to a burocrat (who checks the tickboxes) to put these words in one sentence, but really.... there is little relation.
As Jim said, the lack of recognition of reduced prowess and lack of tether, might have been contributing factors.

I feel sorry for the sailor, and the family that he left behind.