The forlorn sight of a yacht drifting aimlessly off Samurai Beach has caused alarm locally this week. On Tuesday a fisherman towed the 26' sloop away from the beach, set it's anchor and notified police. An unsuccessful search has been made in the area for a 48 year old Tasmanian sailor.
Because the site is a few miles south of Port Stephens, my thoughts were that perhaps she's drifted out from there. A new report in, indicates that a yacht fitting Firefly's description was seen in the port last Tuesday. We can only hope a mishap has occurred rather than a tragedy.
It reminds me of a similar incident back in 1984 when a beautiful Canadian owned H28 ketch was found abandoned off the coast here. The conditions were very similar with gentle offshore winds. The conclusion was that the solo sailor had fallen overboard, possibly while taking a leak.
I'm a big advocate for peeing into the cockpit drains, going over the stern is too risky.
This past nine months, we've lost good men: my mate Antonio Giner and his brother in law artist Piers Bateman, and in January wealthy Sydney businessman Mal Lennon, each lost overboard in heavy conditions.
POST SCRIPT:
At some time today our missing solo yachtsman from Tasmania wandered into Newcastle police station to report he'd found himself and apologised for not knowing about the search. Obviously the truth will become known, but at this point, the authorities have been made look pretty foolish.
No comments:
Post a Comment