'Ghost yacht' found off Australia

[jubie]

OK, I have tried to keep up with this thread, as this is very interesting. Maybe I missed this, but have the computers that were found on board been checked for activity? That should be a quick check, because all one would have to do is check the history, I would think. That would at least show if someone had actually been on the computer in the 3 days from sailing until found.

And Jubie, the folded clothes on deck really bother me, too. What was the purpose?

The folded (or 'piled' as been mentioned) clothes are the 'hinky' point for me too. It just doesn't make sense that three grown sober (it would seem) men would strip down together and jump willingly into the ocean as a meal was on the table and one of the men is reported to not even know how to swim. IF their clothes wasn't on the deck I could maybe see it as an accident but my personal opinion is that foul play is involved.


Australia is beautiful!! We will be going back to see family again in 2009, we will be driving up the Golden Coast this time and staying longer, can't wait!!



Jubie

 

[dingo]

I hope you have a wonderful time Jubie......the Gold Coast is a place Id like to visit oneday too.

 

[narlacat]

I hope you have a wonderful time Jubie......the Gold Coast is a place Id like to visit oneday too.

The Gold Coast sucks- try the Sunsine Coast instead Jubie- it's alot prettier and nowhere near as busy or expensive- and that is where Australia Zoo is- there's nothing on the Gold Coast except theme parks and too many tourists-

 

[jubie]

The Gold Coast sucks- try the Sunsine Coast instead Jubie- it's alot prettier and nowhere near as busy or expensive- and that is where Australia Zoo is- there's nothing on the Gold Coast except theme parks and too many tourists-

Hey Narlacat,

Hmmm, interesting, thanks for the heads up, I thought it was supposed to be gorgeous with tons of beaches to enjoy all the way up to Cannes. When family is here they LOVE Whistler and Grouse moutain hiking, go figure.

Dingo, thanks and isn't it funny for us to go in 2009 we have to start planning already.

Sorry for the off topic evrybody.

Jubie

 

[Buzz Mills]

Map of Airlie Beach (where they left from) to Townsville (the KazII was first spotted 80 nautical miles Northeast of Townsville). Bowen (referenced in the 6:45PM call) is just North of Airlie Beach.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8....385825,148.480225&spn=3.830328,5.449219&om=1


The search area this weekend (islands off of the coast):
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...8839,147.301941&spn=0.96542,1.362305&t=h&om=1

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/new...missing-sailors/2007/04/27/1177459966132.html

04-15-2007 Sunday -- Departed Airlie Beach Shute Harbour early A.M. in very high winds, it has been reported that winds got up to 30 knots that day.

04-15-2007 Sunday 6:45PM--Kaz II made radio contact with Bowen Volunteer Marine Rescue relating their position, saying they were off of George Point.

04-18-2007 Wednesday--KAZ II spotted 80 nautical miles Northeast of Townsville.

Foul play ruled out in “ghost yacht” mystery
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...l/theworld_April537.xml&section=theworld&col=

 

[narlacat]

Latest news

Cruel sea refuses to give up its secrets

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...-up-its-secrets/2007/05/04/1177788400656.html

 

[SewingDeb]

Stepping off the boat to free it from the sandbar sounds like a very real possibility. The wind catching the sail and taking the boat away from the men and leaving them stranded does not sound very far fetched and it explains why the sunglasses and hats are the only things missing from the boat other than the crew.

 

[Utopia]

Latest news

Cruel sea refuses to give up its secrets

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...-up-its-secrets/2007/05/04/1177788400656.html

Interesting article with a very plausible theory. It also says all three men could swim and provides some more GPS details for Buzz (though I still don't think its exactly what you are looking for Buzz - is it?).

 

[Shazza]

Interesting article with a very plausible theory. It also says all three men could swim and provides some more GPS details for Buzz (though I still don't think its exactly what you are looking for Buzz - is it?).

It still doesnt explain the fenders over the side of the boat, why would they put them out if they were just getting off to push the boat of a sandbar. Hmmmmm.

 

[IrishMist]

This scenario makes the most sense, IMO.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

Well, first question is are there sandbars around the area from where they they made their last check-in? Aren't sandbars usually relatively close to shore? Could police examine the bottom of the boad for any signs of damage?

This theory does fit in well with the idea of the clothing being folded on the deck, along with the hats and sunglasses missing.

After having been unable to get the GPS system to work due to USER ERROR and having to go back to their original departure point to learn that the problem was their own lack of knowledge about the equipment, perhaps when they ran aground on a sandbar they were determined NOT to calll anyone for assistance. So they would not look stupid.

So the scenario would be: The main sail is up, the boat is in idle, they go into the water over the side in order to try to free the boat.

Once when stuck on a sandbar in Baltimore Harbor, Chesapeake Bay (Yes, yes - we were looking right over at Fort McHenry where the battle about which Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, and .......) Anyway, what we did was run from the front of the boat to the back of the boat - 6 people to the front, then quick, 6 people to the back, trying to "rock the boat" off a sandbar. Eventually, another boater came to our rescue and pulled us off the sandbar.)

But my point is that "rocking the boat" is a time tested method for removing a boat run aground on a sandbar. Could these gentlemen have thrown those bumpers over the side so they would have three ropes to use for pullling on the boat from in the water? They all three pull hard at the same time and the boat frees itself right at the time a wind comes along and picks up the sail. And it is bye-bye.

Question: why would not ONE of them think of donning a lifejacket before attempting something like this?

But the fact that not one of the three was able to figure out he GPS system leads me to believe that perhaps there was some befuddlement among these men. Who sails off for a journey without checking all equipment, especially a GPS, to make sure it is working?

Also, if they were close enough to shore to have encountered a sandbar, aren't the chances good that at least one body would have turned up by now?

 

[Buzz Mills]

Interesting article with a very plausible theory. It also says all three men could swim and provides some more GPS details for Buzz (though I still don't think its exactly what you are looking for Buzz - is it?).

Thanks Utopia:

The Herald can reveal how problems with the boat's navigation system had forced the sailors to turn back and how after 11 hours at sea they were only 2½ hours sailing time from their departure point.

The Herald has been told that the course plotted on the laptops found on board would have taken Kaz II up the Whitsunday Passage, around George Point and Gloucester Island and past Bowen to spend its first night near Ayr, a small sugarcane town 90 kilometres south of Townsville.

But a log entry written by a volunteer radio operator records Kaz II radioed in at 6.45pm on Sunday night, giving its position as George Point. It is unclear why the men were so far from their planned destination. "The thing we're baffled about is what did they do all day?" Ms Grey says. "Airlie Beach to George Point should only take about 2½ hours."

Had they simply decided to spend the day fishing? Or had more problems with the GPS sent them off course? That log entry was the last recorded contact with Kaz II.

 

[narlacat]

This scenario makes the most sense, IMO.

I think so too- they drowned- as the sand bar disappeared-

 

[dingo]

Not buying it

 

[kahskye]

Not buying it

Mean either! I find it hard to believe that not even one body surfaced if this was a drowning.

 

[Shazza]

Not buying it

Me either Dingo.:bang:

 

[dingo]

Family call off search.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=262322

 

[Shazza]

Family call off search.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=262322

I really feel for the families of these missing men, its the now knowing that is the hardest to take, there is no closure, I wonder if we will ever find out what really happened, doesnt look like it.

 

[dingo]

Sadly the family will proberly never know what really happened.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Family call off search.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=262322

Relatives of missing Australian yachtsmen end search

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - The families of three men who disappeared from their yacht in mysterious circumstances off the northeastern Australian coast have called off their search, a spokesman said Monday. There has been no sign of skipper Derek Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, since their catamaran Kaz II was found adrift on the Great Barrier Reef 160 kilometres northeast of Townsville on April 18.

Police suspect the trio were probably swept overboard in rough weather and had likely drowned. The three men all from the west coast city Perth, had left Airlie Beach's Shute Harbour three days earlier on the first leg of a two-month trip around Australia's northern coast. When their yacht was discovered by coastal patrol, computers were still running, food was on the table, safety equipment was still on board and there was no indication of how the men disappeared.

The authorities stopped searching just days later but nine family members - sons and nephews of the missing men - continued to look. They spent tens of thousands of dollars hiring planes, helicopters and boats to scour nearby islands.

Family spokesman Glenn Tunstead said Monday the family felt a "sense of failure" at not being able to locate the men. "It was very emotional for everybody involved," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/2007...cht_mystery;_ylt=AgOBQ0bLhbDxSY94vdBHFRVvaA8F