Catamaran mystery may have been solved
by Sue Richards on 31 Jan 2016
Sea Rescue Agulhas crew inspecting the hull. NSRI
South African sailors Anthony Murray, 58, Reginald Robertson, 59, and Jaryd Payne, 20, were delivering the Leopard catamaran, Moorings A5130/Sunsail RC044-978, from Cape Town to Phuket when all contact was lost during a cyclone on January 18 last year. Twelve months later the upturned hull of the catamaran has been discovered off the East Coast of South Africa.
The tug Peridot was despatched yesterday (Sunday 24 January) by the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre to tow the upturned catamaran which has drifted for a year at sea.
This follows the tagging of the yacht with a tracking device, giving the families of Anthony Murray, Reg Robertson and Jaryd Payne hope that the yacht will finally be retrieved and some of their questions answered.
Diane Coetzer, sister in law of Anthony Murray, wrote on the
Facebook support page, 'We are now in what we hope is the final stage of bringing the hull to shore. Yesterday the fantastic teams from the NSRI successfully reached the hull, and attached a satellite tracking device.
They have informed us that images were taken and that these should be made available to the families. The NSRI was asked by the authorities to attempt to tow in the hull, and they worked through the night to assist with this. However, due to a number of reasons, including conditions of the sea, the risk of the hull breaking in towage and also it being run aground, this was not feasible. We have been informed that MRCC has, at last, deployed the tug Peridot which is on its way to the hull.'
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