Containership Responds for Yacht Fire Rescue
Two New Zealand sailors and their Mexican skipper were rescued from a liferaft 280 kilometers south of Niue after their yacht caught fire just after midnight June 23, Maritime New Zealand reported. The 15-meter U.S.-registered yacht SV Sunny Deck was travelling from Rarotonga to Tonga when a fire in the engine compartment engulfed the vessel. The 36-year-old skipper was on watch, and the two other sailors – both from Hamilton, aged 67 and 70 – were asleep at the time. The crew had no time to dress or grab any equipment before abandoning the vessel to a liferaft but the skipper managed to reach the EPIRB - fire had already melted the lanyard attaching it to the vessel.
Car-Carrier Saves South Pacific Lone Yachtsman
A solo Canadian sailor has been rescued from his sinking yacht in rough conditions 1,250 nautical miles (2,300km) north-east of Auckland - about 600nm (1,100km) south of Rarotonga - after a mercy dash by the car-carrier 'Fidelio', reports Maritime NZ. The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) was alerted by the signal from a US-coded EPIRB distress beacon and despatched an RNZAF P3 Orion to the scene. The air found the 11m sloop (single-masted yacht) L’Antillaise, with one man from British Columbia on board…
Grave Condern for Missing Historic American Schooner
Grave concerns are held for the crew of the historic American 21m (70ft) schooner Nina missing en route from Opua in the Bay of Islands to Newcastle, Australia. The vessel, built in 1928, left Opua on 29 May and has not been heard from since 4 June, 2013, when the vessel was about 370 nautical miles west-north-west of Cape Reinga. Uncrowned queen of the New York Yacht Club fleet, the incomparable 58-foot staysail schooner Niña was designed by Starling Burgess and built on Buzzards Bay at Monument Beach by Reuben Bigelow in 1928. There are seven people on board, six Americans (three men aged 17, 28 and 58, and three women aged 18, 60 and 73) and a British man aged 35.
