Durban - Seven weeks have passed with no news of two Durban men and their 20-year-old Cape Town crew member who are believed to have sailed into a cyclone en route to deliver a catamaran to its owner in Phuket, Thailand.
Their scheduled date of arrival was February 2. A search was mounted on February 12 when their concerned families alerted maritime officials. The men’s loved ones are hoping the sailors may still be found alive, but are preparing themselves for the worst.
Anthony Murray, 58, skipper of the Sunsail, Reginald Robertson, 59, of the Royal Natal Yacht Club, and novice sailor Jaryd Payne, 20, left Cape Town harbour on December 14 to deliver the yacht on behalf of leading maritime leisure agency TUI Marine.
Murray was racing against the clock to avoid cyclone Bansi when the Australian shipping router, which had been keeping him abreast of weather conditions via satellite phone, lost contact with the vessel.
No further contact has been made, and the EPIRB emergency positioning-indicating radio beacon) on the catamaran has not been activated.
Had it been, said family spokesman Matthew Thomas – who spearheaded the search for the Durban yacht Moquini in 2005 – a full air search would have been mounted immediately.
As it is, more than 1 800 volunteers from around the world have joined in the online search for any sign of the missing catamaran via the online satellite programme Tomnob, run by DigitalGlobe.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune on Friday, Murray’s sister, Durban voice coach Philippa Savage, said she was fighting to remain hopeful but believed in her heart that he and the others had not survived the cyclone.
“Anthony is a survivor and he is more at home on the sea than land. But my gut instinct is saying he is gone,” she said.
“I could reconcile myself to that eventually – say that he died doing what he loved, in the place he loved best – but for the sake of that young man on board, we cannot stop searching.
“As the mother of a son, I can imagine the agony Lisa Green is going through as she prays for his survival. We can’t stop searching; the more people who help, the greater the chances of finding them.”
Savage said her brother, a former Thomas Moore pupil nicknamed “The Pirate” by family and friends, had 25 years’ experience sailing around the world, and had experienced plenty of close calls.
“There is no one better to be skippering a ship in a crisis,” she said. “Anthony has criss-crossed the world’s ocean and even traversed the Bermuda Triangle several times. The stories he has to tell would fill volumes. He used to joke: ‘I keep trying to die, but God just won’t let me.’ “
Savage has a copy of the weather router’s last conversation with her brother, as he tried to escape the storm.
“Pity you could not reach W point. It would have made a big difference,” it reads. “Your experience will count here. I am holding thumbs for you.”
Savage praised her sister-in-law, Diane Coetzer, for her work in spearheading the search and making contact with maritime authorities in South Africa and Australia to alert them to the missing vessel.
Coetzer started a Facebook page for the three men and got Thomas involved in the search.
Her efforts also resulted in the Tomnob search site being set up.
Coetzer said that the Tomnob search for the missing sailors was the largest launched since that into the disappearance of a Malaysian plane a year ago today.
“It is an impossibly large body of water; far too big for an air search to be feasible. This is the best chance we have of finding them. We appeal to people to get online and join the search, tagging anything that looks like a boat or life raft.
“We are basing calculations on the last position the catamaran is known to have been in on January 18. By now it could be anywhere in that body of water, but we can’t just do nothing.
“The Tomnob combines incredible technology with human compassion. We are not naïve. We know the chances they are alive are slim, but there is a chance, and you might make the difference.
“Help us bring Jaryd home to his mother. Bring back Anthony and Reginald to their families.”
Lisa Green, Jaryd’s mother, said she was putting her faith in the power of God to return her child to her.
“When he was little, he had this inflatable boat he used to play with in the pool,” she said, before breaking down.
“I can’t. I just can’t bear to remember. My son is strong. He is a fighter. He is out there and he wants to come home. We are so desperate for him to come home.
“So many phenomenal people are helping. I believe that God will restore him to us.”
Thomas said Murray would have been well aware that a cyclone was approaching the vessel, and communications did not indicate he was unduly anxious.
“The wind was around 50 knots at the time and although the waves would have been high, they were probably not unmanageable at the time of his last conversation with the weather router.
“The boat was brand new and it is not likely the mast would have snapped.
“The biggest question on everyone’s mind is why the EPIRB did not go off. But we don’t know where on the vessel Murray had it stored. If it was in an airtight container, then it would not have automatically engaged if the catamaran capsized.”
Thomas explained that the satellite phone would have stopped working if exposed to salt water. He said that it would cost millions to send out a P3 Orion search and rescue plane from Australia, and crew would have no idea where in the ocean to begin their search.
“It is one of those awful situations where you have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst,” he said.
“I am sure that whatever happened, Anthony did his best in the circumstances. He was taking the precautions he believed were appropriate.”
The maritime expert said whatever the outcome for the three missing men, he was confident the vessel would be found.
“Even if it capsized, catamarans don’t sink. The boat will wash up somewhere, but we may never have answers as to what happened – whether they managed to get into the life raft or not, and what became of them afterwards.”
However, he said: “There are tons of precedents when it comes to finding castaways alive on rafts; even months after their vessels sink. If they are able to collect rainwater then with that and the food supplies on the raft, they can live a long time.”
To join the search for the three missing men, Google search www.tomnod.com, and follow the instructions on the page.
“TUI Marine, Tomnod, and Rescue Co-ordination Centre – Australia have been in extensive discussions and it is from these that the area was selected for the Tomnod campaign,” said Thomas.
To help keep up the momentum, join the Facebook site Searching for Anthony, Reg & Jaryd.
Sunday Tribune