New Zealand - 6 Americans, 1 Briton, ages 17-73, & ship Nina lost at sea, 4 June 2013

The dramatic final phone call made by six Americans and one Briton who vanished while sailing from New Zealand to Australia has been revealed.

A New Zealand meteorologist, Bob McDavitt, said the crew got in contact and said: 'The weather's turned nasty, how do we get away from it?'

The historic yacht - the Nina - has not made contact for three weeks; it left Opua in the Bay of Islands and was headed to Newcastle, Australia. The phone calls and texts ended June 4.

Searchers said today they have grave concerns for the crew on the classic 85-year-old wooden vessel.
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Authorities say the skipper of the 70-foot (21-metre) vessel Nina is American David Dyche.

They say there are two other American men and three American women aboard, aged between 17 and 73. Also aboard is a British man, aged 35.

Messages posted online by friends indicate the boat originally left from Panama City, Florida.
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McDavitt said he advised the crew to stay put and ride out the storm another day. He continued sending messages the next few days but didn't hear back. Friends of the crew got in touch with McDavitt soon after that, and then alerted authorities June 14.
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The last communication was from 370 nautical miles west of New Zealand.

Kevin Banaghan, who is spearheading search efforts by Maritime New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre, said the crew hoped to arrive in Australia mid-June but that, given the conditions, he considered a realistic arrival date to be about June 25.
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He said there are several possible scenarios, including the boat losing communications, drifting off course, or the crew taking to lifeboats; there's also a possibility the boat suffered a catastrophic failure and sank before anybody had time to react.

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Six Americans have been missing at sea for more than three weeks after setting sail from New Zealand, officials said Thursday.
Three males -- aged 17, 28 and 58 -- and three women -- aged 18, 60 and 73 -- along with a 35-year-old British man were aiming to sail the 70-foot schooner Nina to Newcastle, Australia.
The vessel left the Bay of Islands area of northern New Zealand on May 29. It has not been heard from since June 4, when the ship was 370 miles west-north west of Cape Reinga in "very rough" conditions with winds gusting to 68 mph and 26-foot swells.

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David Dyche 58, his wife Rosemary, 60, and their 17-year-old son, also named David, left the Bay of Islands aboard their 21m schooner Nina on May 29. They were heading for Newcastle, Australia, with a 35-year-old British man and three other Americans - a woman, 18, a man, 28 and Evi Nemeth, 73.
Evi Nemeth is known in technology circles as the matriarch of system administration and technology infrastructure measurement.

She has been named as one of the "top 25 women on the web".

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jenstar said:

O/T but related:
The last time I talked to an Australian about helping me find an American MP, they told me that the reason Americans disappear in Australia is because of "drop bears" the vicious cousin of the Koala. It hides in trees in the bush and drops down on unsuspecting tourists killing them. Natives know better not to go into the bush, so the likeliness of the person being "found" is slim to none. When I looked up "drop bear" about a month later on wiki; I found that it was a fictional animal.
HaHa! very funny...not. MOO

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The leader of Friday's search efforts, Neville Blakemore of New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre, said the logical conclusion is that the boat sank rapidly, preventing the crew from activating the locator beacon or using other devices aboard, including a satellite phone and a spot beacon. He said that unlike many locator beacons, the one aboard the Nina is not activated by water pressure and wouldn't start automatically if the boat sank.
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jenstar said:

O/T but related:
The last time I talked to an Australian about helping me find an American MP, they told me that the reason Americans disappear in Australia is because of "drop bears" the vicious cousin of the Koala. It hides in trees in the bush and drops down on unsuspecting tourists killing them. Natives know better not to go into the bush, so the likeliness of the person being "found" is slim to none. When I looked up "drop bear" about a month later on wiki; I found that it was a fictional animal.
HaHa! very funny...not. MOO

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One of the seven passengers on a vintage wooden yacht missing in heavy seas between New Zealand and Australia had a deep-rooted fear of drowning at sea, which he laid bare in an eerie premonition written a year ago.

British man Matthew Wootton, 35, was on board the classic 21 metre American racing schooner, Nina sailing from Opua in the Bay of Islands to Newcastle.
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An RNZAF P3 Orion has returned to New Zealand this evening after completing a seventh day of searching, without sighting a missing American schooner or its liferaft.

The 21m (70ft) Nina was sailing from Opua in the Bay of Islands to Newcastle, Australia, with seven people on board, but has not been heard from since 4 June.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) tasked a P3 Orion to conduct an aerial search today of an area south of Norfolk Island measuring 2,100 square nautical miles.

RCCNZ mission coordinator Dave Wilson said today’s search has not yielded any fresh information and forecast poor weather is likely to prevent any further aerial searching for the next two days. However, he says RCCNZ will continue to evaluate the available data and consider all possible options for the next steps to take.
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