RIP Nina (and her crew).

[interloper]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...021a1e-dee3-11e2-ad2e-fcd1bf42174d_story.html

7 aboard historic US schooner missing after boat disappears between New Zealand and Australia

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, June 27, 1:14 PM

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand meteorologist took the last known calls from the seven people aboard an American schooner: “The weather’s turned nasty, how do we get away from it?”

The phone calls and texts ended June 4. More than three weeks later, searchers said Thursday they have grave concerns for the crew on the classic 85-year-old wooden vessel that went missing while sailing from New Zealand to Australia. Attempts to contact the crew by radio and an aerial search this week have proved fruitless.

Authorities say the skipper of the 70-foot (21-meter) 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.

...

 

[Seajet]

interloper,

this is awful; one can only hope they may yet come into port somewhere, maybe dismasted and out of comms.

It's hard to think of a more testing bit of ocean, but let's remain in hope; remember the story of Miles & Beryl Smeeton - recounted in their book ' Once is Enough ', they were dismasted off Cape Horn - twice - and took a while to make landfall.

I'll be thinking of Nina.

Andy

 

[idomeneus5]

As at the 7am news this morning, RCCNZ were now searching closer to the northern shores of New Zealand, in the hope they had turned back to avoid the weather, and perhaps been disabled in some way. According to "ninemsn" the forecaster advised the vessel to head south and brace for strong winds and high seas. Original searches found no sign of wreckage, liferafts etc., Hoping for good news, Peter

 

[Nicholas123]

Is that the schooner designed by William Starling Burgess?I remember seeing a picture of it in a book many years ago & still remember it as one of the most beautiful schooners I have ever seen.

 

[Supine Being]

interloper,

this is awful; one can only hope they may yet come into port somewhere, maybe dismasted and out of comms.

The bad news is that, according to the news report, they had a satellite phone on board so they had alternative means of making contact if they lost the mast. Fingers crossed for them.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Let's hope it's not RIP, just out of communication. Seems hopeful being that there was no epirb activation and no wreckage.

 

[Seajet]

Let's hope it's not RIP, just out of communication. Seems hopeful being that there was no epirb activation and no wreckage.

Agreed, with fingers crossed.

It wouldn't take much to put a sat phone out of action, and in those conditions everything would get wet.

 

[rotrax]

Wellington suffered a dreadfull 3 day storm around the time Nina was in trouble.Some of the evening racers from the Royal Port Nicholson YC had to be rescued from the sheltered waters of the harbour. Our elder son, who is living with his partner and our grandson in Roseneath overlooking the Harbour has had to leave the house after the land above slipped and came through the back door into the house. Yachts ashore were blown off their cradles, Malborough at the North end of the South Island was badly beaten up also. Fingers crossed for the vessel and crew.

 

[interloper]

“Nina” Specifications:

LOA: 70′ 0″
LOD: 59′ 0″
LWL: 50′ 0″
Beam: 14′ 10″
Draft: 9′ 7″ *
Displacement: 44 Tons
Rig: B-Schooner
Designer: W. Starling Burgess
Built by: Biggalow Ship Yard, Cape Cod, Mass
Original Owner: Paul Hammond
Year Built: 1928
Current Owner: Rosemary & David N. Dyche

Known Racing History:

1994 Winner Antigua (Schooner Class)
1989 Winner New York Mayors Cup
1962 Winner Newport to Bermuda Race (34 years, oldest yacht to win)
1949 Winner Cygnet Cup
1940 Winner New York Yacht Club Astor Cup
1939 Winner New York Yacht Club Astor Cup
1929 Winner London to Gibson Island Chesapeake Bay.
1928 Winner Fastnet Race. First American yacht to win the 600 mile Fastnet race, 4 days, 12 hours, 48 minutes, 13 seconds.
1928 Winner New York to Santander, Spain, 3,900 mile race in 24 days, greeted by King Alfonso from his launch. “Well sailed, Niña, I congratulate you! I am the King of Spain.”

From http://classicsailboats.org/?p=3111 .
Go to above link to view a colleciton of videos.

 

[Sybarite]

“Nina” Specifications:

LOA: 70′ 0″
LOD: 59′ 0″
LWL: 50′ 0″
Beam: 14′ 10″
Draft: 9′ 7″ *
Displacement: 44 Tons
Rig: B-Schooner
Designer: W. Starling Burgess
Built by: Biggalow Ship Yard, Cape Cod, Mass
Original Owner: Paul Hammond
Year Built: 1928
Current Owner: Rosemary & David N. Dyche

Known Racing History:

1994 Winner Antigua (Schooner Class)
1989 Winner New York Mayors Cup
1962 Winner Newport to Bermuda Race (34 years, oldest yacht to win)
1949 Winner Cygnet Cup
1940 Winner New York Yacht Club Astor Cup
1939 Winner New York Yacht Club Astor Cup
1929 Winner London to Gibson Island Chesapeake Bay.
1928 Winner Fastnet Race. First American yacht to win the 600 mile Fastnet race, 4 days, 12 hours, 48 minutes, 13 seconds.
1928 Winner New York to Santander, Spain, 3,900 mile race in 24 days, greeted by King Alfonso from his launch. “Well sailed, Niña, I congratulate you! I am the King of Spain.”

From http://classicsailboats.org/?p=3111 .
Go to above link to view a colleciton of videos.

A few years ago, Samantha Davies parents built an exact replica of this boat called Ninita. Until a few weeks ago it was based in Concarneau, a few miles away from where Samantha has her home.

It is a really beautiful boat.

http://www.google.fr/imgres?q=ninit...w=213&start=0&ndsp=60&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:88

Despite its size it is tiller steered.

So sorry to hear about the original and her crew.

 

[Seajet]

Don't give up on them yet !

Have a read of ' Once Is Enough ' by Miles Smeeton...

 

[Tomahawk]

slight drift here..
We have a satellite dish and use pra payed cards... However you can use all your data by accident,,,

In which case you phone 505 .... looks like SOS.. and you get through to MRCC even if you don't have any credit...

Fings crossed for the crew and boat..

 

[snooks]

It's a bit soon to be posting obits about the boat and it's crew. IMHO.

 

[Hoolie]

Agreed. There's a lot of possible reasons they're delayed/out of touch given the seriously adverse weather in the region. And she's obviously a robust and capable vessel and crew ...

 

[interloper]

http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/Teams-Not-Giving-Up-Search-for-Lost-Nina-213619831.html

Teams Not Giving Up Search for Lost Nina

By: Kati Weis - Email
Updated: Sat 6:49 AM, Jun 29, 201

After extensive searches of the Tasman Sea, rescue crews say they believe the Nina has sunk. Officials say they've done aerial searches across the waters between New Zealand and Australia, and have seen no signs of the Nina, not even wreckage.

But, family members and search teams alike haven't given up hope just yet.

Cherie Martinez, the sister of the Nina's captain and owner, David Dyche, said Friday, "oh I think he's there. Whether he's alive or not, that's the next decision."

The Nina, an 85-year-old wooden schooner that left port a couple years ago from Panama City, has been lost at sea for several weeks now.

Dyche, his wife, and his son, along with four other crew members left New Zealand for Australia almost a month ago.

A week in their trip, meteorologist Bob McDavitt says he got a text message from Dyche asking for an update on the weather.

That's the last official contact with the crew, and McDavitt says they didn't seem to worried.

"They we're concerned, but they weren't in trouble. They were in control," he said.

Friends and family of the Dyche's say that they were experienced sailors who loved to be on the water.

When they left Panama City a couple years ago, they were intending to go on a four-year journey around the world.

The Tasman Sea is where they got caught up.

Neville Blakemore, a search & rescue spokesman, said that they would have found the boat in the Tasman sea by now.

"A comprehensive search by the Orion in the last couple of days has indicated that if the yacht was still afloat they would have seen it in the search area. So we are assuming that it's not in the search area and it's probably had a catastrophic event, probably around the last known positions on the fourth of June and we're basing our search today based on that information."

Even though the outlook looks doubtful, Dyche's mother says she's keeping hope after a strange phone call she got on June 13.

"I heard static on the phone, a very heavy static, and then a voice said 'Caryl' and then the static got so bad it cut off," said Caryl Dyche.

She says she believes that voice was her son's, and she wants nothing more that to hear it again.

"Just hear this voice, or just hear from somebody that they have found him."

Although search and rescue teams believe the yacht has sunk, they are still continuing to search for wreckage and life rafts.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Just a thought. A satellite borne Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ought to be able to see a yacht of this size, especially if she's moving (wakes show up well on SAR images). There are several satellites that routinely acquire SAR (ESA's ERS-2 and Envisat missions, the Italian Cosmo-SkyMed mission, the Canadian Radarsat-2 mission and the German TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X missions). I presume the search and rescue authorities have checked the images, which are routinely acquired? It isn't good enough that you could say that lack of a target on the images means she's sunk, but finding a target in the right area would obviously be a good sign.

 

[RAI]

Oh dear! Plus, leaving NZ, they would have had an EPIRB.

 

[TradewindSailor]

I understand that the search was relying on a position from the Iridium phone rather than what the crew advised. The Iridium position is inherently inaccurate. Why the hell would anyone trust it over the advice of very competent crew??? I hope they are not too late!!!

 

[Norman_E]

Whether or not all of the searches have been in the right area, the yacht has now been out of contact for a month, as the last phone and text messages were on 4th June. The mother of one crew member had a phone call on June 13th which she thinks could have been her son, but has no proof that it was. We can all hope that the crew may have survived, but after this length of time it is not looking good.

 

[Kukri]

There will no doubt be a stink about the search pattern, but the absence of a distress call from a vessel equipped with at least an Iridium phone and an EPIRB suggests that whatever happened, happened very quickly.

I have lost friends in similar circumstances; one must just recognise that our sport has its risks.