[MHml] Another multihull shipwreck ...

[Gary Pearce]

From todays Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/wreckage-of-australians-missing-yacht-found-in-tonga/2007/02/26/1172338507909.html

Wreckage of Australian's missing yacht found in Tonga

February 26, 2007 - 10:00AM


Wreckage from a yacht being sailed by an Australian man and his new Zealand 
partner, missing since 2005, has been found on a small island in the Tonga 
group of islands.

New Zealand's Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the wreckage of the Manoah, a 
multi-hulled vessel, has been found on Uonuku Island, halfway between 
Nuku'alofa and the Vava'u islands group, in Tonga.

Tongan Police told Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) the 
wreckage was found on February 7 and the name Manoah could clearly be seen on 
the wreckage.

The 12.6m trimaran left Nelson on June 8, 2005 with Australian Gary Cull, 42, 
and his New Zealand partner Verona Hunt, 46, aboard bound for Rarotonga but 
it was deemed overdue and a massive sea search was launched.

The subsequent search by a RNZAF Orion aircraft, which covered around 370,000 
square kilometres, failed to find any sign of the missing crew and the search 
was suspended on 16 July, 2005.

RCCNZ search and rescue officer John Ashby said Tongan Police had told them 
that there was no trace of the crew and the wreckage, which consisted of the 
main hull, was covered in barnacles and other sea matter and had obviously 
been in the water for some time.

"We have passed on all the information we have to the families concerned but 
unfortunately the find hasn't provided any clues to what happened to Manoah 
or the fate of her crew."

Nelson coroner Ian Smith last week warned that foreign-flagged yachts may not 
be up to New Zealand safety standards.

Smith ruled Gull and Hunt accidentally drowned on their way to the Cook 
Islands.

Cull built and registered the 12.65m-long wooden yacht in Australia.

He sailed it to New Zealand in February 2004, where he began a relationship 
with Hunt.

On June 9, 2005, an acquaintance of the couple received a text message saying 
they were sailing off Wellington, headed for Rarotonga. It was their last 
communication.

A friend became concerned on June 26 that no one had heard from them, and on 
July 14 an air force Orion searched about 60,000 square nautical miles 
without finding a trace.

The couple would have been vulnerable to being washed overboard, as their were 
no lifelines around the Manoah, Maritime New Zealand said.

It did not have a liferaft nor jack lines to clip on to and there was no 
apparent "man overboard" equipment, such as a life ring with a light and 
flag, and no parachute flares.

A close friend of Hunt, Claire Hodgson of Nelson, told Nelson Mail she 
was "relieved that the boat had been found".

It would allow family and friends of Hunt and Cull to have some sense of 
closure and help search and rescue learn from the tragedy.

"It's all good but it's all sad," she said.