There is still no sign of the Durban yacht Moquini that went missing during the Mauritius-to-Durban yacht race, race organiser Dave Claxton said on Monday evening.
”There’s no news as yet, no sightings at all. We couldn’t search on Sunday and every day you miss, the search area gets bigger because of currents, wind, drift patterns.
”We’re following a grid pattern offshore that covers 30 000 square nautical miles, It’s absolutely huge.”
The search was concentrated south-west of Madagascar on Monday.
Two military fixed-wing aircraft have already covered an area of more than 7 000 square nautical miles in the search for the six-man crew, editor of Sailing magazine Richard Crockett said.
Missing are skipper Graham Cochrane and his crew members Sheldon Dickerson, his second cousin Mark Dickerson, Kurt Ostendorf, Neil Tocknell and teenager Michael Goolam.
Jacques Smit, search mission coordinator at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Bellville, outside Cape Town, said a 460-megahertz emergency beacon from the Moquini was initially picked up by the centre’s counterpart in Argentina via satellite, after it lost contact with the race organisers last week.
”It was probably the first station available to pick up the signal. They knew who it was because the beacon is registered and those receiving it can get information of the vessel, the crew and a possible contact person.
”When they saw it was out of their range, they contacted us,” he said.
Claxton said the family members of the missing crew ”are under a lot of strain but there is an excellent support system and we get together often and talk it through”.
He said it is the first time in the history of the race that an air search has had to be conducted for a yacht, although a crew member fell overboard and went missing a few years ago. — Sapa