The mother of one of the sailors who was on the Durban yacht Moquini when it went missing in the Indian Ocean last week is positive her son and the rest of the crew are fine.
”I’m positive of their abilities. I know they don’t have full sail power because one of the boats saw them blow their spinnaker, and that is why they’re so slow,” Gail Dickerson, mother of Sheldon Dickerson, said on Wednesday.
Sheldon (29), his second cousin Mark Dickerson, skipper Graham Cochrane, Neil Tocknell, Kurt Ostendorf and teenager Michael Goolam were participating in the Mauritius-to-Durban yacht race when they lost communication with race organisers last Tuesday.
Gail said her family have been studying weather patterns and reports, and know where the yacht was when it went missing.
She said Sheldon’s younger brother Tristan (26) is involved in the search efforts for the Moquini, in conjunction with the Royal Natal Yacht Club.
Gail, her husband, Ray, and Sheldon’s girlfriend, Michelle, are all positive that the Moquini‘s crew will come back safely, albeit very slowly.
”They’ve all raced together before and Sheldon taught Michael how to sail, so they’re very close,” said Gail.
She said Sheldon and Michelle met in Fort Lauderdale in the United States and had their own yacht company in Durban.
Gail said that earlier this week she took down a newspaper poster from a street lamp in her road to show Sheldon that he had made headlines.
”He’s going to arrive here and say, ‘What was all the fuss about?”’
She said the sailing fraternity is very close and the families of the missing crew have received calls from around the country.
”The public has been fantastic and I just want everyone to be positive because the crew is exhausted and they need that positive energy.”
Aircraft to investigate lights
Meanwhile, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Cape Town said the C130 Hercules air-force aircraft that was searching for the Moquini will return on Wednesday to a position 295 nautical miles east of Durban where it had spotted two strobe lights on the water on Tuesday night.
Search coordinator Jacques Smit said: ”The aircraft was coming back to Durban after searching out over the ocean when it saw the two lights, but could not find anything. It might have been from a fishing boat, but we also asked a Safmarine vessel, Egoli, to inspect the area.”
He said that after searching that area on Wednesday, the aircraft will search the area south-west of Madagascar again, following a request by the yacht club. The club called in experts to try to determine what route the yacht could have taken.
Richard Crockett, the spokesperson for the race’s organising committee, said the last three boats in the race are due to finish on Wednesday.
”The worst-case scenario is that the Moquini has suffered some catastrophic mishap and the crew have taken to the life raft,” he said.
The best-case scenario is that the yacht has suffered damage, slowing its pace. It might then arrive within the next few days, Crockett said.
He said a group of yachtsmen met on Tuesday to come up with a ”battle plan” for the continued search of the crew. Professional yachtsman Matthew Thomas, who competed in the race, has agreed to head the team.
Crockett said the assistance and support of people throughout the country and around the world has been phenomenal.
”Air charter companies have offered aeroplanes, fuel has been offered, and basically anyone who has expertise, knowledge or equipment needed have made very generous offers of assistance.” — Sapa