The yacht Moquini, which was found this week after being missing for six months, probably capsized, giving its crew little chance of survival.
”With the keel missing, the yacht would have immediately inverted 90 degrees, and within less than a minute would have completely inverted. Anyone on deck would have been flung into the water,” Matthew Thomas, search leader, said on Wednesday.
Thomas headed the private search for the yacht when it went missing during the Mauritius-to-Durban yacht race in September last year. Its six crew members have still not been found.
”Anyone down below would have had little time to evacuate, and if they had been asleep in a bunk, may well have been badly injured … as they were flung sleeping from their bunk.”
A ship spotted the yacht on Sunday, floating upside-down and without a keel 500 nautical miles off the Wild Coast.
On Wednesday, the salvage tug Smit Amandla arrived on the scene. Divers on board positively identified the yacht as the Moquini.
Whether the keel came off when the Moquini hit something, or whether it was the result of a ”catastrophic failure”, will be investigated, Thomas said.
In the seconds between the keel coming off and the boat capsizing, the crew may not have had the time or ability to launch the life raft.
Whether they were wearing life jackets or not, it would have been impossible for them to stay close to the boat as there was nothing on the slippery hull to hold on to, Thomas said.
”If conditions were relatively calm and the wind not blowing too hard, the yacht would also have had some hatches open, and these would immediately have caused the vessel to fill with water.”
A single blip from the yacht’s emergency-position-indicating radio beacon was transmitted at about 3.40am on September 16.
The yacht’s crew members were Graham Cochrane, Neil Tocknell, Kurt Ostendorf, Sheldon Dickerson, Mark Dickerson and Michael Goolam.
A memorial service was held in November for skipper and Durban businessman Cochrane.
”Moquini is a sorry sight as it is completely inverted with the rudder and engine’s sail-drive unit in their normal position — although the keel is completely missing,” said Richard Crockett on behalf of the race’s organising committee. — Sapa