Community Corner

Update: Searchers Believe Nina Sank

U.S. schooner with crew of 7, 6 of whom are Americans, is missing in waters off New Zealand, AP reports

Update, Friday June 28, 2013, 12:30 p.m.:

The Associated Press is reporting:

Rescue crews searching for a classic American schooner carrying seven people believe the boat sank between New Zealand and Australia, although they
haven't given up hope of finding survivors.

Find out what's happening in Stonington-Mysticwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A third day of aerial searches Friday turned up no sign of the 85-year-old wooden sailboat or its crew. Named Nina, the boat left New Zealand on May 29 bound for Australia. The last known contact with the crew was on June 4. Rescuers were alerted the boat was missing on June 14, but weren't unduly worried at
first because the emergency locator beacon had not been activated.

The six Americans on board include captain David Dyche, 58, his wife, Rosemary, 60, and their son David, 17. Also aboard was their friend Evi Nemeth, 73, a man aged 28, a woman aged 18, and a British man aged 35.

Find out what's happening in Stonington-Mysticwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The leader of Friday's search efforts, Neville Blakemore of New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre, said it's now logical to assume the 70-foot (21-meter) boat sank in a storm but added that it's possible some crew members survived either in the life raft that was aboard or by making land.

Original story:

By Ellyn Santiago

A Mystic Seaport spokesman said the 70-foot Nina is quite a famous boat.

According to an Associated Press news report, the 85-year-old wooden vessel sailed up from Florida to the Mystic Seaport two years ago, where it stayed to prepare for its voyage to Australia and New Zealand.

It’s unclear what, if any, local ties the skipper David Dyche and his wife Rosemary and son have locally.

What is clear is that the last time anyone heard from the Nina was on June 4 when a meteorologist in New Zealand reported having spoken to a crew member about deteriorating weather conditions, the AP story said.

Today, according to a report from the AP, searchers have “grave concerns for the crew on the classic 85-year-old wooden vessel that went missing while sailing from New Zealand to Australia.”

Efforts to contact the crew by radio have been unsuccessful as has an aerial search in the South Pacific waters proved “fruitless," the AP reported.


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