US Schooner lost, Tasman Sea

Posting this in case anyone knows the people or the boat.

There are reports here the 65 ft schooner, "Nina" skippered by American David Dyche III has disappeared sailing from New Zealand Bay of Islands to Newcastle on the south east coast of Australia crossing the Tasman sea. Crew of 6 Americans and one Englishman, include the skippers wife Rosemary and their son David Dyche IV were onboard.The family is reported to have owned and sailed the well maintained vessel for decades.

Rescue authorities say they are looking for debris and liferafts now, as the boat is well overdue and extensive air sea searches over 500,000 sq. miles found nothing. While skipper and family are said to be highly experienced, the last transmission from the boat on June 4 was reportedly a text "The weather`s turned nasty,how do we get away from it?" The skipper is said to have posted on Facebook 2 days before sailing "the Tasman is shooting gales out like a machine gun, living up to its reputation".

Haunting words. We hope for the best.

Thanks for posting, Bruce. Hope they're able to survive the Neptune's wrath. They knew their way around an ocean from reading this article. It was a 85 yr old wooden schooner. No info on what, if any, survival equipment they had on board.

Another article:

http://www.newsherald.com/news/bay-county-relatives-wary-as-search-for-family-continues-1.165723

I have been following this news for several days on NZ papers and it doesnt look good at this point - I guess they just replaced their engine recently and had some leakage through the hull into the engine bay.

Who knows what happened but it appears they didnt have time to activate their EPIRB.

Prayers to the son who was not on the trip with his parents and brother.

The added news reports give no comfort. The south east of Australia is in the second east coast low pressure system in a week, that means rain wind big seas. The Tasman is to the east. Raining here 2 weeks. English weather in May looks good, and that`s saying something.
We have well co-ordinated rescue services, I`m sure everything possible is being done, but no EPIRB/ no Mayday is not a good start to a successful rescue.

Yes...not looking good. Strange no EPIRB signal at all. They would have had to have one, and probably water activated as well, which suggests a rapid foundering, with EPRIB trapped inside.. We can only hope they got a life raft away, but then again...they have an EPIRB as well normally for trans-ocean travel.

Was watching a show on TV the other day on Rouge Waves! Hope they are found safe and that a RW wasn't encountered :-/

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