Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Equusearch and Families Ask For Your Help

Page 1  Search Suspended
Page 2  The Story
Page 3  About the Nina
Page 4  Dyche Family
Page 5  Evi Nemeth
Page 6  Matt Wootton
Page 7  Kyle Jackson
Page 8  Danielle Wright
Page 9 RCCNZ
Page 10  To the Families
Page 11  What Went Wrong?
Page 12  Last Message From Nina Crew
Page 13  Family of Nina Crew Appeal For Search Funds
Page 14  Family Anxious For Search To Begin
Page 15  RCCNZ Less Than Cooperative in New Nina Search
Page 16  Third Day of Search, Funding Needed
Page 17  New Zealand Responds
Page 18  Equusearch Seeks Satellite Specialist
Page 19  A New Era Of Cooperation
Page 20  Wild Speculation No Help
Page 21  Sailboat Washes Up On Beach
Page 22  Nina Fund
Page 23  Nina Makes Prime Time
Page 24  Kyle Jackson, Hiya Mom!
Page 25  U.S. Coast Guard Endangers Lives of Nina 7

PAGE 26, Equusearch and Nina Families Ask For Your Help


Page 27  Apathy From US Officials
Page 28  Families Seek More Funding
Page 29  Standing up to Uncle Sam
Page 30  Possible New Location of Nina
Page 31  Reason For Hope Rescue After 76 Days At Sea
Page 32  Breaking News Delayed
Page 33 Positive Despite the Negatives
Page 34  Tomnod Saves Lives
Page 35  Holding
Page 36  Tasman Takes Two
Page 37  91 Days Lost At Sea
Page 38  Your Calls Needed


EQUUSEARCH and Families Ask For Your Help!


 High level strategy has been taking place on a daily basis in the search for the Nina, a 1928 schooner that disappeared in the Tasman Sea on June 4th, 2013.  Equusearch, which advises the families, has pulled together a team of experts which would make the war room at the Pentagon blush.  We are not at liberty to say what all of the tactics and technology being considered consist of.  Suffice it to say, Equusearch finds missing people which law enforcement and even the military can't find for a reason.




A press conference has been called by the families of the Nina crew in which some of this information will be revealed.  It is one of those kinds of press conferences you sure don't want to miss if you want the latest scoop.  This is going to be a "scoop".





The first thing TES would like you to do is to call the U.S. State Department, or email them, and ask them how they could, in conscience, hold up a search for seven people.  Someone has a crystal ball and they are chanting in an unknown language.  Another way to say it is, "what the hell are they smoking?"  
No one knows what happened to the Nina and her crew.  That includes the Rescue Coordination Center New Zealand, RCC-NZ and that certainly includes the U.S. Government which has steadfastly refused to lift a finger to help in this effort.  To put the brakes on families who have, I am going to use the b-word here, the balls, to continue the valiant search for 7 souls, is unconscionable. 



Yet, the U.S. government has sent the families to see a division of the U.S. State Department whose primary function is to bring home U.S. citizens who have passed away abroad and help victims.  Our government is going to be embarrassed when 7 people are found alive.  Heads could roll over the public relations fall-out.  It could be the kind of fall out that costs political offices or naval careers.  
IT IS URGENT, you call the Office of Overseas Citizens Services, Crisis Management. Speak to Desk Officer, Mrs. Linda P. McFadyen.  Ask her to peer into her crystal ball and take a puff of whatever it is she is smoking.  If she can't tell you where the Nina crew is, then ask her to pass this case back to the search and rescue professionals who can bring the Nina crew home.
EDITORIAL COMMENT:  When I realized the U.S. government was not helping the families of the Nina crew search for their lost ones, but instead had referred them to McFadeyn for the purposes of making arrangement for sailors lost at sea, I was so angry I was shaking.
Desk Officer McFadeyn does not know where the Nina crew is.  
When we rob people of hope, we rob America of it's soul.
Please call McFadeyn:

 Here is the number:  1-202.485.6106.
IF YOU DON'T MAKE THIS SIMPLE CALL, WHO WILL?

 You can also email:   MCFADYENLP@STATE.GOV )





Press Conference


August 1st, 3:00 P.M. Local Time (GMT-5)

NASA HILTON, HOUSTON, TEXAS







Mail checks to:

Texas EquuSearch SV Nina Search Fund
P.O. Box 395
Dickinson, Texas 77539
Office: (281) 309-9500
Fax: (281) 534-6719
Toll Free: (877) 270-9500

Or use PayPal or Credit Card


Or, mail checks directly to:
Texas EquuSearch SV Nina Search Fund
c/o Amegy Bank215 FM 517 Road West
Dickinson, TX 77539
Attention: Ms. Alicia White
(281) 337-9390


Schooner SV NINA Search Updates
Visit this page for updates on the search for the SV Nina. First update is planed for end of day July 28, 2013.

YOU ASKED,   "WHAT CAN I DO?"  - - - - - DO THIS:

1.             Call the U. S. Department of State, Call John Kerry, 
and ask Linda what she knows about the numerous exigent requests for the DoS to make the approval and authorize Texas EquuSearch to access the information and data we need, including the US Coast Guards SAROPS software in order to help save 7 lives.
2.               Donate and call your most wealthy friends to donate to help us save seven (7) lives.



Recent Activity and News

(worth reading, viewing and listening to: You will definitely learn something)

Nina Awareness via TV and Radio Media:
·        July 26, CBS News about Nina and search efforts 
·        YouTube video 
·        Sept. 2011 video about Scotch Bonner’s 130-day ordeal in the Tasman Sea and was successfully rescued
·        July 24, creation of Help is find our loved ones flyer  
·        July 21, Search Resumes for Missing Yacht, Otago Daily Times 
·        July 20 New Zealnd Radio TES SV Nina Search 
·        July 10, New Zealand Channel 3 News 
·        

·        SV Nina Search Interview/Media links:


o       Radio New Zealand Audio file: 10:30PM CDT -- 3:30PM NZ time www.7-1-3.com/TES/NINA/13071702.MP3

o       KATC Wednesday, July 17.2013 


o       Lafayette interview with Ralph 30 minutes audio, unedited, uncensored


·        July 16, Ricky Wright, father of Danielle Wright requests help 



·        Facebook updates, access  Texas EquuSearch at Face Book fan page


Search Assistance Resources:
·        July 24 secure VIP Premium membership to Buoy Weather to help understand wind and current patterns in the Tasman Sea
·        Requests for donations to continue Nina search www.7-1-3.com/TES/NINA/DONATE

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


U.S. Coast Guard Places Lives at Risk they are supposed to Protect:

LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA U.S.A. July 28, 2013 ------ Texas EquuSearch needs your help to alleviate US Department of State (DoS) red-tape hassles. These problems have placed the lives of 7 people at risk. Your participation could solve it. 
Volunteer experts of the successful search team Texas EquuSearch were called on Monday July 8 by the families of those missing for advice and help after the New Zealand authorities stopped searching on July 4. EquuSearch was the all-volunteer charity that assisted Lafayette to better organize its search for 20 year old Mickey Shunick a year ago. Danielle Wright also from Lafayette is one the seven (7) dedicated and experienced sailors onboard the schooner S/V Nina, a famous award winning sailing race yacht. 
The Nina and her seven (7) crew members departed Opua New Zealand bound for Newcastle Australia, 20 day trip across the open Tasman Sea. The last contact with the crew was on June 4 when they obtained a weather briefing using an Iridium satellite telephone. There has been no contact since. 

Texas EquuSearch created a special project and a special fund for its case number 13-1371 to allow donors to designate that their monies to the search for the Nina and the seven (7) loved ones. Over $100,000 has been raised so far to fund 12 visual searches by twin engine aircraft off the eastern coast of Australia. The 12 searches saw no sign of the schooner Nina. 

Texas EquuSearch volunteers contacted the New Zealand, Australian and US governments for help to continue the search for the seven (7) loved ones.  Additional data and information was requested including satellite imaging, environmental data and access to US Coast Guard software to perform independent ocean drift modeling and predictions called SAROPS. So far all requests have been acknowledged and are tied up in red-tape at the US State Department in Washington, DC. There has been dragging of feet and misguided polices that require the permission of New Zealand for the US DoS to allow Texas EquuSearch access to and use wildly distributed software it needs to save 7 lives. 

Even that did not stop the persistent Texas EquuSearch volunteers and they have sought direct access to commercial sources of the software and the satellite images. This has been unfortunate and extremely frustrating and very slow; the amount of contacts and referrals have driven an overwhelming number of telephone calls, messages, emails and independent research to locate the right data from the right source from the right expert. The data is known to exist but is restricted from US citizen access due to US government policies. In this case all we want to do is save seven (7) lives. 

We need your help. It’s not the little guys, who are the government paid technical experts stopping us: it’s the mother-hen in Washington, DC stopping us. We want you to:

1.             Call the U. S. Department of State, under John Kerry, Office of Overseas Citizens Services Desk Officer Mrs. Linda P. McFadyen at +1 (202) 485-6106  email: MCFADYENLP@STATE.GOV ) and ask her what she knows about the numerous requests for the Department of State to make the approval and authorize Texas EquuSearch to access the information and data we need, including the US Coast Guards SAROPS software.

2.               Donate and call your most wealthy friends to donate to help us save seven (7) lives.


Mail checks to:

Texas EquuSearch SV Nina Search Fund
P.O. Box 395
Dickinson, Texas 77539
Office: (281) 309-9500
Fax: (281) 534-6719
Toll Free: (877) 270-9500

Or use PayPal or Credit Card


Or, mail checks directly to:
Texas EquuSearch SV Nina Search Fund
c/o Amegy Bank215 FM 517 Road West
Dickinson, TX 77539
Attention: Ms. Alicia White
(281) 337-9390
# # #

 CONTINUED PAGE 27

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

US Coast Guard Endangers Lives Of Nina 7 Page 25



Crew Fighting For Survival While Washington Drags It's Feet


  A phone call from you could save lives!



The United States Coast Guard, an organization with a sterling reputation for saving lives on the high seas, may be directly responsible for taking the 7 lives of the crew from the missing yacht Nina, which disappeared June 4th, 2013 in the Tasman Sea.  So says representatives from Equusearch, a non-profit organization which specializes in finding missing people the police, and sometimes even the military, are unable to locate.  Equusearch has become an advisor to the families of the missing crew after Rescue Coordination Center, New Zealand (RCCNZ)suspended search efforts.





At the heart of the hullabaloo is data which RCC-NZ
sent Equusearch. The data provides drift modeling, which is a way of following the predicted path of a disabled yacht or life raft from a known point. Equusearch wants to run various scenarios from the last known position of the Nina. They need this information in order to task satellites to take detailed photos of the most likely search area at a cost exceeding the value of the average single family residence in America for each small area photographed.


It takes specialized software called SAROPS to run the drift models for the data sent by New Zealand.  The US Coast Guard has the software to run models, but they refuse to get involved.  They say the U.S. State Department of Crisis Management, charged with bringing Americans home who die overseas, is the place the families need to be.  The office of Crisis Management has nothing to do with using assets in the US to find live people.  Likewise, they do not control the U.S. Coast Guard, at least we hope not.


“I used a bottom-up approach,” Baird said in exclusive communications with Sailing Savoir Faire reporter Tim Paynter. “I started with a contact with the Coast Guard who we had worked with during one of our searches. I ended up in Washington D.C. and top officials from the U.S. Search and Rescue.”



After days of calling and multiple transfers and referrals to new numbers, Baird ended up at the U.S. State Department.  Family member, Ricky Wright, whose daughter Danielle, is a crew member on the Nina, has taken an active role in financing and coordinating the search.  Wright called the Office of Crisis Management.  He spoke to duty officer Jack Frost on two occasions.  He was told approval of the New Zealand State Department was required to use the US SAROPS program.  The New Zealand government says that kind of authorization is no small chore and it will take a wheel barrow of time. The Nina crew may not have that much time.
The matter then ended up on the desk of Ms. McFadyen, Department of Crisis Management.
Ralph Baird Letter:
Ms. McFadyen,

I have tried to reach you on the telephone and you are in-between phones and offices; moving. I am an advisor assisting the five (5) families of those six (6) Americans and one (1) brit onboard the schooner Nina, lost and adrift in the waters of the Tasman Sea...The RCCNZ FTP transferred their NC binary files that are compactable (sic) with the USCG SAROPS software program that every district office has here in the US.

Help. We have an oceanographer, a meteorologist and a NASA design engineer along with a retire Hewlett Packard professional and an ex-BP geo-professional anxious to get to work.

Thank you for your help,
Ralph Baird
TEXAS EQUUSEARCH SV NINA SEARCH TEAM
 Wright argues, the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Center would not have sent drift modeling data for the missing Nina if they did not grant approval to run the SAROPS program that created the data.  Baird said RCC-NZ approved his use of the data and the program on any platform that was willing to accept the task, including the U.S. Coast Guard. McFadyen doesn't seem to care.






Sailing Savoir Faire sent urgent messages to the State Department Office of Crisis Management.  They referred us to Elizabeth A. Finan, Public Affairs Officer, Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State
"The Nina has not been heard from since the beginning of June.  The official search by the Government of New Zealand and the Government of Australia was called off on July 5.  We understand the families of the crewmembers (sic) are conducting private searches for the vessel.  The U.S. government has provided additional information to the search efforts, and consular officers from the U.S. Consulate General in Auckland have been in close contact with the families to provide information and consular assistance."

Ms. Finan appears to have concluded the Nina 7 have passed away simply because RCC-NZ closed it's case.  Ms. Finan did not express what her sailing expertise or search and rescue expertise is that gives her the foundation to make that call.  Nor did she talk about her ability to read reading crystal balls.  The RCC-NZ, while making a college try, have been wrong when calling off searches before  Some declared lost sailors eventually washed up on New Zealand shores.

The following is the kind of red tape that makes citizens boil:
 
From the Office of Consular Affairs, Crisis Center:

 Tim, 

I appreciate your concern for the individuals on board the Nina, and I am sorry I did not answer your emails sooner.  I assure you that the Department of State has no higher priority than the protection of U.S. citizens overseas, and our consular officers have been monitoring the search efforts and have been in contact with the families since early June.  However, I have no further information for you regarding the search efforts. Sincerely,

Beth


Sailing Savoir Faire did not ask Ms. Finan anything about the search efforts.  We get our information from the source.  What we asked Mrs. Finan about is why the office of Crisis Management which deals only with over-seas matters, has anything to do with a request for one hour of time from the U.S. Coast Guard to run a computer model IN THE U.S.
Meanwhile, Equusearch believes 7 people drifting on the Nina, with no motor and no sails, are making more important decisions. Water and food must be critical by now. The survival of the crew depends upon a level headed captain until heads and egos can be leveled in U.S. Government officials.


Equusearch asks the public to participate in encouraging wise use of public resources.


“The modeling we are asking for can be run in a few minutes on my office computer, if I had the software,” Baird said. “It won't take the U.S. Coast Guard longer to run the program than it would for me to run it. We are not asking for the program, only for an hour or so of time.  We just need them to run our models.”


The search team wants you to call Officer McFadyen and ask her to help save the Nina 7. The phone number is  (202) 485.6106. They also encourage emails to McFadyen's account which is : MCFADYENLP@STATE.GOV.

“This software was developed in the U.S.,” Baird said. “The U.S. Coast Guard copy is owned by the tax payers who fund the Coast Guard. Their mission is to save sailors.”


Baird said if Equusearch cannot get the help they need, the end of the story may be written by fate.


“The Nina will wash up on New Zealand or Australian shores,” Baird said.  
In 2012, a Swan 41 called Scotch Bonnet abandoned near the last known site of the Nina washed up on Australian shores.  The yacht floated for 3 months without being seen and 5 and a half months in total.  Sailors normally keep a log recording daily events including injuries or casualties.  That record will remain with the Nina and be available for inspection when the yacht is found, whether or not the crew survive.  If the crew is not found, the log book will remain, in tragic testimony against those who could have done something and failed to act.




If Equusearch is right, and the sailors of the Nina perish because of foot dragging, the red tape of administrators will stain the bright whites of the U.S. Coast Guard which has an otherwise sterling reputation.
The search team asks you to contact the Office of Crisis Management, Officer McFadyen.  Please ask her to help save the Nina 7 and authorize the few hours of computer time requested.  What an inexpensive price to pay for the lives of the crew.  Those are David Dyche, Rosemary Dyche, David Dyche IV, Evi Nemeth, Matthew Wootton, Kyle Jackson and Danielle Wright.  Please speak directly about the urgent need to find the Nina 7, but please be courteous.  

You Can Make A Difference



The phone number is  (202) 485.6106. The search also encourage emails to McFadyen's account which is : MCFADYENLP@STATE.GOV.



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