Nina Families Preparing Response To Search

A lengthy document was recently completed reviewing the actions of the Rescue Coordination Center, New Zealand, (RCC-NZ).  It contained glowing praise for the role the RCC-NZ played in the attempted rescue of the crew of the SV Nina, a 1928 schooner that disappeared in the Tasman Sea on June 4th, 2013.  Many people would like to see what the response will be from the families.  Are they in support of the review, or do they oppose it's findings?  What would the families like to see going forward?

The review can be found HERE.

Sailing Savoir Faire has a very strong point of view over the independent review.  However, we will not voice an opinion on the Nina search review until the families have had an opportunity to make their own response, in public.  Even then, we may delay our response because we have come very close to this search, having covered it in detail nearly since the day the Nina was reported missing in the news.

After the RCC-NZ was unable to locate the Nina, the families went to work with fundraisers so they could conduct their own search.  They raised over $600,000 from family, friends and well-wishers.  It has been first class all the way, headed up by a public-private partnership, Texas Equusearch (TES), which acts in a similar role in the U.S. that is played by non-governmental-organization in other countries.  Unfortunately, TES was unable to locate the Nina, or her crew, either.  

A lot of people have a difficult time understanding the TES mission.  While they have had successes in finding the remains of people lost and who perished, their primary successes have been in rescuing people who are alive.  They have found more than 300 people alive and about half that number of missing persons who in fact perished.  

Most recently, TES challenged the Federal Aviation Administration on a prohibition on the use of drones in the U.S.  TES has used drones to find lost people in terrain that would take weeks to search, although the FAA sent them an email note telling them not to conduct drone flights for "commercial purposes".  A judge ruled TES could in fact use drones.

 TES says the Nina search has been an effort to find the Nina sailors alive, though no drones were used.  Most of the search fund was paid to New Zealand and Australian aviation companies, making it's way into the local economies of New Zealand and Australia..  A tiny portion of funds raised were used to pay for super-technical drift analysis.  The families say they still hope the Nina will float back to civilization, or the crew will be found on a desolate island or atoll.  TES is an all volunteer organization made up in part by people grateful for the results of the many searches.

There are seven people who ventured forth on the Nina.  They are the family that owned the yacht, David Dcyhe, Rosemary Dyche and their son, David Dyche, Jr., world renown author and mathematical genius, Professor Evi Nemeth, Kyle Jackson, a former senate page and survivalist, Danielle Wright, a musician a student and a photographer, all from the United States.  Also on board, Matthew Wootton, from England.  Matthew is an advocate for the environment who took a 3 and a half year voyage around the world to learn and speak on environmental issues.  Matthew crewed on various boats and ships because he does not approve of the carbon footprint left by jets.

The Nina families have put together a comprehensive web site.  They say they hope it will comfort those who wish the Nina crew well, and provide insight to other families who are missing a loved one, no matter whether that is on land or at sea.

We wish peace to all, and fair winds.

Found Sailboat In Australia Not Likely Schooner Nina

There has been a lot of hype about a mast caught in a fishing rig in the Timor Sea being from the missing schooner, Nina that disappeared on the Eastern coast of Australia in the Tasman Sea.  Part of that hype is a well written story from the Herald Sun News, Northern Territories, a publication with a sterling reputation, which does nothing more than sensationalize the remotest of possibilities the sunken yacht found in the Timor Sea is the Nina.  If the author had been doing her homework, she would have printed a more accurate headline, "Timor Sea Find Not Likely Nina".

"Not really, we are just trying to sell papers"

Sensationalist stories have hurt the Nina search before.  One of the most famous stories suggested the Nina was in horrible condition.  The authority upon whom the writer relied had never been aboard the Nina.  In fact, the authority for the story is not a shipwright, hence not in a position to make official statements about what condition the Nina is in.  Few people know, a survey was completed in 2012 in which the Nina was found to be "a sound yacht".  That story has never been made public.

The story in the Herald Sun, Northern Territories, also speaks about how massive the search for the Nina was.  If you repeat something enough times people begin to believe it.  While the search for the Nina was large, the families say there were massive errors in the search, another fact not well reported.  There is a significant likelihood the search missed the Nina and her crew because of those errors.  

The families ask all people to keep a sharp eye out for a boat lying low in the water, as well as wrecks on remote islands and reefs, debris and flotsam.  At one time that request was for boats in the Northern Tasman Sea.  Considering the currents and passage of time, the Nina could be about anywhere.

Whangarei Harbor

Authorities have been closed mouthed about the details of the mast found in the Timor Sea.  The information I have I am not at liberty to disclose at this time.  Suffice it to say, the mast found was very distinct and does not sound like it came from the missing schooner, the Nina, according to sources.  Is it possible the Nina crew found a floating wreck and salvaged a mast?  Sure, but not very likely.

We encourage the Herald Sun News, Northern Territories, and all publications to focus on things that have the potential to help the missing crew and their families.  The families have their hands full doing what authorities from many countries should have done.  Putting out sensationalist fires makes their efforts more difficult.  The truth may be just as sensational, but it is going to take someone with a lot of moxy to bring it forth.

Anything, of course, is possible.  Until divers can check the ocean floor to verify there is, in fact, a boat, and the mast was not simply blown overboard and snagged on the bottom, no one can say for sure what authorities will find.  However, speculation the found mast is the Nina is likely sensationalist journalism to sell papers and does an unjust service to the Nina sailors and their families.