Liferaft and remains of the "Munetra" discovered

[Tellus]

in the afternoon of the 5.5. the search was resumed the South Island of New Zealand after the three-member crew of the yacht "Munetra". The boat has been around two weeks with the two 19-year-old missing female German tourists, as well as the skipper, after it sailed from the 16.4. from Bluff to Preservation Inlet in Fiordland and would have to return to the 22.4. to Bluff.

Last week, the search was been driven back after no trace could be found. On the 2.5. but fishermen discovered a life raft at the southend of Stewart Island and the 5.5. was found a seat cover of the yacht in Paihia. Affiliated 15 policemen took on a search between Colac Bay in the afternoon together with volunteers to an area west of the town of Tuatapere. Members of both families arrived in Invercargill on the weekend.

[captain58sailin]

Let us hope for a good outcome, I hope all are well and they are found in good order.

[Hud3]

A news article link and a photo of the boat...

Missing yacht debris washes ashore - national | Stuff.co.nz

Debris from a yacht missing off New Zealand's south coast for two weeks with three people on board has been found.

Southland area commander Inspector Lane Todd said a liferaft and squab belonging to the Munetra were washed up during the past few days.

The liferaft was found by fishermen on the southern end of Stewart Island and the squab was found along the the coast near Colac Bay.

However, the three people on board the yacht are still missing.

The 7.5-metre Munetra set sail from Bluff on April 16 and was due back in port on April 22.

There had been no trace of the boat or 33-year-old German skipper Andre Kinzler and German tourists Lea Tietz and Veronika Steudler, both 19, since it left Bluff for Preservation Inlet in Fiordland

.

[boatman61]

I to hope their okay and hiking overland somewhere.. but it does not look that hopeful..
Best wishes to family and friends..

[Rustic Charm]

It's another very sad situation.

Does anyone know what the situation, circumstances are. Our papers don't seem to report much on this and I'm struggling to find any information about the boat other than it was a Raven 26.

I've found a single sentence saying the German skipper ignored 'Maritime safety instructions' and told no one where they were going. BUT, the media will print anything if they can't find information so I wouldn't put any cred in that at all.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by tedsherrin

It's another very sad situation.

Does anyone know what the situation, circumstances are. Our papers don't seem to report much on this and I'm struggling to find any information about the boat other than it was a Raven 26.

I've found a single sentence saying the German skipper ignored 'Maritime safety instructions' and told no one where they were going. BUT, the media will print anything if they can't find information so I wouldn't put any cred in that at all.

Ted- only just seen your post. I was in NZ preparing to take a yacht to Fiji, Oz, and Indo when this occurred. I followed it closely. The 'skipper', a Mr. Kinzler, was certainly a beginner. He also failed to heed a direct warning from the coast radio to himself. He put out into the Foveaux Strait, a notoriosly hard stretch of water, in the face of several days of strong winds and a forecast approaching gale. The strong winds were setting straight into the continuous current there, which sets at 3-5 knots in the same direction pretty much all year. The strait is full of shallows. The call to go out and round more than 100 nm of cliff-type lee shore in such conditions to Fjordland was a bad one, to say the least. It was foolhardy and in my honest opinion, it was the skipper's fault. Sad. Very sad. Just exactly the kind of thing that makes me insist to all inexperienced would be crew looking for passages that they interview prospective skippers as hard or harder than they are interviewed themselves. The good ones will be pleased. The bad ones will balk, and at that, they should walk. RIP.

[Wotname]

MF, thanks for the background to this sad event.

Some skippers should remain single handed...

[JPA Cate]

Sad for the bad news.

IMO that boat looks totally unfit for where they went. Sad for the loss of the people,
but am really thinking it's a Darwin episode.

Too many people think "let's go cruising" without a clue of how the sea and winds really are. They think it's like buying a SUV and traveling overland, and IT AIN'T!

Ann

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Ted- only just seen your post. I was in NZ preparing to take a yacht to Fiji, Oz, and Indo when this occurred. I followed it closely. The 'skipper', a Mr. Kinzler, was certainly a beginner. He also failed to heed a direct warning from the coast radio to himself. He put out into the Foveaux Strait, a notoriosly hard stretch of water, in the face of several days of strong winds and a forecast approaching gale. The strong winds were setting straight into the continuous current there, which sets at 3-5 knots in the same direction pretty much all year. The strait is full of shallows. The call to go out and round more than 100 nm of cliff-type lee shore in such conditions to Fjordland was a bad one, to say the least. It was foolhardy and in my honest opinion, it was the skipper's fault. Sad. Very sad. Just exactly the kind of thing that makes me insist to all inexperienced would be crew looking for passages that they interview prospective skippers as hard or harder than they are interviewed themselves. The good ones will be pleased. The bad ones will balk, and at that, they should walk. RIP.

Thanks Muckle Fluga, I'm surprised how very little there is about this incident. Our papers barely reported on it and only the once. I suspect it will be an interesting coroners report when it's done.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Sad for the bad news.

IMO that boat looks totally unfit for where they went. Sad for the loss of the people,
but am really thinking it's a Darwin episode.

Too many people think "let's go cruising" without a clue of how the sea and winds really are. They think it's like buying a SUV and traveling overland, and IT AIN'T!

Ann

If a person wishes to live or die at the mercy of the sea, it is up to them IMHO, but he should never have involved the young girls. They were just learning to live and had no way of adequately assessing the danger. Those waters of the South of the South Island are really some of the toughest in the world. No place for happy fools. I do blame him for taking them out. He was clearly warned. No seaman would have taken that boat on his intended journey in those conditions. They never made it out of Foveaux, I am quite sure. My guess? Bad and repeated knockdown with major influx of water through a wide open companionway. Rapid sinking. Attempted launch of the liferaft in VIOLENT cold water. Death would at least have been fairly quick. Sad.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by tedsherrin

Thanks Muckle Fluga, I'm surprised how very little there is about this incident. Our papers barely reported on it and only the once. I suspect it will be an interesting coroners report when it's done.

Mayhap so. If they are looking for the wreckage, they will likely find it in less than 50 meters in the narrrows of the strait. However given the currents it is not really likely going to be dived. One day a fisherman will drag some of it up in his nets. No bodies will be found. Coroners report will be death by MISADVENTURE. Never a more accurate term would be applied if that is indeed what transpires.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

If a person wishes to live or die at the mercy of the sea, it is up to them IMHO, but he should never have involved the young girls. They were just learning to live and had no way of adequately assessing the danger. Those waters of the South of the South Island are really some of the toughest in the world. No place for happy fools. I do blame him for taking them out. He was clearly warned. No seaman would have taken that boat on his intended journey in those conditions. They never made it out of Foveaux, I am quite sure. My guess? Bad and repeated knockdown with major influx of water through a wide open companionway. Rapid sinking. Attempted launch of the liferaft in VIOLENT cold water. Death would at least have been fairly quick. Sad.

Is it something they did together? Was he a sailer at all or was it just three back packers out fir adventure?

[Sailor_Hutch]

What a wicked current! What Gulf stream? So sad for all involved, including relatives.

I think NZ/OZ sailing should be a long term self study before attempted. It's the newcomers to the area who are making all the headlines (Nina is another example). This fellow (from Germany is the latest). So sad.

[FoolsGold]

Originally Posted by tedsherrin

Is it something they did together? Was he a sailer at all or was it just three back packers out fir adventure?

It was TWO backpackers each female each from Germany. In NZ they would be called trampers. They were spending their Gap Year on visas that allowed them to explore New Zealand and each of them preferred to explore rural areas rather than urban areas.

The "Captain" was simply a fellow countryman that they happened to meet. He was a "foreman" on a dairy farm in charge of milking operations. He did not make much money but he did happen to have purchased a boat.

He was NOT an experienced sailor, nor did he seem inclined to ever take classes. He was more a learn by doing type. He had specifically been told that his hand held radio with its short antenna and low power was inadequate for the voyage. He was specifically told the weather conditions were presently adverse and forecast to get even worse. He was specifically told that if he embarked on the voyage he should establish a regular radio contact schedule with the appropriate Marine Radio Authority but he did not do so.

If he had established but failed to maintain a radio schedule a search would have been launched sooner, as it was his employer initiated contact with the authorities because he failed to show up for work after his vacation. This was just over two weeks after he had set sail.

The 19 year old German backpackers were apparently unaware of his lack of experience, his disdain for formal sailing instruction, his lack of skills, his lack of familiarity with local waters and local seasonal wind conditions.

They embarked on a voyage where most of the coast was sheer rocky cliffs punctuated by a few rocky beaches and one somewhat sandy beach. It is thought the life raft would have been subjected to mainly current forces and the seat cushion to mainly wind forces and that therefore the boat cushion showed how little headway they had made before running into some unknown trouble.

Police submitted evidence to the Coroner but I do not know if a formal Coronial Inquiry was ever convened.

[Sailor_Hutch]

I don't know anything, but it seems like a bad idea to play around in currents that are as swift as your hull speed (slight exaggeration), and going against the wind.