AP News, April 23rd, 2007
Relatives of three Australian yachtsmen whose catamaran was found drifting off the Great Barrier Reef vowed Monday to continue searching for the missing men, as theories about their mysterious disappearance emerged.
On Sunday, police called off their search for skipper Des Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, saying the men had probably been swept overboard nearly a week before, and were unlikely to be found alive.
Relatives of the missing men said they planned to use charter boats to search the islands near the spot where the men are believed to have fallen into the ocean, hoping they might have swum to safety.
"That's our hope. That's where we're going to concentrate today," Shane Webber, son of James Tunstead, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Monday.
The three sailors were last seen leaving the northeastern town of Airlie Beach on April 15, the first leg of a two-month trip around Australia's north coast.
Three days later, a coastal patrol plane spotted the Kaz II drifting some 95 miles offshore. Rescuers who boarded the vessel found the engines running, a laptop computer charging, even food and cutlery laid out on the table _ but no sign of the crew.
The men's clothes were found folded in neat piles on the rear deck.
Investigators who reviewed the vessel's global positioning system said the boat had been drifting with the wind and currents since Sunday, when the trio may have hit rough seas.
But the Bureau of Meteorology has said the men would have faced moderate southeast winds up to 22 mph that day, nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year.
The yacht's headsail was shredded, but there was no other sign of damage. An emergency beacon, three life jackets and a dinghy were found on board.
Detective Warren Webber said the case remained a mystery, but police were preparing a report for the coroner based on the available information. He said police had ruled out foul play.
"We can all come up with various ... hypotheses and theories as to what may have happened," he told Nine Network television. "There's certainly nothing that's come forward at this stage that would indicate anything other than a tragic accident."
Several local newspapers have suggested the men may have been attacked by pirates, noting photographs showing that some the catamaran's rubber fenders were hanging over the side.
Sailors use the rubber fenders to protect the side of their boats when they are pulling into a dock or alongside another boat on the open water. The newspapers have suggested the presence of the fenders indicates the men may have been forced to board another boat.
But police have ruled out this theory, saying it was not unusual for some small-craft sailors to leave their fenders out at sea. There was also no sign that the vessel was ransacked.
Others have suggested a sudden gust of wind may have pushed the men overboard.
