A man who spent 119 days lost at sea is urging authorities in New Zealand to continue the search for missing yacht Nina
Sailor John Glennie has urged authorities to continue the search for the missing schooner Nina after he survived 119 days lost at sea.
Mr Glennie has written to the Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) and told of how him and three other crew members were left fighting for their lives after their trimaran Rose Noelle capsized in the Pacific Ocean in 1989.
Now he has joined the families of Nina crew members, calling on the rescue agency to resume the search.
The 21m schooner and its seven crew left the Bay of Islands on May 29 and last made contact in June, when a text message was sent asking for a weather update.
While the official search for Nina has now ended, family members organised another search, which produced a satellite image that is thought to be the missing schooner.
“If the image of the boat … is the Nina … then in my humble opinion there is every chance the crew will be in fine shape,” Mr Glennie wrote.
“I know we could have been out there another six months on an upside down Rose Noelle, in which case an upright Nina will have no worries.”
The image appeared to show a water catchment system rigged up from a sail, which did not surprise him because Nina had a “great crew”.
The New Zealand Herald has obtained letters from family members of the missing crew, in which they describe their determination to find their loved ones.
Crew member Kyle Jackson’s family said they desperately wanted to be reunited with their son, but needed the RCC to act.
“They are survivors and they can survive this, they just need your help finding their way home.”
RCC Safety and Response Services general manager Nigel Clifford told the New Zealand Herald that the images weren’t “sufficiently compelling to go out with an airplane to go look for something … [due to] the quality of the picture.
“It’s extremely unlikely to be the Nina – you can’t say that it’s not, you can’t be 100 per cent sure – but the analysis is that it’s extremely unlikely.”
Related articles