Mallacoota yacht search – Missing sailor may have made it ashore
by abc.net.au on 23 Jun 2015
An abalone boat spotted the wreck washed up on rocks on Monday morning Victoria Police
Searchers are hoping a yachtsman whose boat was found washed up on rocks in eastern Victoria may have made it to shore.
An abalone diver found the man's boat smashed on rocks near Mallacoota on Monday morning, sparking a wide-scale search.
The yachtsman from Wodonga was sailing from Paynesville to Eden in south-west New South Wales.
Rescue crews resumed the search on Tuesday morning, scouring both the coastline and remote countryside where the boat went missing.
'The best scenario is that he's got ashore and the SES (State Emergency Service) and police will pick him up today,' John Rudge of the Mallacoota Coast Guard said.
'It's very remote; there's very little access in there.'
Mr Rudge said it was a worrying sign that emergency services had not received a mayday call or an emergency EPRB transmission.
'Normally there would be some pre-warning of a boat getting into stress and that would happen,' he said.
'It's either the problem's happened very quickly or the man has been asleep or not able to get a distress signal off.'
Search teams are yet to search the man's boat, which is wedged on rocks in a remote are known as Little Rame Head.
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