Probe to begin as Moquini arrives home

by Giordano Stolley and Cyriel Freijser on 17 Feb 2006 The Moquini yacht - being towed by the Smit Amandla tug - arrived in Durban Harbour in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The Moquini disappeared during the Mauritius to Durban yacht race in September last year.

Nearly two weeks ago, it was spotted floating bottom-up 500 nautical miles off the coast of South Africa by Patrick le Masson, the master of the MT Algarve.

Its keel was missing and speculation has been rife as to what caused the tragedy, including the possibility that it had struck a container floating below the water surface.

The yacht’s unfortunate crew were Graham Cochrane, Neil Tocknell, Kurt Ostendorf, Sheldon Dickerson, Mark Dickerson and Michael Goolam.

Acting operations manager of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) Captain Saleem Modak said this morning the investigations would begin soon, but that it was too early to tell how long they would take.

‘We hope to come to some sort of understanding of what happened,’ he said. The length of time that the yacht had been in the water would have a major effect on the investigations.

He said that once SAMSA had completed its investigations, it was likely that an independent expert would also be called in to investigate.

The investigation could lead to the designer of the yacht, the yacht builder and even the families of the missing crew being questioned as authorities try to get to the bottom of the tragedy.

Salvage crews righted the yacht, drained water from it and inserted flotation devices before towing it to Durban.

The Moquini was taken out of the water later this morning so that investigations could begin.

Richard Crockett, who was on the committee of the Mauritius to Durban yacht race, said the yacht had been sealed off from everybody.

Families of the crew members had been allowed to see the Moquini, he said.

Meanwhile, in Cape Town the Moquni’s designer has suspended the licence of the company that builds and sells his yachts, insisting they complete a checklist to determine if they made any alterations to his original design.

Alex Simonis, the Dutch designer of the Moquini who is based in Cape Town, said: ‘I suspect, from the photos I have seen, that the hull sailed over a container, with the keel taking the full impact, pushing into the boat.

‘But I cannot draw any premature conclusions before an investigation has taken place.

‘It is possible that the builder deviated from my original design; and though in 12 years there have never been any structural problems with the design, I have to keep the option open that there is something wrong with my design.’

Responding to speculation that the keel broke off simply because of the rough conditions, Simonis said: ‘Highly unlikely, considering the clean break-off.’

Simonis emphasised that he is not accusing Fast Yachts, the Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal-based company that built 25 yachts like the Moquini, of any negligence.

‘This is a precautionary measure. It is in everyone's interest to get the truth out, not least for the families of the sailors who lost their lives.

‘Once it has been established that the Moquini hit a container, we can cross out other options, but not before.

Bill Tyler, owner of Fast Yachts, confirmed that their licence with Simonis was being ‘renegotiated. The 25 yachts we have built will be investigated by an independent surveyor. We also sent out emails to all the owners advising them to check their boats using certain parameters and to exercise caution when sailing.’

Tyler shares the view of Simonis that the yacht most likely hit a container.

‘Weeks before the race started a container ship lost 39 containers in the area,’ he said. ‘Everything is possible though,’ he added.

SAMSA's Saleem Modak said their investigation of the Moquini would start on Thursday.

‘The yacht has been towed, but we have taken the necessary precautions to keep it from sustaining more damage. If the boat got damaged during the operation, our experts will isolate (that damage) from the initial damage.’