Sailor's strange disappearance now called murder
by Sail-World Cruising on 15 Mar 2009
Sinking yacht, now secured - but where is the owner? SW
The family of a missing Hobart yachtsman are hiring a private security firm to try to solve a mystery that's still baffling police. It's been seven weeks since Bob Chappell went missing from his yacht Four Winds, a sixteen metre ketch, in Hobart. See Sail-World story
The yacht was found sabotaged and sinking in Sandy Bay but there's been no trace of Mr Chappell. And although no motive has been found, the police are treating Mr Chappell's disappearance as murder.
The missing man, Bob Chappell, worked at the Hobart Hospital as a radiation specialist. On Australia Day the 65-year-old decided to spend the night on his yacht. That was the last time his partner Sue Fraser says she saw Bob Chappell.
Ms Fraser was unable to contact him the following morning and raised the alarm when she saw the yacht taking on water.
The boat was found sinking. A fire extinguisher, rope and emergency beacon were missing. There's no known motive but Inspector Peter Powell from the Tasmania Police think Bob Chappell's been murdered.
Police then boarded the yacht at 7:30am and pumped out water. Two police boats patrolled the river and four divers searched beneath the boat but failed to find any sign of him.
Sergeant John Pratt of the Tasmanian Police said the man had no way of getting to shore because his dinghy was at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
The Hobart Police are asking anyone with information about Mr Chappell's disappearance to call Crime Stoppers.
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