Solo sailor still awaited, after six days of silence

by Rob Kothe on 7 Jun 2002 Bretten Holland set out on Sunday 26th May 2002, in the 1285-mile New Plymouth to Mooloolaba race aboard his Muir 9.8 metre Skiddy Too.

His last radio contact with race authorities was during a radio sked six days ago.

His radio was not operating well and a statement from race authorities have suggested that it may have failed because of condensation

Today Friday, Australian Marine Safety Authority Graham Lloyd today explained that Holland was not technically overdue as his 4.5 knot average up to his last contact point, if extrapolated forwards would not see the Muir 9.8 metre Skiddy Too reaching Mooloolaba until as late as Sunday 9th June.

New Zealand marine authorities have stated that no Epirbs have been set off in any ocean area into which the lone sailor might have sailed.

Here is the statement from the race authorities now close to two days old.

'Holland's last report was on 1st June 02 at position 32.49 166.14. The radio
signal was poor, however he was sailing well. Just 65 miles behind Solo
Globe Challenger. Solo was reported as having considerable build-up of
condensation in the cabin from the atmospherics they were sailing in.
'...everything is wet'

The yacht has just one battery to operate all functions on the yacht
The yacht has sailed through extreme conditions that have improved
each day since the 1st June. The other two competitors have experienced good conditions with favourable winds since the 1 June,
which have allowed them to make good time. The radio fitted in the
yacht was a ham radio type. Not as water resistant as a marine radio.

It had recently been repaired in Wellington and refitted to the yacht.
It is 100 watts so should have performed better on the last occasion
he was heard, it used a lot of power to run.

Bretten is a very competent aircraft pilot with good navigational skills.
During the two handed round NZ race Skiddy Too did experience some
electrical troubles, which caused the battery to discharge. This was
evidently fixed. There are three EPRIBs on the yacht. One personal one, a second on the yacht, and a third on the life raft. No EPRIBs have been activated that can be attributed to Skiddy Too.

The battery load on Skiddy Too required the diesel to be run for approx 2 hrs per day to keep the battery fully topped up. The yacht has done a Solo Tasman Race before and has just completed the 2 Man Round NZ Race.

What the Solo Tasman Committee has done:

Issued a low-level awareness notice to both the NZ and Australian Search & Rescue Centres. Asked the other competitors to try communicating with Skiddy Two using both SSB and VHF radios. This has not been successful.

The Race Committee will be monitoring the situation closely for the next two days on the belief that Skiddy Too has a reputation as being a very strong, capable and seaworthy yacht, and that either a radio or battery problem has caused the lack of communication. Based on the performance of the yacht up to the 1st June, we anticipate him finishing within this 2 day period.'

Sail-World will bring updates on this situation as soon as it has further information.