Please select your home edition
Edition
Selden 2020 - LEADERBOARD

Sabbath laws and 'who will pay' hampers search for missing sailors

by Lee Mylchreest on 18 Jun 2012
Navillus - now ’shredded’ on a reef on Late Island, Tonga, and her crew missing SW
Tonga's 'sabbatical laws' against Sunday trading and a question about who will pay the fuel bill for the rescue have hampered the ongoing search for two sailors - one British/Australian and one Australian - whose yacht broke up last week on the Tongan Island of Late. (See http://www.sail-world.com/CruisingAus/Search-underway-for-two---English-and-Australian---shipwrecked-sailors/98549!Sail-World_story)

One motor launch owner, Ross Knutson, who has taken part in the search says he needs 1200 litres of fuel for the day to reach the uninhabited island and keep the search going, but was not allowed to refuel on Sunday owing to the strict laws.

Searchers still hold out a glimmer of hope that the men may have reached the rugged coastline of the uninhabited Late Island where their yacht 'Navillus' was reportedly 'shredded' after becoming grounded on Thursday night.

'We think there was smoke seen definitely on the island during the last two days and that's possibly the only hope left,' Knutson, the skipper of the motor launch 'Escapade' that was searching the waters around Late Island on Saturday, told Matangi Tongaonline.

'We need to take some good strong men out to Late to conduct a ground search,' he said.

Ross is frustrated that he was unable to refuel his boat after arriving back at Neiafu's wharf late on Saturday because the fuel terminal was closed for the weekend.

'On Friday we did not know this search and rescue operation was going to happen. We went out on Saturday knowing that the fuel could be a little bit short. Today we could not go out because the fuel was not available, and we are told that the earliest time the BP tanker can refuel us will be sometime between 9:00am and 11:00am on Monday, so we will lose another day.'

An Orion had made 'a thorough grid search', but there was no sight of a dinghy that was thought to have been on the yacht, he said. Tonga's domestic airline Chathams Pacific had also flown over the area.

While the Tonga Defence Services patrol boats were out of range in southern Tongan waters, two foreign boats, the Knutson's 24 tonne 'Escapade' from Whitianga, New Zealand, and a larger boat the 'Patriot' out of USA, had joined in the search.

'The Patriot divers went down and the vessel was described as being shredded, there were lots of different parts, so the yacht had taken quite a beating,' said Ross.

Caught up in web of local bureaucracy that the foreign boat owners are finding difficult to negotiate, Ross believed that it was unlikely that they would be able to refuel his boat on Monday morning in time to get a search party landed safely on the volcanic island's dangerous coastline.

His motor launch can reach Late island in just under three hours, but Ross said it could take 6-7 hours to get people on and off the island in the dangerous swell, so they would have to wait until Tuesday when they could leave early at around 6:30 am.

'Who will pay the fuel bill?':

Meanwhile, Tonga's sabbatical laws that forbid trading on Sunday, along with uncertainty over who will foot a $10,000 fuel bill for continuing the search has tied up the search boat.

BP's manager in Vava'u, 'Eloni Siale, told Matangi Tonga that the first time he heard of the need for fuel was this afternoon, Sunday, when his security officer called him from the terminal. 'I told him to tell the people who wanted fuel to go to the police to get authority to trade on Sunday and also to contact the BP boss in Nuku'alofa about the bill. We also have to make sure who is going to pay the bill,' he said.

'That is what I am concerned about because we have helped search and rescue before and we refueled 20,000 litres for search boats at over $2 a litre and were never paid. We ended up with a lawyer and are still trying to recover those costs from 2009.

'We must wait for the police or the army to request a rescue at sea,' he said.

The Orion aircraft had covered a big grid search area on Saturday, but not Sunday because it was the sabbath in Tonga.

Barton Marine Pipe GlandsX-Yachts X4.3Switch One Design

Related Articles

GKSS Match Cup Sweden & Nordea Women's Trophy D1
Sunday's storm winds cleared to deliver ideal conditions for the opening race day Sunday's storm winds cleared to deliver ideal conditions for the opening race day of the 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women's Trophy, official championship stages of the World Match Racing Tour and Women's World Match Racing Tour.
Posted today at 4:33 am
World Sailing announces split venues for LA28
The boards will be at Long Beach, with the dinghy events at the Port World Sailing has said it welcomes the confirmation of sailing venues for the Olympic Games LA28 the boards will be at Long Beach, with the dinghy events at the Port.
Posted on 30 Jun
NYYC International Women's Championship update
The first group of invited skippers have been announced Elite-level international women's keelboat competition will return to Newport, R.I., in late summer of 2026 when the New York Yacht Club hosts the inaugural International Women's Championship.
Posted on 30 Jun
Luna shines bright in 2025 Morgan Cup Race
This was a truly international fleet with the majority of the teams from the UK and France The start of the Morgan Cup Race was a spectacular sight with over 100 boats beating to windward into the Western Solent for the fourth race of the Cowes Offshore Racing Series and the 11th race of the 2025 RORC Season's Points Championship.
Posted on 30 Jun
Freestyle Pro Tour Paros day 1
Kicking off with a nuclear single elim The opening day of the Freestyle Pro Tour (FPT) Paros kicked off exactly as forecasted - nuclear winds from morning till late afternoon, accompanied by nonstop freestyle action.
Posted on 30 Jun
New Zero Weight 2-in-1 Shorts from Henri-Lloyd
When the weather's hot, there's nothing better to keep you cool on or off the water When the weather's hot, there's nothing better than Henri-Lloyd's Zero Weight 2-in-1 shorts to keep you cool on or off the water.
Posted on 30 Jun
2025 Tiedemann Regatta
Experience shines alongside the brightwork at the Nw York Yacht Club A century ago, R Class yachts were the sports cars of the yachting world, sleek and low to the ground, nimble in the corners and quick around the course, and, above all, demanding to drive.
Posted on 30 Jun
Bronze breakthrough for Liddell and Brown
Nacra 17 duo claim their first international podium at Kieler Woche Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown have claimed their first international podium in the Nacra 17 class, securing bronze at Kieler Woche, the third Sailing Grand Slam event of the season.
Posted on 30 Jun
Foiling Week Malcesine 2025 concludes
Champions crowned and records set during the twelfth edition The twelfth edition of Foiling Week came to an end today in Malcesine with the awarding of the first BirdyFish World Championship title, showing the largest fleet ever for the occasion.
Posted on 29 Jun
Team Malizia starts Course Des Caps
Challenging race around the British Isles Team Malizia set sail today from Boulogne-sur-Mer, kicking off the inaugural Course des Caps race in light winds and challenging conditions with a solid start.
Posted on 29 Jun