Yacht Sails 2500 miles alone - Skipper missing

by H.G. Reza, Los Angeles Times/Sail-World on 13 Jan 2008 A yacht recently discovered floating off the coast of Hawaii appeared to have travelled from the Californian coast to Hawaii on its own. The previous owner of the boat said that he had sold the boat to Darrin Bunker three months ago in Dana Point Harbour, and Bunker had told him he was heading for San Diego.

The 30-foot vessel, damaged by fire and its mast broken, was found drifting off the Kauai coast on Sunday by fishermen. It was still stocked with provisions and Bunker's laptop computer was still aboard.

Bunker, since described by his family as 'an enigmatic loner', whose only known addresses were post office boxes in Dana Point and Aliso Viejo, had virtually no sailing experience, said Narik McArthur, who sold him the boat, the Bug Trap.

McArthur, a contractor from San Juan Capistrano, said he last saw Bunker on Oct. 3 when Bunker left Dana Point Harbor for San Diego, where he said he had rented a boat slip. It was Bunker's maiden voyage.

'I asked him if he'd sailed, and he said not really,' McArthur said. 'But he said it had been his dream to live on a boat.'

By the time the boat was spotted in Hawaii, there was no sign of its captain. Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Kai Christensen, chief of station in Kauai, said there was evidence of an accidental fire in the cabin.

Inside, officials found Bunker's laptop, canned food, cases of Corona beer and soda, and cartons of cigarettes, along with snuffed-out butts in an ashtray.

Christensen said it appeared that the Bug Trap drifted down the coast to Baja California, where it was swept out to sea by trade winds and currents that eventually pushed it to Hawaiian waters -- a journey of more than 2,500 miles.

Kauai Police Capt. Scott Yagihara said detectives have not determined if a crime was committed.

Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said local investigators were trying to find out where Bunker lived to determine whether a missing-person's investigation would be within the county's jurisdiction.

Bunker, 42, has two brothers and a sister. His parents are divorced. Nobody reported Bunker missing.

Until officials called him about the boat, which is still registered in his name, McArthur said he believed Bunker had 'stiffed' him. Bunker gave him a $9,000 deposit, about half the price of the boat, but never paid the balance. Phone calls and e-mails to Bunker after Oct. 3, the day he set out for San Diego, were never returned, he said. The men met in September, when Bunker offered to buy the craft that McArthur had rebuilt.

'I was baffled and upset. Then when I heard about the boat, I began thinking. Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went, and nobody reported him missing,' he said. 'That's very sad.'

Bunker's father, Donald, a retired electrical engineer living in the Tucson area, described him as 'standoffish, and a loner involved in computers.'

He had little contact with his family. A spokesman at the 11th Coast Guard District in Alameda said Bunker's mother and sister, who live in Michigan, told investigators they had not spoken to him in 2½ and 3½ years, respectively. Bunker grew up in Michigan.

But McArthur, who knew Bunker for about a month, described him as a chain smoker who always had 'a cigarette, bottle of Corona and his laptop.'

Christensen, the Coast Guard petty officer, said the fire in the boat might have started when Bunker fell asleep on the couch with a burning cigarette. Bedding was burned, as were other items in the cabin. The nozzle on a can of gasoline in the cabin was loose, and perhaps the fumes were ignited and set Bunker on fire, Christensen speculated.

'We can draw all kinds of conclusions. He could've gotten himself on fire and jumped in the water, or he could've fallen overboard. We just don't know,' Christensen said.

If Bunker jumped in the water to douse the flames or fell overboard, it would be difficult for him to climb back on board.

McArthur said it is more than four feet from the deck to the waterline. Reaching for the rail from the water is difficult, he said, even for a 6-footer like Bunker. 'If you can reach it, it's like doing a pull-up. You're using all upper-body strength. There's no place for you to put your feet to brace and help pull yourself up. You have one, maybe two pulls,' he said.

'If you can't pull yourself up by then,' he added, 'you probably aren't going to make it.'

Fisherman's Account:

As Coast Guard investigators continue to sift through the boat, the man who found the Bug Trap described how he came upon the abandoned sloop, built in 1979 but recently remodeled and in excellent condition.

Henry 'Hank' Zeevat, 44, who works for Kauai’s electrical company, left Nawiliwili Harbor just before 6 a.m. Sunday to fish with his father, Hans, on their boat, the Kaimi Kai.

It was a beautiful morning, Zeevat said – the first calm day on the seas in weeks.

'We like to fish in deep waters, so we headed to our usual spot,' Zeevat said. 'We were fishing in the Kauai Channel at a spot about 1,500 fathoms deep – that’s 9,000 feet – when I saw some birds while looking through my binoculars.

'Usually where there’s a lot of birds, there’s a lot of fish.

'I looked further past the birds and saw more birds. By the way those birds were acting, I knew there was something there.

'I told my dad, 'There’s something in the water. Keep your eyes peeled.' '

As he got closer, Zeevat recognized it was a sailboat. He was surprised to see another boater out so early. Usually Zeevat and his father are the early birds.

The Kaimi Kai – roughly translated, 'Seeker of the Sea' in Hawaiian – reached the sailboat at about 10:45 a.m.

Right away, Zeevat knew something was wrong.

'There was no mast,' he said. 'It was completely gone. I thought, 'Oh no, this isn’t good.'

'Most of the rigging was broken. There was a small piece of sail hanging in the water, and a rope dangling into the sea.’'

Zeevat steered his boat closer, going very slow. He yelled.

No response.

As the Kaimi Kai pulled up next to the Bug Trap, two mahi-mahi bit on the Zeevats’ fishing lines.

'I could sort of see inside of the cabin – it was in disarray,’' Zeevat said. 'My first thought was, 'He (the sailor) must have fallen off.' '

Zeevat radioed the Coast Guard in Honolulu. He gave officials the location of the boat.

While awaiting word on what to do, Zeevat and his father fished for about two hours – catching about 20 mahi-mahi.

Coast Guard officials decided it would be easier for him to tow the abandoned sailboat back into Nawiliwili Harbor, near the main island town of Lihue.

Zeevat grabbed the dangling rope and tied it to his boat.

He noticed that attached to the rope were several small white crabs – a sign that the rope had been in the water a long time.

When he got back to land several hours later – just before dark – Zeevat boarded the Bug Trap.

'My stomach fell when I jumped onto a boat that wasn’t mine,’' he said.

Zeevat entered the cabin.

'It looked like someone had picked the boat up, shook it for about five minutes, and put it back into the water,' he said.

'It didn’t look like it had been ransacked. It looked like it had gone through some really rough weather, and stuff just fell out of the cupboard and cabinets.'

During the three or four minutes he was alone in the cabin before Coast Guard officials boarded the sailboat, Zeevat said he saw a duffle bag packed with DVD movies.

He saw a business card that belonged to Bunker.

'There was lots of Corona beer and Mountain Dew, a lot of canned goods – crackers and potato chips,' Zeevat said. 'There was a lot of food on that thing.'