Unmanned yacht found sailing 20 miles off Sydney

Here's the good news: the skipper of an unmanned yacht found sailing itself on Monday (January 23, 2017) about 20 nautical miles off Broken Bay in a stiff northeast breeze and decent sea is safely back on dry land.

Now the bad news: the yacht — clearly an International Etchell Class — was last seen still reaching along with main and jib somewhere off Sydney and has been deemed a navigation hazard by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

So what went wrong?

The yacht, with the Etchell insignia and sail number 329 that identifies it as Slipstream on the class register, was first spotted about 9nm off Barrenjoey by a passing boat that raised the alarm when no-one appeared on board.

This sparked a serious search and rescue operation involving two Water Police boats, two Marine Rescue NSW boats, an air ambulance helicopter and the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter.

Marine Rescue NSW issued warnings to boaters about the hazard and deployed its Cottage Point and Broken Bay crews in the sea search for the skipper in the blustery conditions.

The volunteers were stood down by the NSW Police Force Marine Area Command later in the day and returned to base.

The unmanned yacht — flying a slightly ripped mainsail and jib, with a Tohatsu outboard hanging off the transom — was deemed a navigation hazard and reported to AMSA.

A Police spokeswoman reportedly said the sailor later confirmed with emergency services that he was safe and back home.

According to police, the sailor swam to shore after falling off his yacht, and then caught a taxi home, oblivious to the massive operation that had been launched to find him.

The skipper said his rudder became fouled by a fish trap rope off MacMasters Beach and it was then that he fell overboard while trying to free it. Thankfully, he was wearing an auto-inflate lifejacket.

As the owner entered the water his lifejacket inflated and the yacht sailed off. This is when he apparently swam the short distance to shore in his lifejacket.

Take home message: always tell someone where you are going, when you will be back, sign on and log off. If ever you abandon your boat then please tell maritime authorities.

Meantime, the salvage of the vessel was deemed unsafe in the offshore conditions. So there might still be an Etchell free to a good home sailing out there somewhere, although salvage rights mean it might have to sail 200nm offshore before you can claim it.

More at www.marinerescuensw.com.au.

Photo Credit: Marine Area Command, NSW Police; and Marine Rescue NSW.