A RECENT sighting of the missing Leopard 44 catamaran had given the families of three SA yachtsmen hope again, but their expectations were dashed when bad weather forced the ship that made the discovery to revert to their initial course.
According to Nicole Payne, who posted a status on the Searching for Anthony, Reg and Jarryd Facebook page, the catamaran was spotted at 27 51.7S, 063 01.6E, 552NM SE from Reunion Island on Friday, 5 June by a ship.
She wrote: “The ship that made the most recent sighting from Reunion Island was asked by MRCC Cape Town to return to the location on humanitarian grounds. The master agreed to return, to place a radar reflector on the catamaran as well as identify the hull and do further checks for signs of life.”
She added that the families of three missing SA yachtsmen, Anthony Murray, Reginald (Reg) Robertson and Jaryd Payne, were deeply grateful for the master’s actions; however, bad weather in the region made it hard for the merchant ship to re-locate the hull and it had to return to its course. The families are desperate to reach the upturned hull and are now raising funds to assist in this, as well as other costs associated with this traumatic and ongoing event, among them legal costs.
“We have launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise the funds needed to urgently get to the upturned hull. This is not something we ever imagined we would have to face and our anguish is deep and unending. However, with your support, we believe that we will find the catamaran, and we hold onto hope that Anthony, Reg and Jaryd will have made it through this nightmare alive,” she wrote.
To make donations please visit the page of the GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/t2md9s.
