Big swell keeps rescuers at bay

By GREGG WYCHERLEY

High seas last night prevented a Royal Australian Navy minesweeper from rescuing a New Zealand family stranded on a reef in the Coral Sea.

HMAS Huon reached the yacht about 7.45 pm (NZ time) after a 29-hour journey but 4m swells and treacherous conditions meant a small craft sent to make contact with the family was forced to turn back.

Christchurch engineer David Cairns, his wife, Diane, and their 24-year-old daughter, Teresa, ran aground on Chesterfield Reef, 800km off the Queensland coast, on Tuesday night.

Australian Search and Rescue spokesman Ben Mitchell said the 11.6m steel-hulled yacht Aimlis was lying high and dry, listing at 45 degrees, but appeared safe in the swell.

He said nightfall and worsening weather made any attempt to rescue the family or haul the yacht off the low-lying atoll too dangerous.

"They dispatched a Zodiac to try to get to the yacht but because of the darkness, rolling swell and the reef they weren't successful.

"The boat is a bit further in on the reef than they anticipated so it was too treacherous to try in the darkness."

Mr Mitchell said the Navy would try again at first light, either to salvage the yacht or take the family back to Queensland.

The family had plenty of supplies and were coping well, but were relieved help was at hand.

"They are in excellent spirits, doing fine but also very pleased to see the Navy there."

Mr Mitchell said the family would not be billed for the rescue.

Mr Cairns built Aimlis about 10 years ago and the family are experienced boaties, often sailing around the South Pacific together, especially to Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu. They had flown to Queensland to board Aimlis, which had been docked there for about a year, and planned to sail it to Vanuatu before returning to New Zealand in September.

But the heavy seas that forced them on to the reef abruptly curtailed their journey and it seemed likely last night they would have to return to Queensland.

Alicia Cairns, the couple's 18-year-old daughter, said from Christchurch she knew her family would be safe because they carried all the necessary equipment. But she wanted to talk to them personally.

"They wouldn't go anywhere without the gear. I'm not too worried about them because they know what to do. But my sister doesn't usually go on the boat. She was freaked."

Alicia and the third Cairns daughter, Gina, learned their parents were stranded when an aunt in Australia phoned them on Wednesday afternoon. She told them there was a chance the mast was broken and the yacht was sinking.

Said Alicia Cairns: "We're just getting secondhand information."