Family, friends want search to resume for missing yacht

Family and friends of missing yachtie Paul van Rensburg are raising money to resume the search, saying he could still be afloat 1000km off the East Coast.

The search for 11-metre steel yacht Tafadzwa, was called off last Thursday after three days of intensive searching by an air force Orion, another plane and a helicopter.

Maritime New Zealand has warned mariners the yacht may have its self-steering gear set and may be sailing "not under command", although it said it had nothing to support that theory and it was one of several options.

Mr van Rensburg, 40, left Tauranga on March 12 for Gisborne, where he was due to begin a new job three days later. He ran into a southerly storm which rescue authorities believe could have blown him off course.

He never arrived in Gisborne and the search over more than 300,000 square kilometres of ocean found no sign of his yacht or wreckage.

Family and friends say the search was called off too soon because he could be outside the search area, the New Zealand Herald reported today.

One possibility was that he had abandoned the yacht for a liferaft or kayak.

They said an Orion was the only suitable aircraft to carry out the search, and had opened an account to help pay for it to resume searching.

The National Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the search would resume if there was new and compelling evidence.

It said the Orion went up to nearly 800km out to sea and covered a huge area north and south of East Cape.

Search coordinator Dave Wilson said he was confident had the yacht been in the search area they would have found it.

- NZPA