Friends anxious for Nelson woman on missing yacht

Rescue authorities have decided not to ask an Air Force Orion to search for a Nelson yacht reported overdue on a voyage to Rarotonga.


Nelson woman Verona Hunt and her Australian partner, Gary Cull, left Nelson on June 8 in the 12.6m trimaran Manoah, which Mr Cull built.


They were heading for Rarotonga and are about two weeks overdue.


Relatives contacted search-and-rescue authorities in Wellington soon after the yacht's expected arrival time.


Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokeswoman Heidi Brook said it was decided yesterday not to ask an Orion to search for the Manoah.


"We're been speaking to a lot of experienced yachties, and to take 30 days to get from Nelson to Rarotonga would not be unusual," she said.


"They do have a distress beacon on board, so if they did get into difficulty they would activate that and that would send us a message."


Another factor was that the potential search area between Nelson and Rarotonga would be about two million square nautical miles.


"We don't actually have a route plan for them - that's a huge area - and they've also got seven weeks of food on board," said Ms Brook.


Vessels in the region had been asked to keep a lookout.


Nelson man Mark Boyle, a yachtie and friend of Ms Hunt and Mr Cull, said the couple had been together for about six months and were going to Rarotonga for a holiday.


Mr Cull built the Manoah and sailed it solo to New Zealand from Sydney, he said.


Mr Boyle said they were not too long overdue, and the boat was well-built, with an "incredibly strong hull".


- NZPA