Sailor without safety harness

By TONY GEE

A New Zealand sailor who died after falling overboard from a charter yacht sailing from Vanuatu to Northland was not wearing a safety harness.

Bay of Islands police said Wayne Bedford, 40, formerly of Taranaki, was in the water for about 15 minutes before his body was hauled back on board the schooner Black Panther a week ago.

Senior Constable Wayne Mills, of Paihia, said that after speaking to the schooner's skipper and crew, he believed there were no suspicious circumstances.

Mr Bedford had been in the cockpit of the 19m Black Panther as it sailed to Opua for maintenance and might have hit his head when he fell overboard, said Mr Mills.

A 1.5m swell with a half-metre chop was running at the time, with a 20-knot wind.

Mr Bedford was not clipped in by a safety harness.

Mr Mills has taken statements from Black Panther's Vanuatu-based owner and skipper, New Zealander Jim White, and spoke to crew members at the weekend when the yacht berthed at Opua.

Details of the investigation will be referred to the coroner.

Mr Bedford's body was taken to Whangarei on Saturday for an autopsy. His wife, Sue, and his parents, Ken and Barbara Bedford, were at Opua when his body was brought ashore.

Mr Bedford was an avionics engineer with Air Vanuatu and had been living in Vanuatu for five years.