Tragedy strikes holiday cruise

By PAUL YANDALL

It was supposed to be the end of an idyllic holiday.

Don Morton, partner Jan Elliott and two other crew had sailed from Gulf Harbour, Whangaparaoa, in July to spend four months cruising around the islands of Fiji and Vanuatu.

They returned from Vanuatu this week, berthed in the Bay of Islands on Thursday, and then sailed down the east coast of Northland homeward-bound early yesterday to avoid the sea traffic later in the day.

The annual trip was a retirement dream the 76-year-old Mr Morton and Mrs Elliott had enjoyed in each of the past eight years in their 12m fibreglass sloop, the Toolka-T.

But in the half-light of dawn, just a few kilometres north of their home berth, that dream turned to tragedy when Mr Morton went down with his yacht in 50m of water in the Hauraki Gulf.

About 5 am, the southbound craft hit a partially submerged 500m towline connecting a northbound tug and barge about 2km northeast of Takatu Pt at Cape Rodney, east of Warkworth.

The 1500-tonne barge went over the top of the fibreglass yacht, sinking it in minutes.

Mrs Elliott and the two crew, Dutchman Kees Dykstra and a Whangaparaoa woman known only as Karen, were thrown overboard.

They were picked up by crew of the tug, shaken but unhurt, and taken in a coastguard vessel to the nearby Sandspit township to meet police.

Mr Morton was one of three on board who was below deck at the time of the accident but the only one who was asleep. He did not surface when the yacht went down.

Navy divers from the Resolution found his body lying next to his yacht about 4.30 pm.

Mrs Elliott's daughter, Katherine Earby, of Titirangi, said Mr Morton moved to New Zealand about 10 years ago. He and her mother also spent a lot of time in Adelaide with his Australian family.

In Whangaparaoa, Mr Morton's friends said he was a lively character with dozens of years of sailing experience.

Murray Haine said he and wife Joy sailed with Mr Morton in Fiji in September.

"I tell you what, there are a lot of skippers down here but he was one of the best and I wouldn't sail with anyone else, he was that good," Mr Haine said. "It's a real loss for us here."

He said Mr Morton lived on his yacht and was well known in the small community.

Late yesterday, the barge involved in the accident was anchored at Rangitoto Island and the tug, named Wainui and owned by McCallum Bros building supply merchants, had returned to the firm's Auckland wharf depot.

The tug and barge were heading for the northern beach town of Pakiri to collect sand when the accident happened.

Scott Ferguson, who lives at Tawharanui near Takatu Pt and saw the yacht before it sank, said he could not understand how the accident could have happened as visibility was good.

But local fishermen at Sandspit said it was difficult to see a towline, especially if it was partially submerged.

The acting director of the Maritime Safety Authority, Tony Martin, said investigators would talk to crew from both vessels in the next few days to determine what went wrong.

He said maritime law states that both the tug and the barge have to display certain light markings depending on the size of the vessels.

But it was not clear why the accident happened, as the weather was good and there was little other sea traffic around.