Mariner warning for drifting yacht Pacific Ocean NE of New Zealand

7:10 PM Sun 21 Mar 2010 GMT

'Tafadzwa possible drift copy' .

Seven days ago the yacht Tafadzwa left New Zealand for a two day sail off eastern coast of the north island of New Zealand. In spite of an intensive search and the EPIRBs on board, no sign of the yacht has been seen since.

Authorities now warn that one possibility is that the vanished yacht is sailing with no-one at the helm, north east away from New Zealand into the vast waters of the Pacific

The missing yacht is a steel hulled 11 metre light blue/grey sloop. It went missing on a voyage from Tauranga to Gisborne last week.

The search for the yacht and solo sailor Paul van Rensburg, 40, was called off last Thursday. He left Tauranga on March 12 to sail to Gisborne where he was due to begin a new job last Monday.

Paul sailing Tafadzwa in its new colour of grey/blue - .. . Click Here to view large photo

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.

Maritime New Zealand has now warned mariners in the area between Tauranga and Gisborne, it was possible the yacht had its self-steering gear set and may be 'continuing to sail not under command'.

'All vessels are requested to keep a sharp lookout and report sightings,' said Maritime New Zealand in the message on the VHF channel 16 emergency channel yesterday.

The National Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington said today if the yacht was not under command that could be because Mr van Rensburg had fallen overboard, was sick or injured.

However, the centre's spokeswoman, Rosemary Neilson, said the warning did NOT mean they had any new information about what might have happened to Mr van Rensburg after the search was suspended on Thursday.

'It is a possibility but it is only one of a number of possibilities, and is a standard warning in this situation. It does not indicate anything new.'

A recent shot of Paul, with catch - .. .

The search for Tafadzwa and Mr van Rensburg was suspended after an air force Orion, another search plane and a helicopter covered 328,000 square kilometres of ocean in an extensive three-day search and found nothing.

The Rescue Centre 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. He said searchers were disappointed not to have found the yacht but after such an extensive search there was nothing more they could do.

Mr van Rensburg was relocating to Gisborne to be closer to his girlfriend and his last contact was a cellphone call to her at 1.30pm on Friday 12. The name Tafadzwa is a unisex name in Southern Africa, which means 'We are pleased'.

by Sail-World Cruising