Keel failure leads to fatality

The search for a sailor who went missing when a yacht lost its keel and overturned, ended in tragedy after his body was recovered.

The 36-foot Runaway, a Sayer 11 built in 2003, was traveling south along Australia’s east coast from Yeppoon to Brisbane when an EPIRB was activated about four nautical miles south of Lady Elliot Island at 5:00 am on June 16.

The missing person, a 65-year-old man, was one of three people onboard the vessel which was found shortly after 10:15 am with two other men in the water. RACQ LifeFlight said the father and son had managed to climb onto the upside-down vessel to raise the alarm.

Police said a 62-year-old man and 27-year-old man were taken to Bundaberg Hospital where they remained in a stable condition. They said the body of the 65-year-old man was found shortly after 2:00 pm. Police said all three men were from Yeppoon.

The water ballasted yacht was designed and build by Jon Sayer, notable with its flared topsides for the water tanks and crew weight leverage, and had been raced extensively offshore.