schooner yacht nina

The New York Times

City room | a maritime beauty, possibly gone forever, a maritime beauty, possibly gone forever.

John Rousmaniere remembers the last time he saw Nina in top form. It was 1962, and it was dazzling its way to Bermuda, leaving a bunch of younger and sleeker challengers in its wake.

It already was a rare craft, a mahogany schooner racing across the ocean against a pack of sloops and yawls. It had been 15 years since it was the flagship of the New York Yacht Club, but the yacht was still turning heads with its sails billowing out from its wooden masts.

“It was really dramatic” to race against Nina, Mr. Rousmaniere recalled a few days ago, as news of the vessel’s disappearance spread. “It’s a tragedy that she’s been lost.”

The 70-foot schooner left New Zealand in late May, bound for the west coast of Australia with seven people aboard, including a family from Florida who had sailed it around the world for more than four years. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation , those on the yacht included the family — David Dyche, 58; his wife, Rosemary, 60; and their son David — Evi Nemeth, 73; and a Briton, Matthew Wootton, 35. A 28-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, identified by her father as Danielle Wright, according to the Australian newspaper The Age , were also aboard.

The last known communication from Nina was on June 4 when it was caught in a severe storm. A text message released on Thursday, which had been sent by satellite phone from the vessel to a meteorologist, said, “THANKS STORM SAILS SHREDDED LAST NIGHT, NOW BARE POLES,” and indicated that information about its course would soon be updated. No such update ever came, and the BBC reported that rescuers called off the search for the yacht last week.

Aerial searches of a vast expanse of the Tasman Sea yielded no sign of the schooner or any of its passengers. Leaders of the search said they believed it sank suddenly in the storm, leaving no time for the crew to deploy lifeboats.

If Nina did sink, it would spell the end of a long, eventful life that took the yacht from its creation on Cape Cod to New York City, to Bermuda and back many times, across the Atlantic to Europe, to Florida and, finally, to the South Pacific. Along the way, it was a racer, a flagship, a training vessel for aspiring mariners and the unrequited love of so many sailors.

“She represents the end of an era,” said Nick van Nes, whose father, Hans, owned Nina for more than 15 years. “You rarely see so much love and loyalty going into a boat.”

Mr. van Nes, 68, recalled that when his father was looking for a place to keep Nina after leaving the New York area for New England, the schooner was embraced wherever he took it. “He sailed into Vineyard Haven, and the owner of the shipyard said, ‘You can dock here anytime as my guest. I’d be honored,’ ” Mr. van Nes recounted on Friday from his home on Martha’s Vineyard.

Nina was built in 1928 on Cape Cod, designed by William Starling Burgess for its first owner, Paul Hammond. The schooner immediately shocked the yachting world in July 1928 by winning a race from New York to Santander, Spain, and capturing a cup offered by the queen of Spain.

A month later, Nina won the Fastnet Race off the coast of England, and its competitive credentials were established.

In 1935, DeCoursey Fales, a banker who was a member of the New York Yacht Club, bought Nina. When Mr. Fales was elected commodore of the yacht club, whose headquarters are in a Beaux-Arts landmark building on 44th Street in Manhattan, Nina became the club’s flagship.

Mr. Fales lovingly maintained Nina and raced it aggressively, Mr. Rousmaniere, the historian of the New York Yacht Club, recalled. He kept the vessel at a boatyard at City Island, which then was a haven for racing yachts.

He made sure to keep Nina stripped down to its fighting weight.

“Day races, Bermuda races, overnight races, he kept at it,” Mr. Rousmaniere said.

By 1962, when Nina should have been well past its prime, Mr. Fales entered it in a Newport-to-Bermuda race against a pack of yawls and single-masted sloops. With the wind just right to take advantage of the schooner’s big sails, Mr. Fales sailed Nina to an unexpected victory.

“It was a very popular win because the boat was so handsome,” Mr. Rousmaniere said.

The health of Mr. Fales, who was 74 when he won the race to Bermuda, soon began to fail, but his enthusiasm for racing Nina did not. Mr. van Nes recalled seeing Mr. Fales strapped into the helm when he no longer had the strength to keep his balance on Nina. He died in 1966 while the boat was racing to Bermuda.

After his death, Nina passed from one owner to another, briefly belonging to the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. By 1975, the schooner had been sitting idle at a marina in Stamford, Conn., for a few years during a dispute over payment for repairs.

Mr. van Nes said he encouraged the marina’s owner to auction off Nina, because he wanted the vessel for himself. At the time, he was charging tourists and workers on Wall Street $3.75 for a 45-minute lunchtime cruise from Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan. There was so much demand for a short jaunt in the harbor, he was certain he could use another schooner there.

Mr. van Nes persuaded his father to bid up to $75,000 for Nina, promising to repay him over several years. Hans van Nes won the auction with a bid of $49,700, but Nina had the same effect on him that it had on so many other sailors.

Mr. van Nes never owned Nina because his father would not give it up. He took the schooner to Massachusetts and sailed it with a group of friends on regular trips from New Bedford to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard and back, Mr. van Nes said.

“He just absolutely loved the boat, and everybody he sailed with loved it, too,” Mr. van Nes said. His father eventually sold Nina to Mr. Dyche, the Florida resident who was sailing the yacht when it disappeared en route to Australia last month.

Mr. van Nes confessed that his own sentiments toward Nina were so persistent that about a week before he heard of Nina’s disappearance, he had searched online for information about its whereabouts. Wistful, he said, he found a YouTube video of the Dyche family happily sailing it across the Atlantic, bound for Ireland. The schooner was still a sight to behold.

He recalled that Olin Stephens, one of the most successful designers of racing yachts in history, once told him that Nina was the only yacht that looked great from any angle. Try as he might, Mr. Stephens told him, he had never been able to match Nina in the looks department.

“That was always a great tribute to the boat,” Mr. van Nes said.

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SCHOONER NINA: Missing and Presumed Sunk

Thanks to a heads-up from WaveTrain rider Gareth Hughes I’ve been following this story over the past several days on the Cruisers Forum . I didn’t write anything, however, as I thought the missing boat would soon show up. Now that seems increasingly unlikely, and it would appear that the fabled 59-foot schooner Nina , winner of the 1928 Transatlantic Race to Spain, the 1928 Fastnet Race, and the 1962 Newport-Bermuda Race, among others, has gone down with all hands somewhere between New Zealand and Australia.

Nina left Opua in the Bay of Islands bound for Newcastle, Australia, on May 29 on what was expected to be a 10- to 12-day passage. The last voice contact was on June 3, when meteorologist Bob McDavitt gave her crew weather-routing advice via sat phone. Their position at the time was about 370 miles west of New Zealand. The following day McDavitt received a text message asking for an update, and nothing has been heard since. Following three days of unsuccessful aerial searches over this past week, Kiwi SAR authorities have reportedly stated it is “logical to assume” the schooner sank. The crew of seven included the owner, David Dyche, 58, his wife Rosemary, 60, their son David, 17, a family friend, Evi Nemeth, 73, and three others, two men and one woman, who have not been identified. When last heard from, Nina and her crew were caught in a gale with winds blowing from 43 to 60 knots.

Owner David Dyche at the wheel of Nina

I’ve been struck by the mainstream media’s great interest in this story and can only assume it is because of Nina ‘s age and pedigree, as all accounts seem to refer to her as a “classic” and/or “historic” vessel. She is all that and more, and as sailors we should remember her (if it comes to that) more explicitly.

These days we all cite Olin Stephens ‘ famous yawl Dorade as the boat that transformed ocean racing and modern yacht design in the early 20th century, but really that was a process that started with Nina . Prior to Nina , ocean racing was dominated by much more conservative gaff-rigged “fisherman” schooners, many of them designed by John Alden . Nina , designed by W. Starling Burgess for Paul Hammond, retained a schooner rig, but flew a huge Marconi main with staysails forward, and her hull was narrower and deeper with a more swept-back keel than Alden’s more traditional hulls. Also, her construction was light for the time, and her masts were hollow. Most particularly, she was much more closewinded than traditional schooners, which is how she won the race to Spain.

Linton Rigg, sailing master on second-place Pinta , a gaff-rigged Alden schooner, described the finish as follows:

When we finally made landfall on Spain, Nina was way down on the horizon behind us. Then the wind died and came out dead ahead. The best an Alden schooner, gaff rigged, could make on the wind in that light going was six points, while Nina was doing four and a half. It almost broke our hearts to see Nina go by us to windward almost within sight of the finish.

Nina , seen here flying her original rig, was described by some as a “two-masted cutter.” Her mainmast is nearly amidships and her formast is so short her triatic stay is in a straight line with her forestay

Later in her career Nina was given a taller foremast, seen here

In the end Nina beat Pinta by 29 hours. Later that summer, when she lined up for the Fastnet Race at Cowes in England, she was considered so radical there was serious discussion of banning her from the fleet. Conditions favored her–light headwinds–and she won that race, too, by a margin of over nine hours.

A model of Nina side by side with a model of the cutter Jolie Brise , which corrected out to second place in the ’28 Fastnet Race. The blatant differences between these craft should give some idea of why the Brits thought it unfair for Nina to race

For much of her career Nina belonged to DeCoursey Fales, a commodore of the New York Yacht Club, and served for a time as the club’s flagship. Fales was her owner when she won the 1962 Bermuda Race at age 34, thanks to two massive gollywobblers she carried in her sail inventory, which were known respectively as “the Monster” and “the Grand Monster.” Fales at the time was himself age 74, and there was much ado in Hamilton, as you might imagine, over the fact that the race had been won by the oldest boat and skipper in the fleet.

Lines drawing of Nina

Profile and accommodation plan

For the past couple of decades Nina has belonged to the Dyche family, who, by all accounts, have maintained her carefully and have sailed her well on a long series of bluewater cruises. Here you can see her in action in a video made by one starstruck crew member during a passage to the Azores in 1992:

There is still some hope she and her crew will reappear soon–we can only pray this will be the case.

UPDATE (July 4): One story I’m seeing early this a.m. claims another text message, delivery of which was delayed, was received after Nina survived the gale of June 4. This message allegedly said the schooner’s sails were damaged, but that she was still making progress. Kiwi SAR authorities are searching a new area today. The formerly unidentified crew are Danielle Wright (18), Kyle Jackson (27), and Mathew Wootton (35). All onboard but Woottoon, a Brit, are U.S. citizens.

UPDATE (July 11): Pls. note I’ve changed one photo here, the third one, pursuant to a comment below. Still no word or sign of Nina and the search for her has been suspended. The situation seems quite bleak, I’m afraid.

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The late Frank Snyder who was also a commodore of NYYC told me that she was built as a rule beater, and the premise was that the stays should line up to make her into a schooner in name only, thereby gaining a rating advantage. Frank would have been born about 1920 so his information was not current with the building of the boat.

Evi Nemeth the friend of a very good friend is a larger than life character, it is difficult to think of her not surviving http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evi_Nemeth

Very good summary and interesting history! Makes one wonder about the conditions such that forecasts wouldn’t have called for a delay…..

@Gareth: Yes, my understanding is Nina was built as a rule-beater. Specifically, Paul Hammond had her designed explicitly for the race to Spain and to the rule that governed it.

@Don: My understanding was the forecast was not great, but I don’t know enough to second-guess their decision to leave. I gather crossing the Tasman is much like sailing from New England to Bermuda in the fall. Leave too early and you risk tangling with a tropical system; leave too late and you’re into winter gales. Plus, crossing the Tasman takes much longer! If you wait for a perfect window, you’ll never leave.

Nice….

Just to let you know that the first photo you show here is not Nina but is the boat Ninita which my wife Jenny and I own, racing in the Azores a few years ago. Ninita was built for us to Burgess’ plans for Nina but in 2004 and she carries the original Burgess sail plan. We are facebook friends of the Dyches and are still hoping…

Sorry, I said first photo, but meant 3rd…

@Paul: Thanks for pointing that out! I’ve put in another photo. I’m still hoping, too, but the chances are getting pretty slim, I’d say.

We just keep hoping. No identified debris yet? so perhaps still some hope …

It’s time wikipedia had an entry for Ni

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Ghost ship Nina: Missing for four months in the vastness of the Pacific, with seven crew presumed dead, is this faint satellite image a glimmer of hope?

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Blurry satellite images of what appears to be a ship drifting in the Pacific Ocean have raised faint hopes that seven crew members, missing since their yacht disappeared off New Zealand four months ago, may be alive.

Mystery has shrouded the fate of the Nina, a mahogany schooner which vanished after sailing into a severe storm in June. No trace of it was found during a search of more than half a million square nautical miles of the Pacific. The last word from the boat was an undelivered text message reporting: “Sails shredded last night.”

Relatives of the crew – six Americans, including David Dyche, the Nina’s owner and skipper, and 35-year-old Matt Wootton, from Orpington, Kent – say the object in the satellite images is the same size and shape as the 21-metre Nina. A private search and rescue company recruited by the families, Texas EquuSearch, is trying to plot its probable course before conducting an aerial search.

“We have never lost hope that the crew of Nina is alive and well, and that they will be rescued,” Robin Wright, whose 18-year-old daughter, Danielle, was on board, told The New Zealand Herald. However, the images gathered by EquuSearch are a month old, and some are sceptical as to whether they really depict the schooner. According to an Auckland-based meteorologist, Bob McDavitt, the area – about 200 kilometres west of Norfolk Island – is traversed by a vessel at least every other day. Even if the pictures do show the Nina, it may be a wreck – or a ghost ship, with no one left aboard.

The yacht – once the flagship of the New York Yacht Club – left Opua, in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands, on 29 May, headed for Newcastle, north of Sydney. It apparently weathered a storm on 4 June, with Evi Nemeth, a 73-year-old crew member, subsequently reporting the shredded sails.

Ms Nemeth said she would update the Nina’s position six hours later. But no further message was sent. Her undelivered text was released by the satellite phone company Iridium a month later. The boat’s emergency beacon was never activated.

On the day of the storm, Ms Nemeth – in the crew’s last direct contact with the outside world – had sought Mr McDavitt’s advice. The pair spoke by phone, after which she texted him, asking: “ANY UPDATE 4 NINA? … EVI.” That was the last he heard.

Nigel Clifford, the general manager of safety and response services for Maritime New Zealand, has said that while the Nina survived the storm, “very poor weather continued in the area for many hours and… [was] followed by other storms”.

New Zealand authorities have rejected calls by the crew’s families to resume their search. “We feel they are not going to be convinced by a satellite photo until they can see seven people holding their passports up, with their date of birth clearly visible,” said Mr Wootton’s father, Ian. He told the Herald that he and his wife, Sue, had mixed feelings when they first saw the photos. “You get the elation of ‘Yep, this looks like a really good image’. But also the downside of ‘How are you going to find it [the boat] again?’”

One expert, Ralph Baird, told the NY Daily News that the Nina was “a needle in a haystack, and that needle is moving”.

After the Nina disappeared, Russ Rimmington, a New Zealand skipper, claimed that the Nina was unseaworthy, with a warped hull, and that Mr Dyche – whose wife, Rosemary, and son, David, were also on board – refused to carry modern gadgetry.

Mr Rimmington also told Fairfax New Zealand that the Nina would have sunk if it had capsized, because of the lead on its keel.

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W. Starling Burgess NINA

Sail Number: 2

Type: Early “Modern” Staysail Schooner

Burgess “Nina” Specifications:

LOA: 70′ 0″ / 21.33m – LOD: 59′ 0″ / 17.98m – LWL: 50′ 0″ / 15.24m – Beam: 14′ 10″ / 4.52m – Draft: 9′ 7″ / 2.92m – Displacement: 44 Tons – Ballast: – Sail Area: 2,275 sq ft – Foremast: 65′ 0″ / 19.81m – Mainmast: 85′ 0″ / 25.90m – Design Number: – Yard Number: – Rig: Staysail Schooner – Designer: W. Starling Burgess – Built by: Biggalow Ship Yard, Monument Beach, Cape Cod, Mass – Original Owner: Paul Hammond/Elihu Root, Jr. – Year Built: 1928 – Restored By: – Boat Location: Missing Unknown – Current Name: Nina – Current Owner: Rosemary & David N. Dyche – Status: Last known correspondence June 4th, 2013  

Uffa Fox comments – “By winning the transatlantic and Fastnet Races in 1928, Nina proved herself a fast and able ocean racer. Her successful racing career no doubt influenced Vanderbilt to entrust Burgess with the designing of Enterprise, with which he successfully defended the America’s Cup against SHAMROCK V.”

“NINA, while anchored off Cowes, looked as strange to me as the AMERICA must have to our seamen in 1851, for both had rigs that were new to England.”

“Nina and America were alike in that they were both invading yachts with strange new rigs, both winning cups for America and England, thus putting these National cups on the higher plane of International cups.”

“Her short ends are the result of the American Ocean Racing Rule, otherwise it is certain NINA would have had longer overhangs fore and aft. The result would be a shorter bowsprit, would make reefing the mainsail easier, as well as giving stability, steadiness, and speed in a seaway.”

Nina, named for one of the caravels of Christopher Columbus, was built in 1928 with no engine for yachtsman Paul Hammond. She was designed by W. Starling Burgess specifically to demolish the ratings rule of her day. As she would go on to be the grande dame of the ocean racing fleet.

Known Racing History:

1994 Winner Antigua (Schooner Class) 1989 Winner New York Mayors Cup 1962 Winner Newport to Bermuda Race (34 years, oldest yacht to win) 1949 Winner Cygnet Cup 1940 Winner New York Yacht Club Astor Cup 1939 Winner New York Yacht Club Astor Cup 1929 Winner London to Gibson Island Chesapeake Bay. 1928 Winner Fastnet Race. Under the command of C.Sherman Hoyt, Nina was the first American yacht to win the 600 mile Fastnet race, 4 days, 12 hours, 48 minutes, 13 seconds. 1928 Winner New York to Santander, Spain, 3,900 mile race in 24 days, greeted by King Alfonso from his launch. “Well sailed, Niña, I congratulate you! I am the King of Spain.” Upon winning the race the King and Queen, and the ambassador of the United States were first to come aboard to congratulate the winning owner/skipper and his crew.

Bringing Home the Niña and Her Crew (Originally published on March 10th 2015)

The Starling Burgess designed Niña, a classic sailboat with an impeccable racing career. Where once the King of Spain went out in his launch to congratulate her on winning the 1928 New York to Santander, Spain race, was lost in a fierce storm in the Tasman Sea off of New Zealand in June of the year 2013.

The families of the Niña’s crew have since spent countless dollars conducting their own searches, and have tried to form a Petition to ask John Kerry to help save Nina’s sailors. 1,270 more signatures are needed to reach the 5,000 goal to submit to John Kerry.

MAY 29TH 2013 – Niña set sail from Opua in the Bay of Islands for their destination point Newcastle, Australia, ETA June 8th.

JUNE 4TH 2013 – The next day Meteorologist Bob McDavitt got a text, the last known communication from the boat: “ANY UPDATE 4 NINA? … EVI” McDavitt said he advised the crew to stay put and ride out the storm another day. He continued sending messages over the next few days but received no answer.

JUNE 14TH 2013 – After concerns were raised by family and friends, the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) instigated a communications, using a range of communications methods to broadcast alerts to the vessel and others in the area.

JULY 25TH 2013 – A search area of 160,000 square nautical miles was covered, to the immediate north-north-east of New Zealand, based on the vessel being disabled and drifting.

JULY 5TH 2013 – The subsequent 12-day search covered 737,000 square nautical miles before being suspended. Officially, it’s deemed likely that the Niña was “overwhelmed in a catastrophic event” in gale force winds and eight-metre swells soon after June 4, and sank suddenly with the loss of all hands.

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

Owner/Guardian:(1928-1933) Paul Hammond/Elihu Root, Jr. Racing Skipper: (1928 Fasnet) C.Sherman Hoyt Owner/Guardian: (1933-1935) Bobby Somerset, England. Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. Owner/Guardian: (1935-1966) DeCoursey Fales, affectionately referred to Nina as the “old girl.” New York Yacht Club flagship. Owner/Guardian: (1966) Merchant Marine Academy (bequeathed from Mr. Fales estate.) Owner/Guardian: Stamford, Conn Owner/Guardian: (1975-1988) Hans van Nes, acquired via auction $49,700 Owner/Guardian: (1988-2013) Rosemary & David N. Dyche

References:

Ocean Racing: The Great Blue-water Yacht Races, 1866-1935

Bringing Home the Nina and Her Crew Website Facebook Petition Donations

Classic Yacht Nina: Timeline

Oceans by Hillsong United has become an inspirational song for the family of crew member Danielle since their daughter disappeared with her mates. They continue to anticipate the finding of their precious daughter and the rest of the crew. They have not given up, in fact they stand stronger in their faith each day. And they thank all for believing with us.

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I think this is the sailboat 🙂

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, but there are many details on the Dutch ship, that makes her different. Rig, deck layout, cabin arrangements, outside chainplates, shear, etc…, but through collective assistance it keeps the dreams alive that we may one day find out the fate of such a treasured icon, and her precious crew members.

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Missing schooner Nina presumed sunk

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Historic Schooner Nina and Crew of Seven Missing Off New Zealand

Nina in 1928 Photo: Paul Gilbert

The 70′ schooner Nina  and her crew of seven have been reported missing. They sailed on May 29, from Opua in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand bound for Newcastle, Australia.  They were last hear from on June 4th, 370 nautical miles west of New Zealand.  David Dyche is reported to be the captain of the yacht.  Two other American men and three American women are aboard, aged between 17 and 73 as well as a British man, aged 35.

“Our records show that conditions at the last known position for the vessel… were very rough, with winds of 80km/h (50 mph), gusting to 110km/h (70 mph), and swells of eight metres (26 ft),” said Kevin Banaghan, rescue mission co-ordinator for the New Zealand maritime authorities.

There have been no distress calls from the schooner.Nor has the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Beacon) been activated. New Zealand Air Force search planes have been dispatched to look for the missing schooner but thus far have found nothing.

The Nina was built in 1928 as a staysail schooner.  She was designed by Starling Burgess for Paul Hammond and was built by Ruben Bigelow on Monument Beach, Cape Cod, Mass.  The schooner quickly earned renown as a racer.  Niña first became famous in the 1928 race from New York to Santander, Spain, which she won in 24 days.  She was the first American yacht to win the Fastnet race and went on have a successful career in yacht racing under several owners.  She has been owned by David Dyche since 1988.  Accordin gto a post in sailblogs.com  by Rosemary A. Dyche, in September, 2008 “Capt. Dyche, wife Rosemary, son David set off on their dream to circumnavigate.”

Thanks to Niall Sinclair and Phil Leon for contributing to this post.

Historic Schooner Nina and Crew of Seven Missing Off New Zealand — 13 Comments

Pingback: Not good news--NINA way overdue - SailNet Community

A giant squid probably got it

PRAY,PRAY,PRAY

Having sailed the Tasman from Auckland to Newcastle just four weeks ago, I can testify that it was not a wise decision to set out on this passage. Hopefully this historic vessel survived the ordeal, with all souls on board.

Nina was the first old wooden sailboat I fell for. Sailed with her when Hans VanNess was her captain. I am praying for her safe and quick return to land with all aboard warm and well. My thoughts go out to all concerned.

Sailed on board her summer ’74. She was a pure delight. Have kept in contact with the dyche’s as the have worked this adventure. Very saddened of this news.

My wife Penny Kempton sailed on DUEN ,old ketch ,converted Norwegian Shrimper . (many years ago in th 7os) in a gale they sprang a leak in a plank.They had to take turns with a bucket ,finally made it to a safe harbour, but they never gave up: She said there ain’t any atheists in the trenches. Never give up, the electronics can fail, they are to big to not to be noticed by traffic. H Otto Whangarei,sorry to have missed them here.

Don’t pray. It does not help as there is no god. This said, i hope they find them alive.

Also sailed with Hans Van Ness and a ship full of friends off New England coast; Many fond memories; Sorry to hear this news.

Saddened to learn of the Nina’s sinking and loss of life. Spent a wonderful weekend sailing around Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyard some many years ago…

I met them when they docked in Panama City, Fl early one morning as little David bolted from the companionway without a stitch on. He was one year old and Rosemary was trying to change his diaper.I leaned from the dock to grab his arm as he ran forward along the rail and hold him until she got dressed enough to retrieve him. We became friends as I was Captain of the Popeye a day charter Kenner ketch 41 overall. Captain David rebuilt munch of Nina in PC before their departure. He and his family will be missed by my wife Teri and me, the Panama City Coastal Cruisers club and many other local sailors.

Very sorry to hear of Nina’s loss. I spent the summers of 1959-1964 on the 68 foot Sparkman Stephens yawl Black Watch. We raced against Nina and Commodore Decoursey Fales many times. We almost always lost. I pray that the souls of those aboard Nina are at peace.

My wife and fiends sail hans years ago it was the best .I habe never fogoten those days

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Kyle Jackson

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Danielle Wright

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The Nina families still not given up hope (Radio New Zealand)

Sue is interviewed by Radio New Zealand: http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2584518

Lost at Sea (The Sydney Morning Herald)

The schooner Niña disappeared during a storm in the Tasman Sea last June. Frank Robson meets the parents of one of the missing crew, who continue to search for their daughter. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/lost-at-sea-20140205-32039.html#ixzz2t3qL9yK1

An update from Robin Wright

A message from Robin Wright: Ricky and I are wrapping up our visit to Australia and New Zealand in the next 2 weeks. It’s hard to even think about coming home without Danielle, but we’ve done everything we know to do to search for Nina and 7 very special people. We know they can survive …

Niña Crew Not Ready to Give Up

TV New Zealand news story. Update on how we are continuing the search effort and looking for answers from Officials. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/family-missing-nina-crew-not-ready-give-up-5816913/video Message from Robin Wright: Thank you Jehan Casinader and Lee Frashier for covering our story and for taking us to Whangarei and Opua. It was a little disappointing that the broadcast seemed to suggest …

Search Continues for American Schooner Missing at Sea Since June (People Magazine)

Search Continues for American Schooner Missing at Sea Since June http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20777101,00.html

The Niña Seven

The lives of 7 people are at risk. The sailing schooner, Niña, went missing in the Tasman Sea, and the families of the crew have requested help from the U.S. Department of State and New Zealand rescue authorities, as we believe the sailors are trapped on the disabled Niña.

Rosemary, David III, and David IV on the deck of the Niña.

The Recovery Coordination Centre in New Zealand (RCCNZ) was contacted on June 8 and asked to help. RCCNZ did conduct 6-days of aerial searches beginning June 25th – 3 weeks after the Niña last communications. The RCCNZ search stopped July 4th and declared the Niña had sunk and the crew dead.

The five families of the crew did not accept that conclusion:

“I know my daughter is alive and waiting to be rescued” – Ricky & Robin Wright, parents of 19-year old Danielle Wright, Niña Crew Member

“matthew is strong and a survivalist and we know he is still aboard the niña and trying to make his way home”, – sue & ian wootton, parents of matthew wootton, niña crew member.

On July 18th the families contacted Texas Equusearch Search and Recovery (TES), a non-profit volunteer service organization dedicated to assisting families find and return lost love ones (www.txeq.org) and asked for help in finding the Niña and her crew. TES formed a small core team of technology specialists and work began work creating a search and rescue plan.

Efforts to get U.S, New Zealand, and Australian support failed, leaving the families and TES completely on their own. However, money was raised, 100s of volunteers were recruited, and search efforts began. Experienced search and recovery flight crews were hired and have flown over 100 missions near New Zealand, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and Australia.

Needing wider range coverage, TES was successful in bringing on DigitalGlobe and its subsidiary Tomnod, who have graciously supplied free-of-charge high resolution satellite images. The process is to review the satellite images via the Internet, and when an object of interest is identified, send a search plane out to look for it. However, this resource has also failed to accurately locate the missing Niña.

Funds are very limited since they come from private donations and are used to pay for the aerial searches, drift modeling, and other activities to keep this search going. But the bottom line is from hundreds of hours of hard work, the Niña has not been found and our continued hope is she will be seen by passing ships or planes, or run aground on many of the coastal islands in the area and be rescued.

How can you help?

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New search for long-lost schooner

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The classic American schooner Nina disappeared en route from the Bay of Islands to Newcastle in Australia and last made contact on June 4.

A new search is set to start today after a liferaft believed to be from missing American yacht Nina was spotted floating in the Tasman Sea near Norfolk Island.

The 85-year-old vessel left the Bay of Islands on May 29 and was headed for Newcastle, Australia.

But neither the yacht nor the seven people on board have been seen or heard from since June 4. A search was launched on June 25 but called off on July 4.

The Nina is owned by professional captain David Dyche III, 58, and his wife, Rosemary, 60. They were on board with son David Dyche jnr, 17, and fellow Americans Evi Nemeth, 73, Kyle Jackson, 27, and 18-year-old Danielle Wright. Also on board was Briton Matthew Wootton, 35.

Family and friends of those on board have refused to give up hope, despite the official search being called off. They have been fundraising to pay for private searches to continue.

"It is either that the Nina and its resilient crew got caught in a perfect storm, which caused everything to go wrong at the same time and orchestrated the sinking and total disappearance of a 21m yacht along with its seven-strong crew; or they lost communications, have damaged sails, and probably faced more damage that prevented them from making it to the shore since they left New Zealand," a representative of the families said on the official Nina Facebook page.

"When valuable human lives are at risk, there is not much of a point to the debate of which scenario is the more likely. It is only our duty to explore the possibilities.

"Can the boat be so crippled that the wind and the ocean currents dictate where they go? Or perhaps they still have some control and are making their way slowly to a shore ... Are they shipwrecked, waiting for rescue on a desert island or even on a reef? Or are they in the liferaft, still, hoping for a miracle?

"With all these possibilities in plain sight, to declare the Nina sunk and its seven human lives expired seems not only a bit irresponsible, but also insensitive."

Yesterday a Gisborne-based Kiwi Air twin-engine Cessna F406 travelled to Norfolk Island to begin the search. However, bad weather forced searchers to postpone the attempt until this morning.

The families of those missing pleaded for help to keep their search going and said they would not give up hope.

"Damaged, sometimes severely damaged or capsized boats don't necessarily sink," they said on the Facebook page. "Some keep floating even after the crew abandon ship, then drift on their own with currents and surface winds, sometimes for a very long time, with very rare or no sightings by planes or other vessels. And some eventually make their way back to land."

The Nina families earlier criticised the official search, which involved authorities from New Zealand and Australia and covered thousands of miles of ocean.

"The official search and rescue operations were called off prematurely, and despite the lack of any evidence to support the claim that they did not survive a storm," a statement on the Facebook page said.

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Schooner Nina

The story of the famous Schooner Nina, and the crew of 7 who lost their lives on its final voyage

The Dyche Family

From Cherie Martinez:

David takes after our dad, Capt. David A. Dyche II, who was a sailor, treasure and deep sea diver, along with his marine construction company. My brother was the youngest tug boat captain to be licensed in the state of Ohio. Dad had a chapter about him saving the Crile’s boat (Cleveland and Clinic fame) in Treasure Diving Holidays. So, not surprised that my twin brother followed in his footsteps. Our Dad taught us if you do something, do it right with enthusiasm.

Our mother, Caryl Dyche divorced our dad when we were 2 yrs. old and taught us to be self-reliant.

My brother bought the Nina in 1988. Over the years he has completely overhauled her, with repairs and renovations ongoing. In fact, before she left Mystic Port in 2007 again, she was overhauled for the ocean journeys.

David married Rosemary in 1992. She was born and raised in the mid-West and she is very resourceful. She had her own sailboat, so she was no stranger to sailing. Rosemary never meets a stranger, only future friends. She has 2 older sons, Justin and Kevin Donovan, from a previous marriage, and her mother Dorothy Nelson is still living.

Davy, Capt. David and Rosemary’s son, was born July 1995. Davy is always so thoughtful and caring, and he’s been raised most of his 18 years living and traveling the world on Nina. Davy has been home schooled, just graduated in May, and is preparing to go to college. He never meets a stranger, just like his Mom, and he is extremely mechanical when it has anything to do with boats. This sailing family has friends all over the world as they have made wonderful friends through socializing with other boats in their journeys. My daughter, Julia and her husband Josh, were married by my brother in June 2012 aboard the Nina at Whangarei Harbor, New Zealand. David received his minister’s license so he could perform the beautiful ceremony.

David works with Edison Choust out of Louisiana, and has been based in Brazil. He is a captain on their 250 ft. anchor boats. He typically works 2 months on, and 1 month off. On his month off, he flies back to wherever Rosemary, Davy and Nina are, and helps move Nina to the next port.

From friends of the Dyche family:

“David Jr. has been home schooled by his mother since he was 13. He’s a bright kid, an expert yachtsman and he has been to many more places and seen more things than other kids his age.”

“Rosemary Dyche shared her husband’s love for the sea and left her job at a marina in Panama City to embark on the adventure.”

“I believe the boat’s still floating, whether it’s missing a rig or whatever, he’ll still be trying to get the boat to land somewhere.”

“He’s kind of a jack of all trades. He knows a lot of things about a lot of things. There weren’t many things David couldn’t do. If he put his mind to it, he could do it.”

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World News | More Americans are ending up in Russian jails….

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World News | More Americans are ending up in Russian jails. Prospects for their release are unclear

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — One was a journalist on a reporting trip . Another was attending a wedding. Yet another was a dual national returning to visit family.

All are U.S. citizens now behind bars in Russia on various charges.

Arrests of Americans in Russia are increasingly common with relations sinking to Cold War lows. Washington accuses Moscow of using U.S. citizens as bargaining chips, but Russia insists they all broke the law.

While high-profile prisoner exchanges have occurred, the prospects of swaps are unclear.

“It seems that since Moscow itself has cut off most of the communication channels and does not know how to restore them properly without losing face, they are trying to use the hostages. … At least that’s what it looks like,” said Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who quit after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Who is known to be in Russian custody?

EVAN GERSHKOVICH — The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter faces trial Wednesday on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. He was detained in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Yekaterinburg and accused of spying. Russia alleges Gershkovich was “gathering secret information” at the CIA’s behest about a facility that produces and repairs military equipment. It provided no evidence to support the accusations.

PAUL WHELAN — The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in 2018 in Moscow where he was attending a friend’s wedding, convicted two years later of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He maintains his innocence, saying the charges were fabricated.

TRAVIS LEAKE — The musician was arrested in 2023 on drug charges. An Instagram page describes him as the singer for the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Night). Court officials have said he is a former paratrooper.

MARC FOGEL — The Moscow teacher was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges. The Interfax news agency said Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and had worked at the U.S. Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying Fogel has admitted guilt.

GORDON BLACK — The 34-year-old staff sergeant stationed at Fort Cavazos, Texas, was convicted June 19 in Vladivostok of stealing and making threats against his girlfriend, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He had flown to Russia from his U.S. military post in South Korea without authorization and was arrested in May after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. and Russian authorities.

ROBERT WOODLAND — Woodland, a dual national, is on trial in Moscow on drug- trafficking charges. Russian media reported his name matches a U.S. citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show. Woodland was charged with trafficking drugs as part of an organized group — punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

ALSU KURMASHEVA — Kurmasheva , a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested in 2023 in her hometown of Kazan. The Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service was visiting her ailing mother. She faces multiple charges, including not self-reporting as a “foreign agent” and spreading false information about the Russian military.

KSENIA KHAVANA — Khavana , 33, was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine’s military. Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona identified her by her maiden name of Karelina, and said she had U.S. citizenship after marrying an American. She returned to Russia from Los Angeles to visit family. The rights group Pervy Otdel said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine.

DAVID BARNES — An engineer from Texas, Barnes was arrested while visiting his sons in Russia, where their mother had taken them. His supporters say the woman made baseless claims of sexual abuse that already had been discredited by Texas investigators but he was convicted in Russia anyway and sentenced to prison.

What’s the process for negotiations?

Gershkovich and Whelan have gotten the most attention, with the State Department designating both as wrongfully detained. The designation is applied to only a small subset of Americans jailed by foreign countries.

Those cases go to a special State Department envoy for hostage affairs, who tries to negotiate their release. They must meet certain criteria, including a determination the arrest came solely because the person is a U.S. national or part of an effort to influence U.S. policy or extract concessions from the government.

The U.S. successfully negotiated swaps in 2022 for WNBA star Brittney Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed — both designated as wrongfully detained. Moscow got arms dealer Viktor Bout , who was serving a 25-year sentence, and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving 20 years for cocaine trafficking.

It’s unclear how many Americans are jailed in Russia or if negotiations are in the works for them.

Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, told The Associated Press after her arrest he hoped the U.S. government would use “every avenue and every means available to it” to win her release, including designating her as wrongfully detained.

Is the West holding anyone Russia wants?

In December, the State Department said it had made a significant offer for Gershkovich and Whelan but Russia rejected it.

Officials did not give details, although Russia has been said to be seeking Vadim Krasikov , serving a life sentence in Germany in 2021 for the killing of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.

Beyond that, Russia has stayed silent. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says such swaps “must be carried out in absolute silence.”

Historically, when relations are better, “the exchanges seem to be smoother,” said Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in New York and the great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

She cited prisoner swaps between the USSR and Chile in the 1970s, as well as those with the U.S. and Germany shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev took office in the 1980s involving dissidents Vladimir Bukovsky and Natan Sharansky.

Ultimately, the decision “is only in Putin’s hands,” Khrushcheva said.

In Gershkovich’s case, an exchange might also involve concessions, possibly related to Ukraine, said Sam Greene of the Center for European Policy Analysis.

“Even if the immediate reason to get people around the (negotiating) table is Evan and a prisoner exchange, that allows them to get right up to the line and to say: ‘OK, we’ve got 98% of the deal, but if you really want to get this done, there’s this other thing we’d really like to talk about,’” like sanctions or another Ukraine-related issue, he said.

“The Kremlin is perfectly happy to hold onto Evan as long as it possibly can. And so its incentive is to get as much for him as possible,” Greene said.

Tucker reported from Washington.

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