Salvage crews have been unable to find Helical Bar managing director Mike Slade’s £3m yacht, Leopard of London (pictured).
The news has prompted fears that Leopard may have sunk. A commercial salvage tug, Sigya, was sent to retrieve the yacht after its distressed crew contacted Falmouth Coastguard before abandoning her on Wednesday night.
John Bremner, who runs Slade’s Ocean Marine Yacht Management, said: “We’ve heard from the tug. It’s arrived, but they haven’t found the Leopard yet.”
Fiona Warner, a spokesperson for the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, said that it was possible the yacht could have sunk.
“Leopard was taking on water when the crew left, and there is a possibility that she is no longer afloat,” she said. “The tug is in the area where Leopard should be, according to the emergency distress beacon signal, but there is no sign of her.
“The beacon is still active, and will be for 96 hours. But the beacon will work if it is underwater.”
Bremner said that the beacon system was “not especially accurate”.
The situation is being made worse by the weather. The Met Office has predicted gale force eight winds for the next four days, which would make it impossible for the tug to salvage Leopard until the weather improves.
The 90ft schooner, which was heading back to Southampton from the Caribbean, was left rudderless and adrift 450 miles from land on Tuesday after bad weather holed the bottom of the boat and broke the rudder. The crew left 36 hours later after hand-pumping water out of the living quarters.
EGi News 05/04/02
