Frigate's mayday dash too late for yachtsman

By PAUL YANDALL

A faint, garbled mayday call from a French yachtsman picked up 1600km away by a Navy frigate led to a dramatic air and sea rescue attempt in the Pacific Ocean.

The sailor - provisionally identified by the National Rescue Coordination Centre this evening as 33-year-old Philippe Boutroux - sent out a Mayday message which was picked up by HMNZS Te Mana a vast distance away on the north Australian coast.

That sparked a message back to Wellington and the dispatch of an RNZAF Orion and another New Zealand frigate, Te Kaha, which was much closer to the scene.

Te Kaha, directed by the Orion, later recovered a body, thought to be that of Mr Boutroux, just before midday, about 160km southeast of Norfolk Island and 1100km northeast of Auckland.

The body was clad in a lifejacket with a distress transmitter beacon attached by a cord.

Rescue coordination centre spokesman Jim McLean said Mr Boutroux was travelling alone on the ketch Chemalion from Auckland to Noumea on a delivery voyage for its new French owner.

"There appears to have been some catastrophic failure. No boat has been spotted so we are assuming something has gone down."

The cause of death was not yet known but Mr McLean said the yachtsman would have had a very hard time battling the conditions.

"It may be close to the tropics but the water would be very cold this time of the year.

"Even if he had not died of exposure he would be lucky not to have drowned in that weather."

Rain was pelting the area for most of the day and Te Kaha is reported to have carried out the recovery in swells of up to 8m in winds exceeding 90 km/h - near the limits of its operational capacity.

The Orion spotted the body about 9 am this morning.

The search was sparked by an emergency radio beacon transmission detected by satellite at 1.11 am.

It was followed by a garbled mayday call from the yachtsman which was picked up by Te Mana.

Neither message identified the craft in need of aid or said whether there were other people on board.

The New Zealand armed forces Joint Headquarters (JHQ) in Trentham was alerted and Te Kaha and the Orion were dispatched.

The frigate was about 150km southeast of the area and on its way to Auckland after taking part in exercises in Australia.

An initial report from the Orion of an "orange object" in the water turned out to be Mr Boutroux's lifejacket.

Both the Orion and Te Kaha stayed in the region for several hours to search for any signs of a craft or other people. Nothing was found.

Air Force spokeswoman Pilot Officer Karen Hill said the Orion landed in Auckland this evening. Te Kaha is expected to arrive on Saturday.

The rescue mission was the first dealt with by the JHQ, created to control operations of the three Services.