Kerry Blair went missing on March 8, 2014, and has never been seen since. Photo / Supplied
The mystery disappearance of an experienced Marlborough seaman three years ago will remain undetermined although a coroner has all but ruled out foul play or a faked death.
After two hearings and a year of deliberations, Coroner Marcus Elliott found that Kerry Blair voluntarily left a remote bay in the Marlborough Sounds, which cannot be named for legal reasons, and went out to sea "searching, it seems, for solitude".
The coroner concluded it was possible that 55-year-old Blair either went overboard during an accident or mishap or that he took his own life.
"Although he died on that journey, the immediate cause and circumstances of his death remain unknown," says Coroner Elliott in findings that also makes seven recommendations aimed at improving future police search and rescue operations, especially communication with family members.
The long-awaited findings, released exclusively to the Herald, "feels like a slap in the face" for Blair's son Dylan, whose criticisms of the police search were deemed unjustified by the coroner.
"I'm disgusted by the process," Dylan Blair told the Herald.
"To say Dad voluntarily took the boat ... I struggle to come to grips with that. There was no evidence he was ever on the boat, let alone took it. He would never have taken the boat out there.
"I understand allegations of foul play were hearsay and probably wouldn't have stood up in court but I don't think it's something that could be definitively ruled out either."
During the inquest, family members speculated that three people, whose identities cannot be reported due to legal reasons, could have been involved in Blair's disappearance.
On the morning of Saturday March 8, 2014, Blair woke with "violent pain" in his back and kidneys, according to a co-worker, housemate, and close friend. He took paracetamol and didn't mention it again.
He bought a Lotto ticket online, checked emails, Facebook, the weather forecast eight times, and accessed a website designed to "look up the place you were born ... and check out when you'll probably die".
The housemates lunched together at 2pm. It was a beautiful, calm day in what they both called paradise.
Blair, in shorts and T-shirt, seemed his usual self. The man with 40 years' maritime experience felt like getting "greasy fish 'n' chips" for tea.
After lunch, his friend returned to painting inside the property's cottage.
At around 4pm, she heard the inboard diesel engine of the Senator boat idling. Soon afterwards, she heard it leave. Nobody saw Blair go and he was never seen again.
She phoned his cellphone. Two calls - at 10.14pm and 10.16pm - were diverted to voicemail.
A minute later, an outgoing call from his cellphone dialled voicemail, "presumably to check his messages", a Spark NZ compliance manager told the inquest. That was the last time his phone was used.
His cellphone polled off a tower at Golden Bay - in the wrong direction, and miles from where he said he'd be going.
Police officers later investigating the mysterious case would find a photograph taken on his cellphone at 7.35pm on the day he disappeared. It captures a setting sun glistening on the sea's western horizon, as well as the boat's side and rail.
For the family, however, the picture provokes more questions than answers.
"That photo is not a selfie," daughter Rochelle Foster told the inquest.
"Dad is not in the photo himself. That photo puts the phone on the boat. To me, that doesn't necessarily say Dad was on the boat."
Coroner Elliott said it was possible to draw some conclusions about Blair's state of mind and intentions from the evidence.
"He departed [the bay] alone and voluntarily. He didn't tell anyone where he was going and didn't answer his phone when people called him. He did not contact anyone even though he had the means to do so. He didn't make any attempt to seek assistance at any point. It can be concluded that he wanted to be alone, did not want to speak to anyone and did not want anyone to know where he was.
"Mr Blair took a photograph of the sunset on his phone. However, it is difficult to know what this tells us about his state of mind without resorting to speculation."
Shortly after 11am the following day, the co-worker phoned police. She also alerted maritime radio, local resorts, friends, their boss, and Blair's family.
A massive search-and-rescue operation was launched.
Younger brother Peter Blair flew down from Tauranga, arriving Monday morning. He met local police and was appointed the family's point of contact.
But the Blair family - the children in particular - became frustrated that police appeared to spend more time looking into his background and character than the seas and inlets.
The family thought something was up. His disappearance was "definitely out of character", said his son Dylan, himself a former commercial fisherman.
They funded their own aerial search and became increasingly frustrated with the police-led search operation, especially a perceived lack of communication.
"It was a nightmare trying to get information," Dylan said.
Dylan suspected foul play.
"Someone else had to be involved in some description," he said.
But when he raised his suspicions, he felt police treated him "like it was a joke".
On March 14, six days after Blair disappeared, a RNZAF Orion surveillance aircraft finally took to the skies.
Within 40 minutes, the boat was spotted 200km off the coast of Taranaki. There was no sign of life on board.
"I just can't understand why it took so long to get up in the air. The first 48 hours is critical," Dylan said.
Once the boat was found, and there was no trace of Blair, son Dylan believes police became "fixated" on a theory of suicide.
Police denied many of the family's claims during the inquest.
They say they approached the "enormous" missing persons operation with a practical clarity that emotional and distraught family members could not.
Police say there were no indications of foul play for them to investigate at the time, though they "kept an open mind".
Coroner Elliott, who dismissed family claims the police failed to follow standard protocols and didn't get an Orion up earlier, gave eight reasons why the legal threshold for a finding of suicide was not met.
There was no evidence about what Blair's subsequent actions or intentions were after he allegedly left the bay.
"Shutting the boat down and letting it drift are steps he may well have taken had he intended to end his life in some way. However they do not lead inevitably to the conclusion that this is what he did," Coroner Elliott said.
"As to Mr Blair's intentions, we cannot know precisely what they were when he left [the bay]. His internet searches of sea conditions indicate he was considering a journey but they do not tell us why. In addition, his intentions may have changed after he departed.
It is possible that he considered turning back at various times. We simply do not know.
"He embarked without any significant supplies. He did not necessarily embark for the purpose of making a long journey or to end his own life. He may have embarked for the purpose of buying fish and chips but then, for reasons unknown, made the decision to head in a different direction. He may have just been seeking isolation. It is possible that he considered turning back at various times. We simply do not know."
For Dylan, and his grandmother Joyce Blair who died in April just months after her 90th birthday, they're unable to believe he took his own life.
"She died without any closure due to the length of time things took," Dylan said. .
"It was mother's intuition that someone had taken her son from her. It's probably a good thing that she's not alive to read this report.
"I'd hate to see another family go through what we've gone through over the last few years. It's not something you'd wish on your worst enemy. We hoped that by eliminating the risks or making the process easier for families dealing with sort of thing, then we could take a good thing out of a bad situation."
Dylan still feels there's more chance of his father being alive than having taken his own life or succumbing to an accident or medical mishap.
"With either accident or suicide, he'd have had to have voluntarily drive the boat all the way out to Farewell Spit, and I just know he would not have done it. Even if he wanted to commit suicide there's a million and one other places he would've gone than have gone all the way out there."
• The Search and Rescue chapter of the Police Manual to be reviewed for the purpose of incorporating guidance about determining whether a person should be treated as being missing or in distress. (ii) Assessing when the "Uncertainty Phase" or "Alert Phase'" or "Distress Phase" should be declared. (iii) Deciding the appropriate actions to take at each stage.
• That the Police and Maritime New Zealand give consideration to incorporating the questions [...] in their standard consideration about whether a person is in distress.
• That the Police consider incorporating means of communication (such as telephone conference, email or drop box information) which allows for the ready dissemination of information to a family group where Police are searching for a missing person.
• That the Police provide a brief outline of the background and experience of the lead searcher to the family during the initial stages of the search.
• That the Police seek input from the family and consider it as part of their post-search debrief process.
• That all information obtained in the course of a Police search should be notified to the lead searcher as soon as practicable.
• In cases of attempted rescue the Police consider the necessity of having medically qualified people available to assist and arranging for this where necessary (subject of course to availability).
A witness reported seeing a police officer setting up a rifle.