Kaz Windness Popular Books

Kaz Windness Biography & Facts

Kaz II, dubbed "the ghost yacht", is a 9.8-metre catamaran which was found drifting 88 nautical miles (163 kilometres) off the north-eastern coast of Australia on 20 April 2007. The fate of its three-man crew remains unknown, and the mysterious circumstances in which they disappeared have been compared to that of Mary Celeste in 1872. Crew Kaz II had a three-man crew, all of whom were residents of Perth, Western Australia: Derek Batten (56), Peter Tunstead (69) and James Tunstead (63). The three men were relatively inexperienced sailors, however the Skipper, Derek Batten had undertaken a sailing course and two extended trips onboard Kaz II around the Whitsunday Islands and to the outer reef. Disappearance of crew According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Kaz II departed from Airlie Beach on 15 April 2007, and was heading for Townsville, Queensland on the first leg of a journey that was to take it around Northern Australia to Western Australia. The first indication that there was a problem came on 18 April, when a helicopter reported spotting Kaz II adrift in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef, and that her crew were potentially in distress. On 20 April, maritime authorities caught up with the boat and boarded her. They found the three-man crew missing in circumstances which they described as being "strange". "What they found was a bit strange in that everything was normal; there was just no sign of the crew." – Jon Hall, Queensland's Emergency Management office. In a statement delivered on the day of the boarding, officials with the Queensland Emergency Management Office revealed that the boat was in serviceable condition and was laid out as if the crew were still on board. Food and flatware were set out on the table, a laptop computer was set up and turned on, and the engine was still running. Officials also confirmed that the boat's emergency systems, including her radio and GPS, were fully functional, and that she still had its full complement of life jackets. There was even a small boat still hoisted on the stern of the boat, and the anchor was up. The only signs that were out of the ordinary, other than the disappearance of the crew, was one of the boat's sails had been badly shredded, and that there was no life raft on board (it is unknown whether there ever was one aboard). Forensic examination On Friday, 20 April, Kaz II was towed into the Townsville port for forensic examination. On 21 April, Sergeants Bardell and Molloy of the Queensland Police searched the ship for signs of foul play or third-party involvement; no evidence for this was found. They found the cabin to be neat and tidy apart from some magazines, a piece of newspaper, and a wine cask which were lying on the floor. It was later determined that these items ended up on the floor while the ship was being towed to shore. In the sink were a few butter knives and, on a bench in the galley, a plastic sheath of fishing knives was found. They did not appear to have been used recently. Under Batten's bed, in a sealed container, the investigators found a firearm and some ammunition, none of which was apparently missing. In a drawer they found an additional single bullet of the same calibre. After analyzing data about Kaz II's course from the ship's GPS system, police say that, on the morning of its departure from Airlie Beach, the ship was steered in northeast direction into an area where squalls and rough seas were building. On that same day, late in the afternoon, the GPS data showed it to be adrift. The investigators also recovered a video recording that showed footage taken by the crew during their trip, which revealed some clues as to the men's last day. The last footage, recorded by James Tunstead on 15 April at 10:05 AM, shortly before the men disappeared, showed, among other things: Batten was at the helm. Peter Tunstead is sitting on the aft stairway of the boat; he is fishing. A long white rope can be seen trailing behind the boat. The engine is not running. Fenders can be seen hanging from safety rails on both sides of the boat. The camera is panned 360 degrees and shows islands and surroundings; this helped investigators pinpoint the exact location of the ship. The sea is choppy and none of the men are wearing life jackets. Tunstead's shirt and glasses are not in the place where they were later found. Search Search and rescue efforts began on Wednesday, 18 April, and Australian search and rescue AusSAR sent a Navy aircraft to search in the vicinity of the vessel in an effort to locate the missing men. At the same time, Bowen Voluntary Marine Rescue launched a coastal and island search. At night, an aircraft with infrared capability was used to search the reefs and cays. The next day, a full scale search-and-rescue effort was launched involving Volunteer Rescue Units from several towns as well as the Townsville's coast guard, two rescue helicopters, nine airplanes, and two commercial vessels. Data from Kaz II's GPS system was also retrieved and analyzed in order to help narrow the search area. Dr. Paul Luckin, a survival-time expert, was consulted. He concluded that it was unlikely that the men were still alive if they were still in the water as they had probably gone overboard three to four days earlier. The teams still had hope that the men could have reached land and continued searching until 4:00 P.M. on 21 April, when the air and sea search for the three crew members was called off. Another coastline search was launched on Monday 23 April after some new information had come in but the search proved fruitless and was called off on 25 April. Official investigation On 4 August 2008, an inquest into the men's disappearance began in the Townsville Coroner's Court. The inquest was led by Queensland state coroner Michael Barnes and focused on whether the men were dead, the circumstances surrounding their disappearance, and if the search for the missing men was adequate. In total 27 witnesses were called to testify. Some of them had seen the ship on its fateful voyage and helped authorities to reconstruct the chain of events. Hearings In one of the hearings, Jennifer Batten testified that her husband Derek was well prepared and had previously taken Kaz II out on two trips with no problems. Batten's wife also stated that the original plan was to sail Kaz II to Fremantle as a couple, but that Batten was worried that just two people aboard might not be safe. He decided to take his neighbours, brothers Peter and James Tunstead, with him instead. The trip was planned over several months and discussed daily as they plotted routes with the help of a computer. "They allowed themselves six to eight weeks to get back to Fremantle, but because Des and Peter were retired, it didn't really matter how long they took … They didn't want to sail at night for safety [reasons]", Jennifer Batten said, and they planned to stay reasonably close to the shore. Although Batten was taking medica.... Discover the Kaz Windness popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Kaz Windness books.