For press info contact: Susie Eiloart or Mike Lancaster on +44 (1480) 411784
If you can offer any kind of assistance phone+44 (0) 1480-411784 or fax +44 (0) 7970-528787 or email: Ian Eiloart: iane@cogs.susx.ac.uk
33 year old Penny Eiloart is missing at sea, crewing for Kenneth Heynatz. Ken, 57 is a retired Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Australian Navy, on a voyage between Australia and India. Penny was sailing with him as far as Mombasa to fly home from Nairobi on August 1st.
They left Richard's Bay, South Africa (200 miles north of Durban) at 0700-hrs 2nd June. The first leg was to the northern tip of Madagascar, Nossi Bé Island. They had three radios aboard and were reporting in every two days. The last radio message was on 8th June at 1700-hr. They reported that they had been pooped (had a wave go over them).
On the same day they were in contact with a yacht called Eleanor. The wind was 20-25 knots and they were 125 miles west of Madagascar. They were putting up a storm sail but the weather was good. The met. office archive confirms quite reasonable weather conditions from the time of last radio contact until 2nd July.
The yacht, 'The Transgression' could have arrived in Madagascar as early as 16th June on a journey that might have taken until 10th July in calm winds. On the 1st of July South Africans sent the first health and well-being message. 6th July they put up a shipping alert at 4pm. 14th July the news reached the UK.
The Transgression is a 39' blue-hulled ferrocement yacht and was equipped with three radios and an automatically-released emergency, sea-to-air, beacon (121.5MHz EPIRB) that could last 3 days. They were known to have very good stocks of food and water. An 8 man liferaft.
Their last position was given as 21.40 South by 40.36 East. Two days before their position was had been 25.49 South and 37.47 East. The nearest land at that time was the island Europa; position 22.20 South and 40.22 East. They were also close to the coral atoll, Bassas da India.
If their vessel had been incapacitated (not sunk) the currents fluctuate in the area but it is thought reasonably likely that they would have drifted towards Mozambique. The sea-to-air emergency beacon didn't go off, or it may be that they are saving it.
There are bandits along the Mozambique coast who may strip any boat that came ashore but would probably treat any white person as valuable. There are remote areas from where it would take it weeks to get to civilisation and also uninhabited islands, mainly used by fisherfolk.
The Madagascar coast is mainly tropical rainforest. Madagascans are a helpful sea-faring nation. Coral reefs surround large parts of it.
Kenneth Heynatz's partner, Annie Kacala, is pressing for searches to be made, as is Alastair Campbell at the small-vessel protection agency in Cape Town. He believes that an atoll 60 miles north west of Europa, called 'Bassas di India', 11 miles in area, and only visible at low tide that needs to be searched. If they are not there he believes they are most likely to be in Mozambique.
The Royal Australian Navy and British Navy has been asked to report any vessels in the area. Today, among other things, attempts are being made to contact any commercial vessels who have crossed The Transgression's possible positions since the time of their last radio message. An SOS has gone out on the World Service of the BBC.
Penny responded to Kenneth Heynatz's advert for crew. Having met for only an hour they arranged to sail as far Madagascar and see how they got on. If they were getting on they would continue to sail up the African coast. Before leaving she told her family she had no romantic interest in Ken. She is due to start back at work on 1st August.
Because of the area's economic conditions, there is a very limited amount of official local resource available for search procedures.
The Australian Government will fund a search if authorised by their Prime Minister. It will be costly. It is being considered as a venture form the island of Reunion several hundred miles away.
The greatest asset we have is Ken and Penny, they are intelligent, resourceful people trying their best. Some details may be slightly inaccurate, please let us know of any improvements. Contacts in Madagascar are greatly needed. Small selective searches may prove vey effective, funds are needed for them.
Penny (Penelope Ann Catherine) Eiloart is aged 33. She is adventurous, level headed, clear thinking, purposeful, professional in her work, caring and thoughtful to friends and family. Penny's interests are sailing, diving and socialising. Her motto is "onwards and upwards". She tries never to do the same thing twice.
Penny has an interesting background, not having followed the usual path for a chartered accountant. Adventures at sea are in her blood. Her father Tim and grandfather Bushy held the record for the longest flight aloft in a balloon. When they came down they then pedalled their boat (not the usual basket) a third of the way across the ocean and were missing at sea for 49 days.
Born 23 May 1965, Penny grew up in Cambridgeshire. She left school at 15 and home at 16. She spent the next few years living in housing co-ops and then in a canal boat in a field "doing this and that to earn a crust".
She got a job in accounts in a local firm and while working full time did her A-levels in a year. At 25 she began her accountancy exams in Birmingham whose cultural diversity she enjoyed. She has been working as a chartered accountant since then for KPMG (one of the big Chartered Accounting firms) on international cases like the Second World War Swiss Bank Account, Robert Maxwell and Barings cases
Just before her six month secondment to Durban, South Africa she was promoted to Manager. Shortly before this sailing voyage she had been up to Cosy Town Bay, a beautiful beach, which she and Ken would have sailed past.
Kenneth Heynatz, aged 57, comes from a sea-faring family. His dad received an OBE for contributions to the fishing industry. He worked in the Navy for 21 years, achieving rank of Lieutenant Commander Seaman Officer, including active service in Vietnam and Borneo. He has sailed in many yacht races, including one from England to Australia, celebrating Western Australia's 150th anniversary, an important initiative between Australia and England.
Penny and Ken both have outstanding qualities. They are practical, determined and able to think clearly under stress. Of all the people that could be in this situation they have all they qualities required. We look forward to seeing them again.
Searches cost money
Small aeroplanes $250/hour
All donations to the "Ken and Pen Rescue Fund"
Aeroplanes often cannot see the people they want to rescue. Tim knows by experience how terrible it is to be looking like a Belsen resident (he is 13 stone but fell to 7 stone on the Small World balloon trip. The whole thing is made far worse if ships come near but do not stop because they do not see you. This is true especially for someone who is really ill, (which cannot be ruled out).
So any rescue vehicle should give hope, show it is hunting, and promise to send beach parties (EG by aerial banner.) A plane can even do more harm than good, by raising and then destroyng hope. Pilots may not like things such as aerial banners when on rescue searches but we can put Fablon letters on the plane itself instead. This works fine.
Tim was planning to visit Africa in September to help people dying of the runs or who cannot afford the fuel they need to cook with, or who are forced to drink foul-tasting water (which can cause kidney or liver disease). Every effort to help Penny, yes, but he belives she would want him to work for the poorest people in Africa, during times of waiting. Penny's mother, Sheila agrees Penny would want this.
This on the ground help could show Africans that we do wish to work with them. We may well have more to learn from them about the way to be deeply happy, as they have to learn from us about how to be rich. And their on the ground help would be invaluable. African people could search the beaches at really low cost compared with White Africans, let alone European visitors.
With the help of practical motorcyclists, Tim intends to develop simple amphibious search vehicles a fat tyred vehicle towing a liferaft on fat wheels, which exchange places every time they come to a river. These may be better for the 1000-mile Mozambique beach, since hovercraft are not available in any numbers.
Chris Marrow - who has worked in the Mozambique area - is advising on the areas that should be searched immediately and liaising with 'Airserv' who are conducting an informal search along the Mozambique coast. They are flying from Beire to Vilanculos on July 16th. Beira to Quelimane they fly regularly and we will be informed of when they are next doing that. They do not usually fly from Quelimane to Nacala, KPMG have agreed to fund a couple of thousand dollars without further consultation. This could be used to fund this flight. Chris Marrow seems to be deciding. Airserv have notified people in the delta area of Chinde and an Airserv person will be in Chinde next week. Penny's office in Durban authorised boats to go out along the route that Penny and Kenneth are known to have taken and are expected back on 16th July.
South African air, sea rescue have said they only search if there is a sighting. They will do a search if either the UK, France or Australia authorise it. The boat is registered in Australia. Both France and the UK owe Australia an air search.. We now need an air search off the coast of Madagascar in the area where there is one northerly current that may be stronger than the south easterly wind that is more likely to have blown them towards Mozambique. An ocean search south... Weather conditions south are more severe, no details yet.
Satellite-photoanalysis may help at infra-red frequencies to detect tiny warm objects at sea but we hope to make helpful links over this to-morrow.
The World Service has transmitted SOS's on 17th July pm and 18th July am.
1) Beira; Airserve 4 small planes
2) Reunion; French military
3) Madagascar; 2 Christian Aviation Fellowship planes
4) Mozambique; Consulate being consulted
5) Madagascar; ditto
6) South Africa; Military await funding and authorisation
7) Madagascar; local fisherfolk