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Rolex Sydney Hobart: Super maxis survive in tough conditions

• January 6, 2022

Hong Kong’s SHK Scallywag was among three 100ft super maxis who led the charge in the 76th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, with over half the entries unable to finish. Words: Bruce Maxwell. Photos: Rolex / Andrea Francolini.

SHK Scallywag with one reef had more control in increasingly strong southerlies, and drew away from rivals Black Jack and LawConnect

Hong Kong super maxi yacht SHK Scallywag led the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet imperiously out of Sydney Harbour, attracting primetime media coverage, then settled into a “battle of the giants” with two other 100ft super maxis, Black Jack and LawConnect .

Round one clearly went to SHK Scallywag ’s skipper, David Witt, who opted to start, in a building southerly breeze, with one reef in the yacht’s mainsail, which gave him more control and a slight edge in speed.

All three maxis bunched at the leeward end of the first of four starting lines for the 88-strong fleet, and Witt’s tactic paid off. TV cameras constantly zoomed in on SHK Scallywag ’s prominent Hong Kong – Asia’s World City bow artwork as the yacht drew inexorably ahead of her rivals, and led by several boat lengths at the first turning mark inside Sydney Heads. SHK stands for Sun Hung Kai, the long-established financial services and wealth management company of which Scallywag ’s owner Lee Seng Huang is Executive Director.

Skipper David Witt led around the first two marks

In Australia, however, the Malaysia-born businessman, who went to Sydney University, is better known for his role as Executive Director of Mulpha, which owns upmarket residential resorts such as Sanctuary Cove and Hayman Island, and has a portfolio of luxury hotels and other developments. Lee bought the former Dovell-designed Ragamuffin 100 from Syd Fischer in 2016, and as a much-modified Scallywag , she has since acquired copious trophies in Asia and the South Pacific.

Pitted again him was another property magnate, Peter Harburg, with his Reichel-Pugh 100 Black Jack . Well-known in Queensland real estate circles and for his series of ultra-competitive Black Jacks , named in honour of the F1 car racing driver Sir Jack Brabham, Harburg in 2021 chose to enter as a Monaco resident and member of the Yacht Club de Monaco.

Like Lee, he did not actually sail aboard – although both owners and especially Harburg have done so in past events – leaving regular skipper Mark Bradford to oversee a determined Black Jack campaign on the water, after previously winning most East Australian yacht racing accolades except Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours.

Scallywag in the lead, but in the open Pacific, her J2 furler came dangerously adrift

Third in this high-stakes yachting troika was Sydney software guru Christian Beck, sailing his fourth Rolex Sydney Hobart as owner-skipper with sailing masters Tony Mutter and Chris Nicholson. Navigator Brad Kellett, a veteran of 28 editions, was his most experienced crew.

Beck had purchased the former Perpetual Loyal from Anthony Bell in 2017 and renamed the revolutionary Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed 100-footer InfoTrack . This time she was sailing as LawConnect , with an easily readable injunction, at the start, for viewers to contact their local lawyer. Another ongoing innovation is to give some of Beck’s employees a unique opportunity to sail aboard.

“I seriously don’t want to do that first day and night again. Ever!” said Beck when he finally stepped off the yacht in Hobart, so maybe his IT staff were not thanking him quite so profusely as in years past.

Short, steep seas lasted for two nights, and forced half the fleet to withdraw

None of the three owners, nor the skippers, had taken line honours in a Rolex Sydney Hobart before, thus it was game on as the yachts, which included 17 two-handers sailing for the first time, left the

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Rushcutters Bay on Boxing Day, 26 December, for their respective harbour starting lines.

The 2020 event was cancelled altogether due to Covid, and this 76th one saw two related withdrawals. Many mandatory test results had not been received when the starting gun sounded, but the Tasmanian Government allowed sailors to at least set off, with their status pending.

It was not ideal, and the weather forecast of strong southerlies for the first two days was even more ominous for anyone who has beaten into such wind-over-current seas before.

Black Jack was entered by Queenslander Peter Harburg under Yacht Club de Monaco’s flag

For Asia-based readers, Deacons solicitor Bill Turnbull won the Rolex Sydney Hobart sailing for Hong Kong in Ceil 111 in 1973. Exactly 40 years ago we had a crack at the five-race Southern Cross Cup, entering a Hong Kong team centred on Keith Jacobs’ Bimblegumbie , plus Bill Steele’s chartered Battle Star and my co-chartered Impetuous , but had only modest results in “the Hobart”.

Later Karl Kwok became the first Chinese owner-skipper to win the Rolex Sydney Hobart, with mate Gavin Brady, in his Farr 49 Beau Geste , in that memorable year 1997, when China resumed control of Hong Kong. Beau Geste with Warwick Miller’s Exile and sailmaker Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity finally won the Southern Cross Cup that year.

This time, there was no chance that the 628nm race record of 1 day 9 hours 15 minutes 24 seconds set by the French-designed, American-built 100-footer Comanche in 2017 in heavy downwind surfing conditions, would be beaten.

After one of the toughest races in recent decades, Black Jack edges across a relatively calm Storm Bay to take line honours

The southerlies kicked in with a vengeance, gusting 30 knots to begin. Scallywag rounded the second ocean mark still handily ahead, but then off famous Bondi Beach, with the bow pointing more towards Hobart, the J2 furling forestay came adrift, and its heavy black furler scythed alarmingly backwards and forwards across the yacht at head height as crew fought in breaking seas to stabilise it and the still-attached sail.

Scallywag had to head north before they could contain it, and get a storm jib up on an inner forestay. LawConnect and Black Jack sailed past, taking over the lead. It was the first of many trials and tribulations.

Said Witt later: “The crew did an amazing job. We probably don’t deserve to have a 100-footer arrive here in Hobart, given the condition that the boat ended up in after that first night.

Breakages took their toll on LawConnect, as well as Scallywag

“We broke the J2 tack again , and those two times cost us 20 miles. Then we lost all the electronics, and had to sail three quarters of the race with no instruments. In a yacht this size, that’s a pretty difficult thing to do. The last straw was the PLC – Programable Logic Controller – shutting down, so we couldn’t turn the winches. At one stage we were trying to hand-wind the top of the winches.”

Black Jack and LawConnect had their share of problems too, and as winds eased a little off the Tasmanian Coast, SHK Scallywag surprisingly fought back into second place. But Black Jack ’s 10-15nm lead at this stage proved decisive in negotiating Storm Bay and the tricky tidal Derwent River to reach Hobart. She crossed the line at 1.37am on December 29 to claim the JH Illingworth Challenge Cup – Illingworth won the first Rolex Sydney Hobart in Rani in 1944 – with an elapsed time of 2 days 12 hours 37 minutes 17 seconds.

LawConnect and SHK Scallywag crept in at dawn, three hours later, with Christian Beck’s boat 19 minutes ahead. Thus the line honours order was officially 1 Monaco, 2 Australia, 3 Hong Kong, although this international result somewhat belies the chaos caused by covid-induced inabilities to travel in the lead-up and running of the 76th race.

Scallywag finished third, 19 minutes behind LawConnect

Witt in particular was hard hit. He and wife Kim came down with Covid in the Philippines, and at other times he was unable to commute from home in Hong Kong to Australia where the boat was located. By the time this leading trio finished, nearly half the fleet had retired with equipment malfunctions, breakages and personal injuries accounting for most of the casualties. Among them was sometime Thailand and Tasmanian resident Phil Turner’s Reichel-Pugh 66 Alive .

Fourth across the line was the Botin 80 Stefan Racing , skippered by co-owner Grant Wharington, which used to be one of Karl Kwok’s Beau Gestes , and fifth came the Judel-Vrolijk 62 Whisper owned by David Griffith. This yacht was formerly called Chinese Whisper , a phrase denoting soft speaking in English, maybe in the fond hope that crew would refrain from shouting at each other.

An impressive 87 female crew entered the race. They included Lin Jiang Hui, hailing originally from the Min River in Sichuan, sailing double-handed with Jean-Charles Ledun, but this duo pulled out early, reportedly due to a hand injury.

TP52 Celestial rounds the ‘organ pipes’ at Cape Raoul after the incident in which she was unreachable by radio for 90 minutes

The debut of the Two-Handed Class caused some controversy over their permitted use of automatic pilots, and they were not eligible for the overall Tattersall Cup, the premier handicap trophy of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, although the CYCA has undertaken to review their status in time for the December 2022 event.

Handicap honours eventually went to former CYCA Commodore Matt Allen in his TP52 Ichi Ban – Number One in Japanese – and as he also won in 2017 and 2019, this elevated him to the august ranks of a triple champion.

The only others were boat builders Trygve and Magnus Halvorsen in Freya , a 39-foot wooden cutter, in 1963-64-65, and property developer Peter Kurts and his son Simon in the classic also-wooden Sparkman & Stephens 47 Love & War in 1974-78 and 2006.

Allen is well-known in Southeast Asia and East Asia, having raced in the region after crewing on another Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, the legendary Lou Abrahams’ Challenge , as a 17-year-old in 1983, and he sails with Irish pro Gordon Maguire, who helmed in high-profile Asian yacht campaigns years ago.

Hard on her heels was TP52 Ichi Ban, the eventual handicap winner and the third yacht to win three times on handicap

His victory this year came after a protest against rival TP52 owner and CYCA director Sam Haynes in Celestial , which would otherwise have won.

The Race Committee also protested Celestial . The issue was that a Celestial crew’s personal emergency beacon had been activated, one of 13 such cases in the rough first two days of the race. Other yachts confirmed by radio – some taking 25 minutes to respond – that alarms had been set off accidentally as crew were thrown about the boats, below and above deck, and everyone was still aboard.

Celestial , however, couldn’t be contacted, despite a race requirement that a listening watch be kept at all times. Emergency air-sea rescue services, which did such a phenomenal job in the disastrous 1998 Rolex Sydney Hobart, when miraculously only six yachtsmen lost their lives, were on standby.

Ichi Ban , the nearest yacht, sailing seven miles away, was asked to contact Celestial by VHF, but attempts went unanswered. She then launched a white flare, followed some time later by a red distress flare, to try to attract attention, finally succeeding in making contact.

The complex protest between the Race Committee and Celestial, and by Ichi Ban claiming time redress, lasted over four hours

In Hobart the sailing judges heard that Celestial had a noisy engine running to power electrics, and the navigator was trying to use a hand-held VHF feed on deck. The crew were exhausted after battling heavy seas, and they had been out of contact for only 90 minutes.

The panel comprised David Tillett (AUS), Rosemary Collins (AUS), John Doerr (GBR), Russel Green (NZL), Jamie Sutherland (NZL) and Philippe Mazard (FRA).

It was decided that a time penalty of 40 minutes would be imposed in lieu of disqualification for breaching the rule, and Ichi Ban was awarded a three-minute time deduction for her own efforts, which had distracted from racing the yacht. The panel later, on January 1, rejected a Request to Reopen hearings by Celestial .

“To win with Ichi Ban a third time is unbelievable”, said Allen. “It is always better, ideally, not to go into the protest room to decide matters. I’ve been involved in protests probably no more than six times in my lifetime.

Ichi Ban owner-skipper Matt Allen with a specially engraved Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht Master, presented by Benoit Falletti of Rolex Australia

“But obviously the Race Committee also protested. Sailing has many rules to it, and they are important to abide by, especially the ones related to safety.”

Ten of the 17 starters in the inaugural Two-Handed Division made it to Hobart. Line honours went to the Tasmanian duo of Rob Gough and John Saul sailing Sidewinder , a 12m French design well set up for heavy ocean racing. Winner under several handicap systems, however, was the J99 Disko Trooper named after the lead character in Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous , one Disko Troop.

A couple of Laser sailors, Jules Hall and Jan ‘Clogs’ Scholten, were aboard, and they were sponsored by Scholten’s company Contender Sailcloth. Also with a podium finish was Crux , an S&S 34 crewed by Carlos Aydos and Peter Grayson.

Kialoa 11 , one of the legendary American Jim Kilroy’s early steeds, took part in the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart, and last boat home was the 71-year-old Halvorsen 36 Solveig , which crossed the finish line at 08:42:11 on the morning of January 1. www.rolexsydneyhobart.com

Y focus on carbon: Custom Tripp 90 by YYachts Specialising in luxury carbon sailing yachts from 70-100ft, Germany’s YYachts has launched its custom-built Tripp 90, which features an exterior by Bill Tripp and a richly detailed interior by Winch Design – and will be followed by the Y9 model in 2022. By John Higginson.

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The super maxi (racing yachts under 100’ or 30m) are increasingly popular and as more yachts are launched the competition gets better. Super maxis are raced in all the large worldwide yacht events from the Fastnet to the Sydney to Hobart to the Middle Seas race.

LEOPARD 3 is a racing sailing yacht, as launched in 2007. She is a new concept for a 100ft super maxi from Farr Yacht Design.  LEOPARD 3 meets the demanding requirements of a luxurious, signature charter yacht, as well as a passage record breaker and a race winning super maxi in a fantatic new concept developed by Farr Yacht Design.

Racing maxi ‘Maximus’ is definitely the latest and most impressive super maxi to ever appear on the world stage.  She may even represent one of the biggest design leaps in all monohull yachting. The name comes from Maximus' unbridled maximum power to weight ratio. Maximus is quite a step forward in design and technology in the world of yachting and when compared to other super maxi designs (notably Zana/Conical Minolta & Scandia). This is perhaps not surprising given the project mission – To design, build and successfully race the world’s fastest and most innovative monohull under 100 ft with adherence only to the rules of science and experience. There are no class rule handbrakes here!

Why is Maxims set to be the fastest thing afloat and beat every other monohull she mixes with? Simple really - her team. She has the best possible design and building team, willing and extremely capable owners and a fantastic sailing crew. As with anything, if you want to do something great you need to gather around great people. EBS Yachting (Maximus) has achieved this without compromise.

Every now and then in history you can get a congregation of amazing people in one area and place – a class of genius. The Maximus team is comprised of perhaps the most outstanding individuals and companies in ocean yachting in the world. As it turns out they are almost all New Zealanders. Anyone heard of Greg Elliot, Clay Oliver, Chris Mitchell, Southern Spars, North Sails, Cookson Boat Builders? Why not throw in a nuclear physicist/innovator and a very successful race campaigner and businessman as the owners, into the mix!

At her launch Maximus was dressed in modernist silver and measured in at 100 feet or 30.5 meters in length overall, weight unknown. She made quite an impressive sight. In the words of Stewart Thwaites who was there (the owner, campaigner and racer of super maxi Konica Minolta): “It just looks beautiful really…”.  The old adage in Aeronautics that ‘if the plane looked good to the eye, she would fly well’, perhaps rings true here with yachting also.

The key with making a yacht fast is high power to weigh ratio, achieved with strategic weight distribution, high righting moment and low weight, yet strong materials. When righting moment is high, more horse power can be designed into the rig and sails. The hull, spars and sails therefore need to be light and the bulb on the keel deep and heavy. Class rules traditionally hamstring a designer from the challenge of taking design and technology to its full potential. This is not the case with Maximus. Throw in a streamlined, easily driven hull and a skillful crew and you have all the ingredients for speed.

Weight to power ratio and righting moment has been maximized in Maximus by an extremely frugal addition of weight throughout all parts of the yacht. The hull and much of the equipment and fittings are completely composed of carbon. So too are the spars – the mast could be lifted by one very well balanced Scottish caber tosser! Further weight is stripped down with the absence, rather alteration, of some fittings normally found on yachts, such as cleats and many usually conventional winches – the luff is tensioned down rather than pulled up with a halyard. The winches that are used are also made from carbon. Add to this a revolutionary rotating mast (the first for a monohull) for more efficient use of the wind (and less drag) and a keel which telescopes into itself and cants to a larger angle than ever before.

Perhaps unexpectedly, safety has not been compromised is favour of performance alone. Crash bars have been fitted in strategic places (carbon fiber off-course) and the hull has been designed, by Greg Elliott, with higher than necessary top sides to minimize the crew’s exposure to fast moving deck wash. Maximus is fully equipped with safety gear, has a strengthened canting keel and is able to function completely manually, without auxiliary power. It is not hard to understand why the team has a particular emphasis on safety and prudence as they are in uncharted territory in yachting with respect to boat speeds and pressures.

The Velocity Prediction Analysis suggests that Maximus will smash speed records with her long straight lines, low drag, high righting moment, maximum power to weight ratio, efficient and huge sail area, rotating mast, and extra canting keel. Add to this an excellent managerial and sailing team and she is likely to not only find racing regatta line honors but dissolve opponent’s spirits in her wake in the process.

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Costs of food provisions will vary dependent upon how eloborate food Preferenaces are

Location will play huge factor in food provisons and thing may have to be folws into remorte locations.

Crew is one of the largest expenses on a superyacht and critical to the owner’s enjoyment of their vessel. As the largest crew agency in the world, we know crew. Our cost calculator contains customized crew lists for yachts ranging from 80ft to 600ft with salary information based on our reference verified salary data.

Our users also have the ability to completely tailor the crew list to the specific needs, schedule and requirements of their vessel. Each yacht is unique and may have specific owner requests in addition to the yacht’s safe manning requirements.

Management of the supplemental crew costs and strategic budgeting can help avoid significant overspend on categories such as food and uniform. This tool contains default values based on our industry expertise and recommended budget for an efficiently and safely run superyacht.

To learn more about each crew position in detail, including salary ranges, please visit our yacht department directory .

Drag the sliders to modify your results. These are not linear scales and we expect most yachts to operate within the 20-80% window. Above 80% and below 20% costs increase or decrease at exaggerated levels and we only see numbers in these levels in very rare circumstances.

This sunburst diagram is interactive. You can click into each block to see the expense break down and mouse over each block for more details.

Our chart of accounts displays seven major categories, 20 sub-categories plus a further 80 detail categories for a total of 107.

Our yacht operating cost calculator is now on it’s third major revision. We start with actual yacht expense data from our yacht management accountants and then generate formulas to extrapolate out the budget for a wide range of yachts. We have been providing accounting services to large yachts for the past 18 years.

Our operating cost calculator is tuned for yachts from 80 to 600 feet. We find operating variables create the largest variances for yachts smaller than 100 feet and larger than 250 feet. We have tested the numbers the most in the range from 100 to 250 feet.

Our budget calculator factors in the fuel burn for a range of engine sizes typically seen installed on yachts by length. By dragging the green “fuel dockage” slider to the right you will increase the projected fuel burn rate and therefore the budget cost for fuel. Our default position would be for a typical displacement fuel burn. Position the slider in the 60-80% range for fuel projections for planning hulls.

Our default values produce a budget number that we believe is generous to run a yacht to a high standard. Perfect is a very expensive word to use in the yachting industry where standards are already high. Moving the crew and maintenance sliders to 80% will provide an “industry best” quality of crew and give them the maintenance budget to operate to a very high standard. If you need to go over the 80% area then you may have unusually labor intensive equipment on the yacht.

Yes, our yacht operating cost calculator can output a budget suitable for this situation. Adjust the owner use to 2 (minimum value), owner slider to 0, crew slider to 10%, Administration to 10%, Fuel and Dockage to 0, Maintenance to 10% and then Capital Repairs to 0. This will remove all of the large charges associated with owner use and vessel movement but leave the essential base maintenance and insurance in place.

Lift on and float in yacht transport is a popular way to transport yachts across large ocean passage. The yachts that this service certainly applies to are ones that may not have the motoring range or structural integrity for blue ocean cruising. The cost of transporting a yacht twice per year is put into our budget once the “Fuel Dockage” slider hits 75%. If your yacht has the range we recommend self-sufficient ocean passages whenever possible. Whilst the transport companies sell their services based upon reportedly well oiled operated schedules the reality is that your yacht may stay waiting for pickup for a week or more with no compensation due. When factoring in all secondary factors of self-sufficient passages (increased fuel, maintenance, potential storm damage, crew time off, extra delivery crew) compared with transporting your yacht (insurance, potential loading / unloading damage, loss of schedule control, no work whilst underway, crew flights, crew accommodation) we believe that there is a 100% premium associated with float in transport and a 75% premium with lift on transport compared with self-powered.

Abandoned yachts crash in value. We recommend that even if you are trying to sell your yacht that you use the yacht for a minimum of two weeks per year so that systems are tested and working every six months. There is nothing worse for a yacht than not being used. If you truly are not going to use the yacht then you should sell it immediately for the first genuine offer as every dollar you put into maintenance will not be recovered at the time of the sale.

We did not build this version with sailing yachts in mind. Early in our development of this version we decided to exclude sailing yachts as a few of the major cost drivers scale very differently for sailing yachts compared with motor yachts. For example: To calculate paint costs we reviewed the surface area of over 100 large yachts and created a formula for painted surface area to length. Sailing yachts just don’t scale in a consistent way. Similarly crew numbers don’t scale in the same manner that they do for motor yachts. If there is sufficient demand we may build a sailing selector switch into a future version of this tool.

We hate to hear when yacht owners were told by their broker to factor in 10% of the purchase price to operate the yacht. This over used saying is sadly right occasionally (particularly for newer yachts in the $20-30M range)… but just because a broken watch tells the right time twice a day you shouldn’t rely upon it to tell the time. As yachts get older their capital value decreases but their maintenance costs increase. There is no way that a fixed 10% of purchase cost rule can be true… if your broker told you this rule then you need a new yacht broker… we know some good ones. 😊

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Comanche, Jim Clark’s 100ft super maxi, smashes the transatlantic record

• Toby Hodges
• July 28, 2016

Comanche, the 100ft maxi racing yacht built to break records for Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze-Clark, has set an astonishingly fast new transatlantic record

In making the crossing in just  5 days, 14 hours, and 21 minutes Comanche has knocked over 24 hours off the prized record held by Mari-Cha IV for the last 13 years (subject to ratification). She sailed the 2,880 nautical miles at an AVERAGE speed of 21.44 knots!

Comanche, sailing without her regular skipper Ken Read due to America’s Cup World Series commentating commitments, was on standby for the record attempt since the end of June. She departed on the evening of the 22 July from New York – and crossed the Lizard finish line at 1145 today, 28 July.

Comanche was built precisely for this purpose: to break records. She set a blistering new 24-hour distance record for a monohull during the Transatlantic Race last year – 618 miles, at an average speed of 25.75 knots. But this Transat record is arguably the big one.

Comanche’s owner Jim Clark said: “The guys have once again powered our fantastic fat-bottomed girl to another title. I am so proud of the entire team and everyone involved in the entire program from top to bottom, the best in world, getting the best out of Comanche. Perfect harmony, and Kristy and I are over the moon.”

Speaking ahead of the departure, Comanche owner Jim Clark stated “Comanche has already proven her potential in major events all around the world and this looks to be a great opportunity to continue her legacy…The crew is made of some of the best sailors in the world who all have great pedigree. I have a good feeling about this attempt.”

Clark, the Silicon Valley magnate and founder of Netscape, has owned a number of high profile yachts that includes the groundbreaking 90m schooner Athena, and the J-Class Hanuman.

North Sails President Ken Read, the former Puma Volvo 70 skipper, has been helmsman on Hanuman and collaborator on Clark’s recent projects. “This latest record is testament to Jim and Kristy’s vision,” he said. “This is the culmination of six years of hard work and a huge team of experts offshore and onshore all working as one.”

For this crossing, Comanche’s rockstar crew, some of who sailed with Read on the Volvo Ocean Race, was led by Casey Smith, and included regulars Tony Mutter, Richard Clarke and navigator Stan Honey.

Honey picked the ideal weather window, ahead of a front, with flat seas and steady winds from a favourable angle. Following Comanche’s progress on the Yellowbrick tracker it was amazing to see how consistently she remained in the mid 20-knot bracket.

Stan Honey pours over his routeing at Commanche’s navstation

Crewmember and photographer Yann Riou described it as a weather pattern that only happens a couple of times a year. “In front of a low pressure system, moving at the same speed as we do… south-westerly wind, flat sea, all the way through – on the paper, this could not be any better.” In reality there was more thunderstorm activity than the crew had anticipated which enforced a couple of slower gybes.

In comparison to Mari-Cha’s historic ghost trail however (in white above), Comanche was able to sail a much more direct route. (It makes the 2003 record all the more impressive – see more details on MCIV below). The last 50 miles to the Lizard involved a comparatively slow hitch south of the Scilly Islands.

Comanche sailed with ‘only’ 17 crewmembers who used manual powered winches and hydraulics for this record attempt.

Antiguan Shannon Falcone, an America’s Cup winner with Team Oracle, prepares freeze-dried food during Comanche’s record crossing

Named after a native American tribe, Comanche is so beamy she was dubbed ‘the aircraft carrier’ – see our full tour of the yacht here

Designed by VPLP and Guillame Verdier, Comanche involved 15,000 hours design time plus 150,000 build-hours at Hodgdon Yachts in Maine ­­– in less than a year.

In comparison to Mari Cha IV, Comanche is 38ft shorter, but with only 5ft 5in less beam. Her 31 tonnes displacement is 25 tonnes lighter, yet the two yachts have similar keel draught. This all equates to Comanche boasting significant extra stability and righting moment – and consequently the ability to set vast sail area to help produce the extra power and speed she consistently shows. See what she’s like to sail onboard with our video here

It’s a long way down from the leeward rail – the formidable beam of Comanche

Stan Honey: “There are only about two weather windows a year where a monohull can make it all the way across the Atlantic in one system, and we found one of them. Beating this record by more than a day is above my expectations and I am delighted.”

Mari Cha IV

Mari Cha IV – by Thierry Martinez

Mari-Cha IV, the 42.32m ketch designed by Philippe Briand, was built by JMV Industries in 2003 with an aim to be the fastest monohull for offshore courses. She certainly achieved that when she set the Transatlantic Record on the year of her launch, making the crossing in 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes, at an average speed above 19 knots. Her best 24 hour run was 525 miles. She has since been completely and stunningly refitted by Royal Huisman and relaunched this year as Samurai.

Family clings to hope of air pocket in sunken superyacht as debris hampers search

PORTICELLO, Sicily — Divers searching for six missing people from a superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily told NBC News Wednesday that debris inside the vessel, as well as its depth, were making their job difficult.  

As hopes of finding anyone alive dwindled, the divers said that they had managed to force open one of the Bayesian’s access doors but access to the cabins where people could be trapped was being hampered by detritus. 

The divers, who were not authorized to speak publicly, added that the depth of the wreck meant they were left with only 10 minutes to search the 184-foot yacht once they reached it. Then they had to return to the surface, they said. 

On Wednesday, the dock where they set off from was swarming with vehicles, boats and rescuers. Nearby tourists, reporters and photographers have gathered, eager for news. Helicopters occasionally fly over the area.  

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and five of the 22 other people who were aboard the yacht remain unaccounted for and are believed to be trapped in the Bayesian’s hull, nearly 170 feet underwater.

Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, are also missing. 

Officials confirmed Monday that at least one person, the ship’s cook, had died. 

Rescuers said Tuesday that there might be people trapped inside the cabins, especially considering the timing of the storm, but that they had so far been unable to check through the ship’s portholes.

“The operations are long and complex,” Italy’s national fire department, whose diving teams have been participating in the search, said on X . 

Italy's coast guard also said Tuesday that divers were also using a remotely-operated underwater vehicle to aid in the search.

The Bayesian is owned by a firm linked to Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who was one of the 15 people rescued Monday after it capsized near Sicily’s main city of Palermo in what Italian officials called a “violent storm.” 

Built by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi in 2008, the U.K.-registered Bayesian could carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites. Its nearly 250-foot mast is the tallest aluminum sailing mast in the world, according to CharterWorld Luxury Yacht Charters.  

Lynch, who was regularly described in U.K. media as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” was acquitted by a San Francisco jury of fraud charges stemming from the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.

Prosecutors alleged that Lynch and Autonomy’s vice president for finance, Stephen Chamberlain, had padded the firm’s finances ahead of the sale. Lynch’s lawyers argued that HP was so eager to acquire Autonomy that it failed to adequately check the books .

The Mediterranean sailing vacation was designed to be a celebration for Lynch, who brought Morvillo, one of his U.S. lawyers and Bloomer, who testified in his defense, on the trip.

Bloomer’s twin brother, Jeremy, told the BBC on Tuesday the family was “coping the best we can” and he was hopeful there might still be air pockets inside the hull. 

Chamberlain was not aboard the Bayesian.

In what appears to be a tragic coincidence, a car struck and killed Chamberlain on Saturday as he was jogging in a village about 68 miles north of London, local police said.

Claudio Lavanga and Claudia Rizzo reported from Porticello, Yuliya Talmazan from London. 

Claudio Lavanga is Rome-based foreign correspondent for NBC News.

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.

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Luxury superyacht sinks off Italy coast in freak storm. 6 people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, are still missing.

The bayesian, which costs $215,000 to rent for a week, capsized off the coast of sicily early monday morning..

A luxury superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily early Monday morning after the boat was reportedly caught in the middle of an unexpected and violent storm. The 183-foot boat, named the Bayesian, is estimated to be worth around $18 million .

At least one person was killed during the incident, with six others still missing, the Italian coast guard reported. Fifteen people were rescued when the yacht sank around 5 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET). American, British and Canadian citizens are among those who remain missing.

The storm that caused the yacht to sink was a freak occurrence, with Salvo Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, telling reporters those on board were “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

What happened?

The Bayesian capsized while about half a mile off the coast of Porticello, a small fishing village. There were 22 people on board — 12 passengers and 10 crew members.

According to the BBC , a heavy storm hit the coast of Sicily and created waterspouts , which are tornadoes that form over water. The waterspout winds were so powerful that they broke the boat’s mast in half, causing the ship, which was anchored, to lose its balance and sink.

The crew on a Dutch-flagged vessel nearby noticed the yacht had disappeared and saw flares being set off in the sea. They went to help survivors before the Italian coast guard could arrive.

One British passenger, Charlotte Golunski, told reporters she kept her 1-year-old daughter alive by holding her up above the water until they got on a lifeboat.

What to know about the Bayesian

Charter sites list the yacht’s weekly rent as $215,000, the Associated Press reported .

Boat International , a superyacht and luxury yacht guide, reported that the Bayesian had the tallest aluminum mast in the world at over 240 feet, making it one of the 50 largest sailing yachts in the world.

The latest as of Tuesday afternoon

Six passengers remained missing on Monday afternoon, including tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, sometimes referred to as the “British Bill Gates.” Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter is also among those missing, while his wife, Angela Bacares, was one of the 15 people saved.

Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer, Chris Morvillo, a prominent American lawyer, and their wives are also missing.

The City Council of Bagheria said in a statement that seven adults were taken to the emergency room following the rescue but “it seems that none are in serious conditions.”

The coast guard said that four patrol boats have been deployed along with a helicopter and a team of divers to complete the search and rescue mission. A specialized caving search and rescue team was also flown in from Rome.

The U.K.’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch also plans to send a team of four investigators to make a preliminary assessment of why the Bayesian sank and why people were still on board.

Who is Mike Lynch?

Lynch, 59, founded the software firm Autonomy and recently faced a legal battle with U.S.-based Hewlett-Packard after the tech company accused him of inflating Autonomy’s value in an $11 billion sale in 2011.

Lynch was acquitted of multiple fraud charges in June after a three-month trial, avoiding a potential 20-year jail sentence.

Superyacht sinks latest: Fifth body found in search - six people now confirmed dead

Five bodies have been found in the search for several people missing after a yacht sank off the Sicily coast, bringing the total number of dead to six. Search efforts are in their third day, after the captain was reportedly questioned by Italian prosecutors over the sinking.

Wednesday 21 August 2024 18:17, UK

• Superyacht sinking

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• Five bodies found in search for survivors, taking number of confirmed deaths in superyacht tragedy to six - with one person still missing
• Divers bring recovered body to shore
• Eyewitness: Onlookers wipe away tears as bodies hauled up
• Advanced underwater drone deployed
• Yacht's captain questioned for more than two hours - report
• Watch: CCTV captures yacht seconds before it sinks
• Explained: Inside the superyacht
• Live reporting by Mark Wyatt

A fifth body has been found today in the search for survivors of the sunken superyacht

The head of Sicily's civil protection agency Salvatore Cocina said four bodies have been recovered and that efforts to bring a fifth to shore are "ongoing". 

It brings the number of confirmed deaths to six, after the body of the yacht's on-board chef was recovered shortly after the incident on Monday.

One person remains missing.

By  Ashna Hurynag , news correspondent

The crowd on the harbourside has been growing since lunchtime. 

News that cave divers from Naples and Rome had joined the search came with more attention and interest. 

The search had entered its third day, and conservations were turning to fear about a lack of oxygen for those on board the sunken yacht. 

Radios were heard crackling across the water where a makeshift temporary search and rescue "centre" has been constructed. 

The white coastguard vessel and the search and rescue cream and red boat were coming in from the search site. 

As they docked, two divers dressed in orange wetsuits on the back of the boat lifted the first body bag.

The sight causing the crowd opposite to fall silent. The poignancy of the sombre moment bringing some watching on to tears.

Some looked away, whilst others filmed on their phones. 

The moment many had feared was unfolding before their eyes as the rescue mission only minutes ago quickly turned to recovery. 

The crowd watched on as another body was brought ashore too. 

A spontaneous guard of honour seemed to form as each body was brought to the harbourside - police officers, firefighters and search and rescue officials side by side, some with bowed heads - a moment of silence and respect. 

After hours of searching, this operation is coming to a close.

The former commander of the UK's amphibious taskforce has disagreed with the view of some experts that the superyacht was the victim of a "black swan event".

The term is used to refer to a high-impact, rare incident that is difficult to predict, but is often seen in retrospect as having been inevitable.

It's thought the Bayesian sunk after it was struck by a tornado over the water - known as a waterspout - which caused it to capsize.

"I think it's quite interesting that a lot of people are saying this is a black swan event," Rear Admiral Chris Parry told Sky News.

"It isn't really. You get about 500 of these sorts of events in the Mediterranean every year," he added, referring to the waterspouts.

"I've been studying the Mediterranean for the best part of 50 years, and they're quite commonplace, and they're associated with certain, atmospheric, conditions."

Rear Adm Parry added: "They normally happen in around September and October in increasing in numbers, but because of warming sea levels, they're happening more and more in August now. 

"Although this is a very unlucky event, in fact, they are predictable at certain times of the year."

Emergency service staff and others involved in search and rescue operations have formed a "guard of honour" as bodies are brought ashore, says our correspondent Ashna Hurynag .

Four bodies, which have not yet been identified, were found in the wreck of the Bayesian this afternoon.

It's unclear how many have been recovered, but those that have been brought to shore have been loaded onto an ambulance and driven away from the port.

"As each body has been brought ashore - two that we have seen so far with our own eyes -  we are seeing almost a guard of honour forming," says Hurynag.

"Those emergency services and personnel are lining the port where they have been conducting their thorough work and bringing the body that's being recovered, loading that body onto a local ambulance, and we're seeing the ambulances being taken in convoy away from the scene."

Images have emerged of another body bag being brought to shore at the port in Porticello, Sicily.

Four bodies, which have not yet been identified, were found in the wreck of the yacht this afternoon. It's unclear how many have been recovered so far.

It means there are still two people unaccounted for from the 22 that were onboard at the time the ship sank.

The UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has confirmed it is investigating the sinking of the superyacht.

The organisation will look to determine the causes and circumstances of the incident.

A team of four MAIB inspectors have been in Porticello today to carry out a "preliminary assessment", according to PA.

"The MAIB is investigating the foundering of the UK registered large yacht Bayesian off the northern coast of Sicily on 19 August 2024," a statement read.

"It would not be appropriate for the MAIB to comment further while the investigation is ongoing. "

The MAIB is looking into the incident because the Bayesian was flying a British flag - but the Italian Coastguard said the MAIB was not involved in the search and rescue operation and that it did not request assistance.

An investigation into the sinking of the Bayesian might result in changes to how masts are constructed, according to a professor of transport law.

Much has been made of the size of Bayesian's 75m (246ft) aluminium mast, which according to Italian shipbuilder Perini makes it the tallest of its kind in the world.

Karsten Borner, the captain of another yacht anchored nearby at the time of the storm, said he saw the mast "bend and then snap", according to Italy's Corriere della Sera daily newspaper.

But search and rescue divers have since noted the ship is tilted on its side and seems to be intact, suggesting the mast might not have broken.

Either way, Nicola Romana, a professor of transport and tourism law at the University of Palermo, says investigations into how the ship sunk could force a change to ship building.

He told la Repubblica: "In the case of Bayesian, a safety investigation, I imagine, could concern the height of the mast, whether it could have caused an imbalance with the hull, thus leading in the future to not building such tall masts or to using other types of alloys, different from aluminium."

However, retired Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe told Sky News today he thought discussions about the involvement of the mast in the Bayesian's sinking were "a distraction".

He said the vessel's draught (the depth of the ship below the waterline) was "specifically designed to withstand those sorts of stresses".

"The mast is designed to have a massive sail hanging off it with the wind trying to blow the boat over," he said. 

"So I think that's a distraction unless there was a condition with the keel - if they had a retractable keel and that made the boat less stable that way."

Two more bodies have been found by rescue divers in the search for survivors of the sunken Bayesian yacht.

It brings the total number of victims found today to four, after two other bodies were found earlier this afternoon (see 14.36 post). 

Five people have now been confirmed dead after the yacht sunk in the early hours of Monday morning off Palermo following a violent storm. The body of chef Recaldo Thomas was recovered on Monday.

The identities of those discovered today are unknown at this stage.

An ambulance thought to contain one of the bodies found in the search for those missing has driven away from the harbour, says our correspondent Ashna Hurynag . 

She describes the "distinct quietness" as the body was loaded into the vehicle earlier. 

"One thing that's really striking about being here on the ground is it's incredibly silent," she says despite around  50 or 60 people being present. 

But she says the quietness was punctured by blue lights and sirens as the ambulance drove away in convoy with two navy vehicles. 

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The body of a man recovered near the Bayesian yacht is believed to be that of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat

Six people are still missing after British luxury yacht sank off Sicily on Monday

They include Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer , his wife Judy, British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, and jewellery designer Neda Morvillo

Divers are struggling to reach the cabins of the yacht, with a "world of objects" blocking access to the rooms

Of the 22 people on board, 15 survived, six are missing, and one body, believed to be Recaldo Thomas, has been found

Live Reporting

Edited by Sean Seddon, with Mark Lowen reporting from Sicily

Rescue workers continue the search for six missing people published at 20:28 British Summer Time 20 August 20:28 BST 20 August

Search crews say their efforts to recover the six people still not accounted for after a yacht sank off the coast of Sicily on Monday will "continue without stopping".

As the second day of that operation comes to close, here's what we have learned:

• Friends of Recaldo Thomas , the chef believed to have died in the sinking, have begun to pay tribute to his "smile that lit up a room"
• Three more survivors have been named as Leo Eppel and South African nationals Leah Randall and Katja Chicken - all members of crew that were on board the ship when it sank
• Six people still remain unaccounted for: Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah , Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda
• Divers have been able to reach the lounge of the yacht but their path to the cabins has been blocked by "a world of objects"
• The Italian coastguard says that specialist divers are "evaluating the feasibility of safely entering the wreck", but warn the search is being complicated by its " depth and the position of the hull" around 50m (164ft) below the surface
• Jonathan Bloomer's twin brother has told the BBC his family are "coping the best we can" as they wait for updates from the rescue team's ongoing efforts

We're going to pause our coverage now but you can read more about the second day of the Bayesian search operation here .

This page was edited by Emily Atkinson, Owen Amos and Sean Seddon and was written by Sophie Abdulla, Adam Durbin, Gabriela Pomeroy, Matt Spivey, Barbara Tasch, Jacqueline Howard, Rachel Flynn and Johanna Chisholm.

Who are the six people still missing? published at 20:19 British Summer Time 20 August 20:19 BST 20 August

Technology tycoon Mike Lynch is still missing alongside his 18-year-old daughter

Six people remain unaccounted for after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily, including a father and daughter, as well as two married couples.

UK businessman Mike Lynch, who helped establish Cambridge Neurodynamics and co-founded the firm Autonomy, is still missing alongside his daughter Hannah Lynch , an 18-year-old student.

Jonathan Bloomer , the chairman of Morgan Stanley Bank International, and his wife Judy Bloomer were also on the yacht when it sank and have not yet been found.

Chris Morvillo , a partner at the law firm Clifford Chance, and his wife Neda Morvillo, a jewellery designer, have also been confirmed as missing.

Earlier we reported that the body of a man recovered near the sunken Sicilian yacht is believed to be that of Recaldo Thomas , a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat.

His friends have described him as having "a smile that lit up the room".

Couple missing from yacht are 'incredibly generous people', says reverend published at 20:07 British Summer Time 20 August 20:07 BST 20 August

Jonathan and Judy Bloomer - who are still missing following the sinking of the Bayesian yacht - are “incredibly generous people”, the reverend of their local church says.

Speaking to BBC South East, Rev Tim Edwards, from Knockholt in Kent, says “at the moment there’s an awful lot that we don’t know”.

He describes the couple as being “very much” part of the village community and active with local charities.

What are waterspouts? published at 19:52 British Summer Time 20 August 19:52 BST 20 August

According to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder, the Bayesian left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of "at anchor".

Witnesses later described seeing a waterspout form during a storm that hit in the area overnight, and - as mentioned in our last post - it is believed to have struck the yacht before it sank.

Most are familiar with what tornadoes look like - they are rotating columns of destructive winds, protruding from the base of clouds down to the ground. According to BBC Weather, waterspouts are just that too, but they form over water rather than land.

Instead of dust and debris swirling around the core of strong winds, it is water mist whipped up from the surface.

Like tornadoes, most are only short-lived, narrow columns and are not easily picked out on weather radars, so many will go unreported.

How could the yacht have sunk? published at 19:39 British Summer Time 20 August 19:39 BST 20 August

It is believed the Bayesian was struck by a tornado over the water - otherwise known as a waterspout - causing the luxury yacht to capsize and sink to the seabed.

There are separate reports the boat's mast snapped during the freak storm, while other factors in the boat's tipping over could include water entering through hatches and doors which might have been left open because of warm weather off the Italian coast.

'Easy to talk to with a sense of humour' - friend describes Mike Lynch published at 19:27 British Summer Time 20 August 19:27 BST 20 August

Another one of Mike Lynch's friends has been telling the BBC a bit more about their neighbour's personality.

"He is so approachable and a very easy person to talk to," Richard Smith, who lives in the Suffolk village of Pettistree, says. "A nice sense of humour."

"You might think with all that money that he would be a difficult person to talk to, but in fact he was a very easy person to talk to."

Mike Lynch's neighbour 'horrified' to learn he's missing published at 19:08 British Summer Time 20 August 19:08 BST 20 August

One of Mike Lynch's neighbours says she was "horrified" to find out he was missing and describes it as the "worst news".

"I just couldn't believe it, I thought this can't be right," Ruth Leigh, of Pettistree in Suffolk, says.

Leigh says they have lived near each other for around 15 years and describes Lynch as a "fantastic neighbour" and a "very charitable man".

"Even though he was incredibly wealthy and a very important person he never ever gave that impression.

"Whenever he met you he always remembers your name, he would chat to you - incredibly friendly and down to earth, which we thought was a great quality," she adds.

Did the yacht’s keel play a role in it sinking? published at 18:46 British Summer Time 20 August 18:46 BST 20 August

By Tom Edgington

There has been speculation about the type of keel on the Bayesian and whether it may have been a factor in it sinking.

The website for Perini Navi – the yacht’s builder – is currently not available. However, by searching internet archives BBC Verify has obtained the boat’s 2018 brochure.

In the “features and performance” section, the document gives dimensions for the keel in an "up" position - 4.05m (13ft) - and in a "down" position - 9.83m (32ft) - suggesting it is retractable.

The BBC has contacted Perini Navi but has not had a reply.

A keel is a support structure underneath the boat which projects downwards and helps keep it balanced on the surface.

Certain boats might require a retractable keel in order to enter shallow water without getting stuck.

We don’t know if the Bayesian’s keel was up or down at the time it was struck by a storm.

However, Andrew Fairbrass who runs a large yacht engineering business says “when you're sailing, you have to keep the keel down and it does make a big difference to stability”.

Name of surviving crew member confirmed by coastguard published at 18:24 British Summer Time 20 August 18:24 BST 20 August Breaking

The Italian coastguard has confirmed the name of another crew member who survived the sinking of the Bayesian.

Leo Eppel was on board the yacht when it capsized, spokesman Vincenzo Zagarola says.

Two other surviving crew members were named by authorities a short while ago .

The BBC understands that Recaldo Thomas, who worked as a chef on the boat, was killed and his body has been recovered.

You can read tributes to the Canadian-Antiguan national here .

British investigators arrive but hopes for miracle vanish published at 18:08 British Summer Time 20 August 18:08 BST 20 August

In cloudy skies and on choppy waters, the search has gone on all day, a helicopter scouring the site where the Bayesian capsized as divers plunged deep below.

They’re trying to access the wreckage of the yacht that was hit by a tornado-like waterspout, and is now 50m (164ft) underwater.

Given the depth, each dive can only be 10 minutes, and with the boat still largely intact it’s hard to get access inside.

British investigators are now here to assess what happened during the extreme weather that hit the Bayesian.

Severe heat and violent storms had prompted a weather alert before the yacht went down.

Tonight the search goes on - but any hope of a Mediterranean miracle survival has all but vanished.

'It's still wait and see,' says twin brother of missing man published at 17:50 British Summer Time 20 August 17:50 BST 20 August

Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer

Jonathan Bloomer's twin brother has told the BBC his family are "coping the best we can" as rescue workers continue to search for him off the coast of Sicily.

The banker is one of six people still missing since the Bayesian yacht capsized.

Jeremy Bloomer tells the BBC he has not received any new updates on the search efforts to find Jonathan, beyond that divers are struggling to access the wreck of the boat.

He says: "It's a slow process and it will take time. So there might be air pockets, but we don't know."

Jeremy continues: "He was my older [brother] by half an hour. So it means a lot when you lose a twin brother. It's still wait and see, so fingers crossed."

Asked how he was coping, he says the situation is "terrible" and something that's "beyond your wildest imagination".

Quote Message I'm just numb, just numb. That's it, you don't know what to think and you can't believe it's happened."

Two members of crew named as survivors of yacht sinking published at 17:39 British Summer Time 20 August 17:39 BST 20 August

We've just heard from the Italian coastguard, which has named two more survivors of the yacht sinking.

South African nationals Leah Randall and Katja Chicken, who worked as crew members on the Bayesian, managed to get to safety after the vessel sank in the early hours of Monday morning.

In total , 15 of the 22 people on board have been rescued . Among them are:

• Mike Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares
• Charlotte Golunski, her husband James and their one-year-old daughter
• Ayla Ronald, who worked as a lawyer for Mike Lynch, and her partner

How Mike Lynch's courtroom joy led to yacht tragedy published at 17:24 British Summer Time 20 August 17:24 BST 20 August

Twelve people were vacationing on Mike Lynch 's yacht, alongside 10 crew members, when it sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily. The gathering was reportedly a celebration.

Earlier this year, Lynch was cleared of fraud and conspiracy charges arising from the sale of his firm Autonomy to US tech giant Hewlett Packard. The decade-long legal battle had led to Lynch's extradition from the UK.

Upon being cleared of the charges in June, the British entrepreneur said he was "elated" and thanked his legal team for their "tireless work". Some of them were on the yacht alongside him when it sank.

Chris Morvillo , a lawyer for Clifford Chance - the law firm that represented Lynch - is among the six people still missing. So is his wife Neda Morvillo , an American jewellery designer.

Ayla Ronald, a senior associate at the same law firm, also worked on Lynch's case. Both she and her partner were invited to the yacht and were rescued when it sank.

Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer - who appeared as a defence witness for Lynch during his trial - and his wife Judy Bloomer were on the boat when disaster struck. Both are unaccounted for.

Charlotte Golunski, the board director of Luminance - an artificial intelligence platform founded by Lynch - was on board, along with her husband and one-year-old daughter. All three survived.

Lynch's wife Angela Bacares and daughter Hannah were also there. Bacares has been rescued but 18-year-old Hannah is still missing.

In pictures: Search operation at wreck site continues published at 17:03 British Summer Time 20 August 17:03 BST 20 August

A search and rescue operation, which includes boats scouring the surface of the sea and divers examining the wreck of the Bayesian yacht on the seabed, is still ongoing.

As we've been reporting, the specialist diving team have been struggling to access the cabins on the wreck - which is around 50m below the surface - because of debris blocking access.

'A smile that lit up the room': Tributes to chef killed in yacht sinking published at 16:52 British Summer Time 20 August 16:52 BST 20 August

The body of a man recovered near the Bayesian yacht is believed to be that of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat.

His friends have been paying tribute to him. Gareth Williams, who lives in Antigua, knew Thomas for 30 years.

"I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit," he told me.

The two grew up together in Antigua, where Recaldo spent his time during off-season.

"He would come over to mine over the weekend and he would sing. He had the deepest, most sultry voice in the world, and a smile that lit up the room.

"He told me just the other day that he needed to work two more seasons to fix up his late parents' house. He loved yachting, but he was tired."

Eli Fuller met Recaldo some 25 years ago while out socialising in Antigua.

"He knew everybody and was friends with everybody. He'd always ask how you were doing, how your family was - he was always positive.

"Personality was very important in his job. The world's richest people want to hang out with someone social. He was sought after."

He added that Thomas became an inspiration to young black children who wanted to get into yachting.

"The kids would see all these white people working on yachts. For them to see an Antiguan man travelling all over the world - it was important for our community."

Search efforts complicated by wreck's position underwater, coastguard says published at 16:42 British Summer Time 20 August 16:42 BST 20 August Breaking

The search for the missing six passengers "continues without stopping" but divers have not found anything, the Italian coastguard says.

The coastguard says that specialist divers are "evaluating the feasibility of safely entering the wreck", but that the search is being "complicated by the depth and the position of the hull lying on the seabed" - at 50m below the surface.

It adds there is no trace of "hydrocarbon pollution" - meaning oil or other similar fuel is not leaking from the wreck.

Why is the search and recovery operation for the Bayesian so complex? published at 16:28 British Summer Time 20 August 16:28 BST 20 August

We're well into the second day of search and rescue operations for the six people still missing after the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily.

Here are some of the factors which make this a highly complex process:

• The wreckage is currently 50m (165ft) below the surface of the water
• Furniture and a "world of objects" are blocking access to the cabins of the yacht, hampering the divers' access
• Divers can only spend 12 minutes below the surface of the water, meaning by the time they reach the Bayesian, they only have 10 minutes to search the wreck
• The bridge of the yacht - the room where the captain controls the vessel - is full of electrical cables
• Divers are unable to see inside the yacht , though a possible entry point could be through a 3cm (1.2in)-thick glass window
• Specialist divers who are trained to work in small spaces have had to be flown in from Rome and Sardinia

Ex-MP John Gummer on his 'wonderfully kind' friend Lynch published at 16:10 British Summer Time 20 August 16:10 BST 20 August

Helen Burchell Live reporter

Lord Deben says his friend Mike Lynch is "wonderfully kind and companionable"

Lord Deben, former Conservative MP John Gummer, describes his missing friend Mike Lynch as "a wonderfully kind and companionable" man.

"He is the kind of person who carries this enormously clever mind, but carries it so lightly, and is always interested in what others have to say and might contribute," he says in a statement.

"It is a very serious moment... for if we have lost him, we’ve lost a very wonderful man."

He adds: "It is one of the cruellest blows that could possibly be made if it turns out that he hasn’t survived because he had so much to give, and he was giving it.

"This is a man of outstanding ability, but also the sort of person whom we were all very, very fortunate to know."

Water conditions could have led to waterspout, says oceanographer published at 15:54 British Summer Time 20 August 15:54 BST 20 August

Dr Simon Boxall is a senior lecturer at Southampton University

Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer from the University of Southampton, says "there's a lot still to be discovered" about what led to the sinking of the Bayesian.

Asked about reports the boat may have been hit by a waterspout , he tells the BBC they are "not normally dangerous" but that would depend on the intensity of the weather system.

Boxall says: "What's interesting is that we saw very light winds up until the time at which the yacht was hit.

"And then suddenly, the wind went from about three or four miles an hour to 30 or 40 miles an hour, and then dropped again. And that was on land.

"So it's a sort of precursor to there being a major sort of squall or even a waterspout that would have hit the ship."

The ocean to the north of Sicily is more than three degrees warmer than it should be at this time of year, he adds, creating a "perfect storm" for waterspouts to occur.

'Yacht sank in two minutes,' captain of nearby ship says published at 15:41 British Summer Time 20 August 15:41 BST 20 August

The captain of the Dutch-flagged ship that rescued Bayesian passengers from the water before emergency services arrived has spoken again to Reuters.

Captain Karsten Borner has previously explained how he worked to keep his ship upright during the storm, before noticing the luxury yacht that had been behind his vessel had disappeared.

"I don't absolutely know what they did. I only know that they went flat with a mast on the water and that they sank in two minutes," Borner says.

He says the sea temperature, which meteorologists have told us was at an extreme high of 30C, is "way too hot for the Mediterranean, and this causes, for sure, heavy storms".