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AP
This undated photo provided by the St. Andrews Historic Seaport and Commercial Marina in Panama City
Fla. shows American David Dyche
skipper of the 70-foot (21-meter) vessel Nina. The classic 85-year-old wooden vessel and the seven people aboard it went missing while sailing from New Zealand to Australia in early June. Attempts to contact the crew by radio and an aerial search this week have proved fruitless. (AP Photo/St. Andrews Historic Seaport and Commercial Marina)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand >> Rescue teams have abandoned a search for a U.S. schooner carrying seven people that disappeared in the South Pacific.
New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre said today it had carried out extensive aerial searches over the past 11 days but had found no sign of the vessel, the life raft or the crew.
The 70-foot sailboat Nina left New Zealand bound for Australia on May 29. The last communication was June 4, when a crew member sent an undelivered text saying the sails were shredded.
Authorities believe the 85-year-old classic wooden boat likely sank that day in a powerful storm.
The six Americans aboard included skipper David Dyche, 58, his wife Rosemary, 60, their son David, 17, and their friend Evi Nemeth, 73. Also aboard was a 35-year-old British man.
