Billy Landers aboard Emily Pearl moments before leaving Mazatlan harbor.I spent three months anchored within 100 yards of Billy Landers. He left for the Marquesas on March 15th. I got this email today. I feel sick to my stomach at the thought that this good friend may be lost.
Emily Pearl is sunk in 45 feet of water off the west coast of Nuku Hiva. The skipper Billy Landers has not been found. The Dinghy/Life-raft is not aboard, it is a dark green Portland Pudgy, which is a hard plastic sailing dinghy, and a certified life boat.
No indication yet as to whether it was launched or drifted away. Search continues today by air and sea and the local gendarmes will be searching the shore near the wreck as well.
Local divers found no one aboard, professional divers will be investigating the wreck today.
Anyone in the are please keep your eyes open.
Erik Dix
S/V Sidetrack
Then I received this update with more details from Erik a few minutes later.
Bill left on the morning of May 3rd from Nuku Hiva for the island of Ua Pou.
Bill did not arrive a Ua Pou, he was heard making trying to reach a few boats by VHF radio later that afternoon, but apparently wasn't able to receive the answering hails. He sounded calm, and didn't issue a mayday.
The next morning, a guitar, a laptop, and some wreckage were found floating near Nuku Hiva by a local fisherman. A private search found Bill's boat, the Emily Pearl sunk just off the SW coast of Nuku Hiva. The dinghy which doubles as a life-boat (certified life-boat, nearly unsinkable) was not aboard, but no one can be sure at this point if it was launched or if it broke free.When I visited the site today, the boat was within 50 feet of shore.
A safety harness was found in the water on the rocks near shore. To my knowledge Bill always wears his safety harness underway.
The shoreline around the wreck was searched by boat and by plane today but there was no sign of Bill or of the dinghy. Tomorrow divers will inspect the boat to try and determine what happened. A land search will begin tomorrow, in case Bill got ashore and is attempting to hike back to a road, this side of the island is largely uninhabited and pretty steep. A private fisherman will be setting off for a nearby uninhabited island where the dinghy may have drifted to.
I've asked that the divers searching the boat search especially for Bill's hand held VHF radio as
I'm sure he would try to take it with him if he had to abandon the boat.
A waterproof bag containing US currency and US army pins in a cigar box was also recovered today. I'm 99% positive they were Bill's.
It looks like one of the lifelines (plastic coated wire that serves as railing around the deck) broken. If that happened before the boat was sunk it could indicate falling overboard.
All of the divers that have been on the boat say that he is not still in the boat.
If Bill is on land, the local authorities are confident he would not have been able to reach a road by this time. Bill is very competent to survive on the terrain, water and fruit are available, and the climate is warm.
