Surfing’s best rally behind missing fishermen
Three time world champ Mick Fanning is the latest to throw his support behind the search for the crew of a fishing boat which went missing off the coast of WA last week.
Geraldton’s Chad Fairley and Murray Turner, and Mason Carter from Kalbarri, set off on a 10 day fishing trip east of Karratha aboard the 13m trawler Returner.
They failed to return to port on the scheduled date and have not been heard from since signals from the boat’s transponder were broadcast just after midnight on July 11.
A massive air, land and sea search uncovered items from the boat, including a life raft, and EPIRB, which had not been activated.
Now, families and friends of the crew have started a gofundme page to continue the search, and the champ took to Instagram to raise awareness.
"The search continues and it is a costly procedure with boats, planes and helicopters all in on the search.
"Any donations will be greatly appreciated to help fund the recovery of our fallen friends.”
Kalbarri local, Ry Craike, also voiced his support for the campaign earlier this week.
“I have been blown away to see how much our whole community has come together to help in any way they can and it’s a true testament as to how much these legends were loved,” said Craike.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to the Carter and Fairly families along with all our friends who have been up north in the area searching every nook and cranny of the ocean and land for days on end for any sign of the boys.”
Craike is also offering two new surfboards as a way of encourage donations, for more information click here.
Comments
Was that when a low formed up last week south of Exmouth....?
Anyone got any weather maps when the disappearance happened......!
I know it pissed down for a day offshore last Tuesday, which is real strange for winter 145kms west of Karratha...
Strange little weather pattern happened that day...!
Been following this on kerby Browns and ry craikes Instagram. Terrible. It so sad
How could they not fire the epirb, something's not right.
Mick f, exactly what I thought this is very strange.......3 on board no epirb set off and they found a life raft . ?
$ 166,700 raised so far -unreal .
Damn, that's heavy.
This is one unusual Fishing Trip man. Experienced fishermen weather pending known to them. No Boat? No fishermen! Only Life Raft and EPIRB not activated. The only thing I can think of is Pirates were in the area or they came across one HUGE son of a Bitch Great White. The boat would have to be found to work out what may have happened. This is real weird man a real trip into the unknown. Pray to God they are OK.............Not activating the EPIRB???????? This can only be other human intervention from a different source other than their fishing boat. there is something a miss here NOT RIGHT!!!
trawler or wetliner?
Boats can sink incredibly quickly if the wrong thing happens.
Lets hope they are found alive.
Shjt yeh , ask the boys on Martin Dalys Quest 1 how fast they sink.
If it's a trawler and has hooked up unbeknown to the crew, it will go down fast. The life raft will have a static line that releases at a certain depth automatically. RIP.
Strong nor east winds at the time . I checked the weather as soon as I heard about this a week ago . That can mean really big seas of dampier & not the sort of weather that usually sound alarms . Mason is one of the hard charging rip rats from kalbarri .
Yeh Caml too right about strong winds for sure NE-E where I was and 3m plus seas, wind swell but full on choppy, A bloke on a Supply Vessel with the back of the ship to the swell got killed 2 kms from us, a wave went into the back and pushed a container into him, squashed, dead lots of kids....?
Sad shit, we all want to come home from work eh......
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/regional/north-west/a/28806876/sailor-...
My cousin who lives in Kalbarri knew Mason quite well. He recalled his last surf with Mason out the point, Mason paddled out on a huge red board, paddled past the local crew by another 30 odd metres, sat out the back, stroked into a bomb set wave, air dropped, landed, got fully pitted then went in...........serious charger for sure. Kalbarri community devastated, hoping for a miracle.....
He had a red lead soon as he got in rys story goes . Surfed sick . Tragic loss . Rip mas
Welly isnt that the same bloody noreaster . Fucken wind .
Yep.
W.A. police believe they have found the boat wreckage
R.I.P. to all.
Hopefully some understanding of the missing crew soon. Davey jones locker
ABC news online have an update on this.
Oh that is absolutely tragic. RIP.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-02/police-find-missing-fishing-trawle...
Mysterious as what happened
Very sad. Masons brother was at gnaraloo last year when I was there, fuck he was charging so hard. No one else wanted to touch the sets except him and two boogers. So impressive to watch. RIP
Its possible that it was top heavy and snagged something on the bottom while trawling and pulled itself under.Sad news for all concerned.
Most likely conclusion Simba, one side snags up and she would spin pretty fast in a heavy white capped ocean. As soon as side on to an angry sea things get nasty.
Very sad times for the families not knowing and impact on a small town like Kalbarri where the majority of the population are either involved or service the local fishing industry one way or another.
RIP fellas, may there be plenty of never ending barrels, eskies full of fish and red leads in the after life
All true & those carter brus all 4 surfe hard
All true & those carter brus all 4 surfe hard
All true & those carter brus all 4 surfe hard
Small vessel late in the trip low on weight down low in fuel and water snag up bang over.
RIP
Accomodation is below the wheelhouse with a 6 foot ladder climb into the wheelhouse then the aft and only exit from there is tiny, the size of your average pantry door. Skipper has one leg. Thinking it's him they have got and the boys had a swim. Tragic but I believe they gave it a fukn good go
,
Lost but not forgotten Mason Carter : Vimeo
Thanks udo . Great tribute clip . Good on mikey for putting that together
The Vessell 'The Returner' has been successfully refloated and is on way to Port for examination which will hopefully give some clues to what happened.