Yacht berthed in New Port marina sinks overnight

An Adelaide woman had a sinking feeling when she looked out her kitchen window and noticed the mast was “sitting weird” on the yacht berthed in front of her home.

Dieter Czora surveys the damage of his neighbour’s boat that sunk overnight at the New Port marina. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Traci Sawtell was dumbfounded when she looked out the kitchen window at her New Port home this morning to spot a yacht that had sunk in the marina.

Mrs Sawtell said she first noticed the boat’s mast was “sitting weird”, which made her head outside about 6.50am to take a closer look.

“I went out there and it was literally sunk to the ground,” she said.

“My first thought was I hope there is no one living on it who are stuck under it.

“Thankfully there wasn’t.”

Mrs Sawtell said the yacht, which was in the berth directly in front of her home, had been in the marina for about six months.

She understood it had recently been sold to an interstate buyer.

This yacht berthed in the New Port marina sunk overnight. Picture: Traci Sawtell

Dieter Czora owns the boat in the berth next to the sunken yacht.

A keen fisherman for more than 40 years, Mr Czora sometimes sleeps on his boat and said that he checked on the neighbouring yacht just before he turned in at 9pm last night.

“It was a bit of a shock this morning but I’m sort of used to wooden boats sinking,” Mr Dieter said.

“I’ve seen a lot of them sink over the years.”

He said the yacht, which he thought was built in the 1930s or 1940s, was the “pride and joy” of its previous owner.

An SA Police spokesman said officers attended the yacht and found its sinking was not suspicious.

He said the Department of Infrastructure and Transport’s Marine section and the marina owner/manager would be responsible for removing the yacht.

The latest yachting mishap comes fives months after two novice sailors, whose 70-year-old wooden yacht became stranded on North Haven beach, attracted a statewide following.

Father and son Claude and Samuel Evans had been trying to sail the boat, which they had been given for free, to Port Wakefield.

They eventually wanted to get it to Port Pirie where they hoped to restore it.

The month-long saga to save the marooned yacht ended when wild weather smashed it into a pontoon, causing serious damage to its bow.