South Australian sailor Tony Higgins missing again in clapped-out boat

Tony Higgins and his old, leaky boat are lost, less than two weeks after he sparked the biggest search and rescue in SA history.

Tony Higgins, right, on his boat with mate Derek Robinson on September 11. Picture: Matt Turner.

A South Australian sailor is missing again less than two weeks after sparking the biggest search and rescue operation in the state’s history when his clapped-out boat became lost off the state’s windswept Coorong peninsula.

Now, Tony Higgins is lost a second time after heading out Tuesday morning despite a statewide storm warning in his 64-year-old wooden boat, the 33-foot Magrel, which he bought off a supermarket notice board in the southern coastal town of Goolwa a few weeks ago.

Grave fears are held for the 57-year-old fisherman and builder who set out from Victor Harbor early Tuesday and rang police at 5am saying his boat was taking water and was already half a metre deep.

Tony Higgins on his boat in Victor Harbor. Picture: Matt Turner.

He has not made contact since and SA Police called off the search by rescue boats on account of treacherous seas, with SAPOL search planes finding no trace of Mr Higgins or his vessel.

It is actually the third time Mr Higgins has found himself in trouble in this past fortnight, with the Magrel running aground in low water near Victor Harbor last week and Mr Higgins being forced to wait for several hours for the tide to rise before he could return to shore.

Mr Higgins faced widespread criticism when he became lost the first time after he defied warnings from other fishos and attempted to sail the Magrel from Coffin Bay to Goolwa but became lost in the rough seas off Kangaroo Island after a propeller broke on his old boat.

He had a blunt message to his detractors after comparisons were made to British sailor Tony Bullimore, whose 1997 disappearance at sea sparked a rescue that cost Australian taxpayers an estimated $6 million.

The cabin of the 64-year-old boat. Picture: Matt Turner

“They can stick it up their arse,” Mr Higgins said about his first rescue.

“They need to get a life and spend a bit less time critiquing people from an armchair. I went and bought a boat. How else was I going to get it back? Fly it?

“People have been punching around the ocean for thousands of years. They never had anyone to go out and rescue them, and I never expected anyone to look for me. I’m self-sustaining and if I f..k it up, then I have to pay the price.”

A boat comes to the aid of Mr Higgins off the Coorong coast this month. Nine News

But SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said police were unimpressed that Mr Higgins had now lost himself a second time, especially as he had been fined $1000 after his first rescue for having an out-of-date EPIRB and flares and for not holding a boat operator’s licence.

“It’s fair to say there’s an element of frustration that the state’s resources are being dedicated to this for a second time,” Commissioner Stevens said. “The first event cost us in the order of about $650,000.”