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| Mutiny Among Friends |
 Mutiny, the most feared word on the seas, seems to be less of a fear than it was hundreds of years ago. Less of a fear, that is, unless you're Australian skipper Bill Heritage, who lost his Compass 790 yacht Air Apparent last week after his crew mutinied.
Heritage, along with his friend of 27 years Carl Horn and two crew members, went to sea off of the coast of Australia. The battery on Air Apparent died and the motor would not start from hand cranking. When the sea anchor was opened to keep the bow in the waves, there was no shackle or rope. The crew and Horn panicked, setting off the emergency beacon, which died after three hours as a rescue helicopter hovered over them.
Heritage says the crew was sea sick and that their week-long trek was not the sun soaked getaway that the crew thought it was going to be.
"When I was first told they were going to set off the beacon there had been no attempt to do anything else," Heritage told TV3.co.nz. "I was totally taken by surprise, there had been no previous indication anyone was contemplating something like that."
Claiming that there was nothing structurally wrong with the ship after it survived 10 foot waves and 25-30 knot winds, "We were still making three of four knots. It was not a threat to life or limb," Heritage said. Heritage was reluctant to abandon ship when the emergency air lift their beacon contacted arrived. It was unsafe, however, for Heritage to remain, and Air Apparent was left to drift. Heritage does not know if the ship is still afloat.
The company insuring Air Apparent says that the boat was insured against theft and damage but, as the $22,000 vessel was not damaged but left to drift, no payment would be made to cover the loss.
Heritage plans on purchasing a new yacht. He says he'd like it if the crew paid for his loss but would settle for the crew and his former friend admitting that their blind panic cost him the yacht that had brought him 15 years of enjoyment.
"It's not going to happen without a court case," Horn told NZHerald.co.nz.
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