Hopes fade for yacht crew Relatives of those on-board a vintage racing yacht which has vanished while sailing between New Zealand and Australia say their hopes of any survivors are fading. No one has heard from any of the seven crew on board the Nina since a text message was sent to a meteorologist was contacted on June 4 stating: ""The weather's turned nasty, how do we get away from it?"" The 21-metre schooner was set off from Opua, in Northland on May 29 and expected to reach Newcastle, NSW 12 days later. Extensive searches by rescuers have failed to find any trace of the yacht, which was skippered by experienced sailor David Dyche III who was on-board with his wife Rosemary and their teenage son David IV. Rosemary's son, Justin Donovan said all three are experienced sailors and that the boat has been in the family for decades. Rescuers now presume the boat has sunk but say it is possible survivors are on board a life raft and have made it to land. Mr Donovan said the family had faint hope they were still alive. ""At this point, I hate to say that reality is overriding optimism,"" he told Fairfax Media. ""With having no contact for weeks, and searches coming up with nothing, it is very hard to stay optimistic."" The trip across the Tasman was to be the final trip for the Dyche family, who have spent the last few years crusing the world, before young David was to fly out to the US to start college. On-board with the Dyche family was their friend Evi Nemeth, 73, a woman, 18, a man 28 and British man Matthew Wootton, 35. The search for the Nina began on June 14, four days after family and friends expected it to arrive in Newcastle. It has been hampered by poor weather, but more than 500,000 square nautical miles have now been searched. Rescuers say they were ""very confident"" they would have seen the yacht by now if it was still afloat and have been concentrating their efforts now on looking for liferafts and debris"."