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A man who drowned while on a yachting trip with his teenage daughter had virtually no sailing experience and wasn’t wearing a life jacket when he fell overboard.
Wolfgang Shane Mohr, 59, set off from Launceston in Tasmania’s north on October 3, 2022 on a 7.8m fibreglass vessel he purchased six months earlier.
He anchored off Bakers Beach — an open area facing Bass Strait prone to swell and not recognised by any guides as being safe.
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At 11pm he went to check the anchor and fell in the water.
In findings published on Thursday, coroner Olivia McTaggart said it was unclear how Mohr ended up overboard.
His 18-year-old daughter heard his cries for help and threw him a personal flotation device but he was unable to put it on.
She fell into the water trying to help and lost sight of him.
Mohr’s body was found a few hours later during search and rescue efforts.
Mohr, who held a lifelong dream to own a yacht, had “virtually no previous experience as a sailor or with boats”.
He undertook a familiarisation sail with the yacht’s previous owner, but likely didn’t operate the vessel until the fatal trip.
McTaggart noted he embarked on the journey without an experienced sailor, anchored in an unsuitable spot and should have been wearing a life jacket when checking the anchor.
“(His) unfortunate death was preventable,” she said.
The yacht was ill-prepared for safe anchorage for several reasons, with the anchor line set up contrary to appropriate practice.
McTaggart made no recommendations.
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