THREE men who disappeared from their yacht last week were most likely washed overboard in a violent squall or freak wave, according to police.

The “ghost yacht”, Kaz II, was found listing in Queensland waters with the table laid for dinner, the global positioning system and laptop humming, and the engine idling - yet with no crew.

Derek Batten, 56, the skipper, and his neighbours, Peter and James Tunstead, brothers aged 69 and 63, from Perth, Western Australia, had bought the new 40ft catamaran at Airlie beach, in the Whitsunday Islands, north Queensland.

They planned to sail around Australia’s northern coast to Western Australia on the “trip of a lifetime”, according to Keryn Grey, James Tunstead’s daughter.

Police said that while their disappearance did not appear “suspicious”, an investigation would examine “a range of theories”.

Derek Batten’s son Chris said yesterday: “My old man had bought the boat in Queensland. He’d been sailing for two years and was a member of Voluntary Sea Rescue. So, hopefully, he knows a bit about it. But they’re not the best swimmers - they’re middle-aged men.”

Batten was a skilful sailor who knew how to handle dangerous situations, according to his Sea Rescue colleagues. “Des wasn’t an idiot and he’d seen first-hand what idiots do,” said Brad Ander-son, a member of the group.

Police emphasised that the most plausible explanation for the mystery was that the men fell overboard when the boat struck high waves whipped up by gale-force winds soon after it sailed out of Shute Harbour, near Airlie beach, last Sunday.

That theory would explain the torn headsail - the only damage to the catamaran. But rescue crews remained puzzled yesterday by what they found aboard the yacht.

“Everything appeared normal,” said Jon Hall, of Emergency Management Queensland. “The engine was running, the computers were running, there was a laptop set up on the table which was running, the radio was working, the GPS was working and food and utensils were set on the table ready to eat, but no sign of the crew.”

The mystery has been likened to “a modern-day Mary Celeste”, after the ghost ship found abandoned by its crew off the coast of Portugal in 1872. Seasoned mariners pointed out that table settings on modern yachts are usually attached with rubberised mats, and would stay in place through heavy seas.

Peter Scott, an experienced yachtsman, agreed with the police theory: “One of the crew might have been urinating off the side of the boat after a few beers to celebrate the start of the voyage when a wave knocked him overboard.

“The other two tried to save him, when a second squall or freak wave struck them. The headsail may have unfurled itself and got ripped in the struggle.”

Kaz II had been found with the engine in neutral, which may confirm the overboard theory. Scott explained: “The only situation in which you’d have the engine in neutral is if you’re in the process of manoeuvring to pick up someone or something.

“These were older blokes, and trying to get somebody out of the water over the lifelines is very, very hard. It takes two to three people.

A police check of the yacht’s GPS navigational equipment showed that it had been sailing towards an area of high wind and rough seas last Sunday night, said chief superintendent Roy Wall of the Australian police.

The search for the missing men continued last night. Yet only two helicopters were in use, scaled back from 10 aircraft midweek, after police accepted medical advice that they could probably not have survived this long.

The catamaran was not equipped with a liferaft and the vessel’s dinghy was still attached.

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