Scottish tycoon missing after empty yacht found

A Scots businessman who set off on a 5,000-mile sailing trip is missing after his boat washed up off the coast of Egypt.

Colin Finnie’s empty yacht, Simba, was reportedly found crashed on a reef weeks after the 67-year-old picked it up in Australia, according to the Daily Mail.

Finnie, from Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, was planning to be home for Christmas when he vanished at sea. His worried wife is said to have taken to social media to make an appeal, stating: “He was in storms and low on fuel.”

The former hotelier reportedly lost contact with family and authorities towards the end of his voyage across the Indian Ocean from Australia.

According to website BoatWatch, his 45ft vessel was found deserted on a reef on December 13. The site is only 350 miles away from his planned destination of Port Ghalib, Egypt.

Colin Finnie

Finnie was said to have been excited about the prospect of bringing the yacht back on his own from Australia.

However, the boat, which sells for up to £300,000, was found crashed on the Marsa Alam reef in the Red Sea.

A friend told The Scottish Sun: “A trip like that is a major commitment. It’s only for the very experienced. You have to be physically and mentally strong.

“You need to be quite pig-headed and able to battle the elements and lack of sleep. Colin is a retired engineer. He’s handy and would be able to fix most things if they went wrong.”

But they added: “It’s quite an unusual route. Most would go by the Pacific Islands and Hawaii.”

The BoatWatch website stated: “The last known contact with Finnie was on Saturday 07 DEC 2019 when he was about 300 NM (nautical miles) away from his destination.”