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Final Transmission May Offer Clues In Missing CU Professor's Yacht Location

DENVER (CBS4)- An unsent text message aboard a missing yacht may offer clues to what happened to the vessel and crew on board.

The text message offers both hope and disappointment in the search for a missing former University of Colorado professor and her family now lost at sea.

Retired CU professor Evi Nemeth is aboard the 85-year-old schooner that is missing. Nemeth, 73, is also an experienced sailor.

Other Americans aboard the historic schooner "The Nina" include Captain David Dyche, his wife Rosemary and their son David. They are all from Florida.

The crew left from the Bay of Islands in Northern New Zealand on May 28 for a 1,200 mile journey across the Tasman Sea. They haven't been heard from since June 4.

New Zealand's Rescue Centre released an undelivered text message found on the satellite phone system used by the schooner Nina. It's the last known message sent from the ship.

The message was sent June 4 but wasn't delivered. It reads, "Thanks storm sails shredded last night, now bare poles. Going 4KT 310DEG will update course info @ 6pm."

The transmission is important because it gives search teams the approximate location and actual time of the last transmission.

The information can be used to help rescue teams plot search areas. Even with the new information crews have not been able to find the ship.

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