Exclusive photos and eyewitness accounts reveal the final hours before the Ballina Bar disaster

The woman standing on the Yamba breakwall could hardly believe what she was seeing.

Huge seas were already pounding the Clarence River entrance when photographer Ange Tedling spotted the small yacht Orion edging towards the bar shortly before 11am on May 4.

The conditions were so dangerous she assumed the skipper would take one look and turn around.

Instead, the tiny vessel kept going.

“I was watching this boat and I said to this fisherman, ‘Surely this little boat’s not going to go out the bar today?’” Ms Tedling told Ballina News Daily.

“At first I thought he would just come and check it out and turn around, because that’s what a lot of them do.”

But Orion continued out to sea.

Through her camera lens, Ms Tedling zoomed in to try to make out the name of the vessel, who was at the helm and whether anyone else was aboard.

What she captured would later become what is believed to be the final known images of the 54 year-old sailor Matthew Clayton alive.

Looking back now, she says the photos still haunt her.

“It gives me full-body goosebumps and it did when I first saw it,” she said.

“Like I said, I was really concerned. I honestly wish I’d alerted authorities earlier to be honest, but I was preoccupied with other things.”

“He really should not have been out there like that. I said he was on a wing and a prayer.

“Hopefully what happened to him deters any unprepared seagoers. You just can’t take on the ocean without proper planning and equipment.

“His equipment looked pretty crappy.”

Seven hours later, a member of the public would report the yacht in trouble near the South Ballina breakwall.

That call would trigger the Marine Rescue mission which ended in tragedy, claiming the lives of Ballina volunteers Bill Ewen and Frank Petsch, while seriously injuring other crew members aboard BA30.

Now, as police continue preparing to dive on the wreck of Orion, Ballina News Daily can reveal new details painting a far more complex and tragic picture of the man at the centre of the disaster.

Ange Tedling who captured Matt Clayton crossing the Yamba bar said hopefully this tragedy deters and unprepared sea goers. ” You just can’t take on the ocean without proper planning and equipment”

Living aboard Orion

Far from being some mysterious sailor intentionally avoiding authorities, locals at Yamba describe Mr Clayton as a struggling but honest man trying to survive.

Yamba takeaway business owner “Dave”, who Ballina News Daily has agreed not to identify publicly but who says he is prepared to give evidence at any future inquest, said Mr Clayton had arrived in Yamba about nine months ago from Brisbane been living aboard Orion near the Calypso Caravan Park.

The 20 foot yacht, purchased in Maclean, had become his home.

“He was down on his luck,” Dave said.

“He never had much money, but if I gave him food, he always came back and paid when he could. He was always honest about that.”

Dave said Orion’s registration transfer had become an issue after the yacht was bought and that water police had been raising concerns for some time.

“They kept telling him he had to move on.”

He said attempts had been made to help Mr Clayton sort the issue out, but the costs appeared beyond his means.

Ballina News Daily understands Mr Clayton had also been struggling personally in the months before the tragedy.

The emerging picture is not one of a seasoned sailor deliberately attempting something reckless for adventure, but potentially of a man who was isolated, under-equipped and trying to navigate increasingly difficult circumstances.

The final image taken by photographer Ange Tedling as the tiny Orion made its way out to sea

‘I’ll give you a call when I get there’

Dave said Mr Clayton had spoken about heading north towards Brisbane, where his former girlfriend lived, and believed Ballina was the next place he could realistically reach by sea.

According to Dave, Mr Clayton had been saving money for fuel in small amounts and likely only had enough to make it to Ballina before his next payment came through.

In the weeks before leaving, he repeatedly asked locals about the Yamba Bar and how to safely navigate it.

On the morning of May 4, Dave said Mr Clayton stopped to say goodbye before departing.

“He shook my hand and said, ‘I’m going today, I’m going now,’” Dave said.

“He said, ‘I’ll be right, I’ll give you a call when I get there.’”

That call never came.

Concerns about the yacht

Dave said he had serious concerns about Orion before it left Yamba.

There were no sails aboard and the yacht’s original outboard motors were not operational.

According to Dave, Mr Clayton had recently purchased a cheap Chinese 14-horsepower outboard engine online, which he understood was the only working motor on the vessel when it departed.

“He’d never been out the bar before in his life,” Dave said.

Dave said he had urged Mr Clayton to leave the yacht behind and travel north by bus instead.

The BA 30 rescue vessel washed up on South Ballina beach. (Photo: Nine News)

What happened aboard Orion?

One of the biggest mysteries remains what happened aboard Orion in the hours before it drifted near the South Ballina breakwall.

Police sources have told Ballina News Daily it is considered quite possible nobody was aboard the yacht by the time it was spotted in distress about 6.15pm.

Investigators are exploring the possibility Mr Clayton may have been swept overboard earlier during the heavy seas.

Offshore swell was reported to have reached five metres at times.

Ballina News Daily understands Mr Clayton’s body was later found on the beach without a life jacket.

However, a close inspection of Ms Tedling’s photographs appears to show Mr Clayton wearing what may have been an old or non-compliant life jacket before leaving Yamba.

Given the treacherous seas, it is also possible the life jacket may have come off in the heavy swell.

Those questions are expected to form part of the coronial investigation.

The continuing rough conditions have so far prevented police divers from reaching the wreck of Orion, which sank off South Ballina.

Authorities hope the yacht itself may eventually provide answers for the State Coroner about what unfolded during the vessel’s final hours.

A tragedy still being understood

Only wearing board shorts – Matthew Clayton powers out into the swell with what locals have described as a “Temu” engine.

In the days after the disaster, public speculation quickly centred on why there had been no distress call, no EPIRB activation and no flares.

Some wondered whether the yacht had been involved in illicit activity or whether the skipper was deliberately trying to avoid authorities.

At this stage, there is no evidence supporting those claims.

Instead, the picture emerging is perhaps even more tragic — a struggling man aboard an aging and poorly equipped yacht who may never have had the chance, or the means, to call for help.

For Ballina, none of that changes the devastating loss suffered by the families of Bill Ewen and Frank Petsch or the trauma endured by surviving Marine Rescue volunteers.

But it may help explain why Orion was there that day — and why a tragedy that has shaken the Northern Rivers and beyond unfolded at all.

Matthew Clayton was not only “the sailor”.

He was the third person who did not come home.