A boat builder has walked free from a Sydney court after being acquitted of manslaughter charges over a yacht sinking that killed four people.
Keel welder Adrian Presland was found not guilty, but the NSW District Court jury is yet to reach a verdict on his co-accused Alex Cittadini, the director and engineer at Applied Alloy Yachts in Melbourne.
The yacht, Excalibur, hit rough seas near Seal Rocks off the NSW mid-north coast as it sailed from the Whitsundays to Sydney in September 2002.
The crew tried to change the sails and head back to Port Stephens but the keel split and the vessel overturned, tossing all six crew into chilly waters.
Only two sailors survived. The bodies of three were never recovered.
After a coronial inquest in 2005, Mr Presland and Cittadini were each charged with four counts of manslaughter.
The jury began its deliberations on Monday morning, and shortly after midday on Wednesday they told Judge Stephen Norrish they had acquitted Mr Presland of all charges.
A couple of hours later they returned to court to tell the judge they had no prospect of reaching a unanimous verdict in regards to Cittadini.
The jury will continue deliberations on Thursday, when they will be given further instruction by the judge.
Tracy Luke, 32, Ann Maree Pope, 30, and Christopher Heyes and Peter McLeod, both 51, lost their lives in the incident.
The yacht's captain, Brian McDermott, and another member of the crew, John Rogers, survived several hours in rough seas
The bodies of Ms Pope, Ms Luke and Mr McLeod were never found.
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