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North Pacific Search Suspended for Crew of Westsail 32 AzureNovember 24 - North Pacific Ocean In terrible news, a massive search in the North Pacific over the weekend by a Coast Guard cutter and two commercial vessels yielded items from the Westsail 32 Azure, but no sign of the boat or her owners, Brian and Helen Moore of Cypress, California. The Moores, who had departed Long Beach in May for a quick tour of the South Seas, were headed home because, as they told Robert and Gretchen of Cory Doon in Nawiliwili, "he was satisfied with his 'adventure' and she wanted to get back to the grandkids." Brian, 68, and Helen, 65, left Kauai on the last leg of their voyage home on November 6 - apparently on an initial northern heading as is typical in summer when avoiding the Pacific High. The thing was, the high isn't usually there in the winter. What greeted them two weeks out was a storm packing 60-knot winds and 25-ft waves. (When the waves hit the islands a couple of days later, they were 30 feet high and caused extensive damage to North Shore communities.) On November 20, when 950 miles north-northwest of Hawaii, the Moores activated their EPIRB. The Coast Guard immediately dispatched a long-range C-130, and diverted the container ship Long Beach and fishing boat Kimmy I to the area. The Coast Guard cutter Polar Sea, en route from Seattle to Honolulu, was also diverted. The Coast Guard plane located two liferafts and some debris - a volleyball and a milk crate - consistent with what would have been aboard Azure. They also thought they saw people in one of the rafts. However, a radio they dropped nearby was not picked up, and later analysis of videotape shot at the scene was inconclusive as to whether anyone really was on the raft. Before it ran low on fuel, the C-130 dropped at least one and possibly two fully-equipped liferafts. A Navy P-3 Orion arrived a short time later and confirmed the sightings. (Neither the C-130 or Orion are equipped for actual rescue operations.) The Kimmy I was first to arrive on scene. They also found debris and located both of Azure's rafts, which were empty. Tethered to the one full of water was the EPIRB, still transmitting as it bobbed alongside. As well as being rough, the water in the area was 69 degrees, cold enough for hypothermia to set in quickly. The container ship, cutter and fishing boat searched an area of 4,300 square miles for three days. The search was finally called off just before dark on November 23, 17 hours after the hypothermia charts predicted the couple could no longer survive. It's difficult to speculate on what might have happened. The Westsail 32 is a very stout boat generally considered capable of taking care of the crew when the crew could no longer take care of the boat. In addition, the couple were experienced sailors. |
When to comes to
setting wild and crazy sailing goals, it's difficult to top the
French. In the latest proof, Francis Joyon departed France aboard
the 90-ft trimaran IDEC in an attempt to break the nonstop
singlehanded around the world record. The current record of 93
days was set by Michel Desjoyeaux in the Vendée Globe
with his Open 60 PRB. It's one of the few sailing records
still held by a monohull. While the maxi tri is often capable
of sailing twice as fast as an Open 60, it's much harder for
a solo sailer to drive her to her full potential. Before being
modified again, the trimaran has been singlehanded around the
world in 125 days, and crewed around the world in 71 days.
