Solo Sailor Presumed Lost

"Hubert Marcoux, a 68-year-old French Canadian solo sailor aboard the 45-ft Mon Pays, is presumed lost on his voyage from Halifax to Bermuda," writes Jack van Ommen of the Gig Harbor, Washington-based Naja 29 Fleetwood. Van Ommen’s boat is currently wintering in Amsterdam more than halfway through his wayward circumnavigation.

"Details are still sketchy. Did Mon Pays have a liferaft? Why didn’t the EPIRB go off, assuming he had one? Was he able to send a distress signal from his SSB radio? There should have been plenty warning of the possible track/influence of the remnants of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida on November 5. Mon Pays departed Halifax November 9.

"Update: I just received the following from a weather radio operator asked to help in the search. I asked if he thought the presumed loss could have been prevented. He told me, ‘The skipper only had VHF — no liferaft, no EPIRB. My analysis suggested that by the 12th he would have hit easterly storm force conditions near the Gulf Stream, which would have continued for five days. This would have made it hard or impossible for him to make any progress towards Bermuda. The Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard sent out three aircraft, but found nothing.’

"For an ‘experienced’ sailor, I find it incredible that had no HF radio or satphone, no means to obtain weather info, no EPIRB, no liferaft. So yes, I think this presumed loss could have been prevented."

We think van Ommen is right.