Skip to content

Chinese Singlehander Missing

Qingdao China sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday, October 18, bound for Shanghai, to begin a record attempt. Now her solo skipper, Guo Chuan, is missing west of Kauai.

© 2016 Erik Simonson / Guo Chuan Racing

Chinese singlehander Guo Chuan, 51, has gone missing while trying to break the solo record for sailing across the Pacific from San Francisco to Shanghai. His shore team lost contact with him around 3 a.m. Hawaii time yesterday (3 p.m. Beijing time). Personnel from Maritime Rescue Coordination Center China notified US Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu.

An HC-130 Hercules airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Barber’s Point, Oahu, was launched to initiate a search. The air crew located Chuan’s 97-ft trimaran Qingdao China, but did not see the solo sailor on deck. According to Chinese radio station CRI, the aircraft spotted the mainsail in the water, "broken off Guo’s trimaran." However, the photo taken by the Coast Guard clearly shows the reefed main right where it should be — but there appears to be a headsail in the water.

The mainsail looks fine, but a headsail appears to be dragging in the water.

© 2016 Petty Officer 2nd Class Melissa McKenzie / US Coast Guard District 14

As of Wednesday morning, the tracker shows the boat due west of Kauai and about 620 miles northwest of Oahu, sailing at 10-11 knots, and ahead of the reference time set in 2015 by Giovanni Soldini and crew on the VOR70 monohull Maserati.

The international sailing community is holding its collective breath, hoping that Guo Chuan will be found safe.

© 2016 Guo Chuan Racing

Chuan sailed out of San Francisco Bay on October 18 to challenge Maserati‘s time of 21 days and to set a new solo multihull record. Qingdao China was formerly named IDEC. Francis Joyon sailed her to a solo nonstop around-the-world record in 2008. In 2015, Guo Chuan used the trimaran to set a world record for the Northeast Passage nonstop with an international crew. Chuan was the first Chinese person to sail around the world when he completed a circumnavigation in 2013.

Leave a Comment




If you don’t know Jack — Jack van Ommen — you’re going to want to meet him at the Ha-Ha Kick-Off Party on Sunday.
The International Masters Regatta is sailed in J/105s in a round-robin format on windward/leeward courses in view of spectators along the San Diego waterfront.