North Pacific Search Suspended for Crew
of Westsail 32 Azure
November 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
