Sailors Missing After Leaving California

In mid-August, the Coast Guard started seeking information about Gerald "Storm" Talifero and his son Adagio. The duo are believed to have left Santa Barbara — or perhaps San Diego — in a 30-ft sailboat with plans to sail to Hawaii. They reportedly had plane tickets for a return trip on September 1.

Adagio’s mother, Jinjee Garrick, is worried sick. "I was told that they might go sailing. That’s all that I was told. Other family members were told that they were sailing to Hawaii," Garrick told NBC San Diego.

In September, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office opened a missing persons investigation for the father and son, in cooperation with the Coast Guard. "In June, 68-year-old Gerald Talifero and his 14-year-old son Adagio, presumably set sail from the area of Goleta, California, to Hawaii. It is believed Gerald and Adagio were possibly going to make a stop in San Diego before heading to Hawaii," reported edhat Santa Barbara. "The trip to Hawaii was only meant to last a few weeks and to be one-way, since the pair had airline tickets. Neither Gerald nor Adagio showed up for their return flights, nor does it appear the flights were ever rescheduled."

NBC San Diego reported that Gerald and Adagio met owners of a boat from Washington and "together they were going to sail 200 miles out to sea. If no one got seasick, then they were going to go on to Hawaii, but if anyone did they’d make a stop in San Diego to drop them off and continue their trip."

There were also reports that Adagio was "missing," or not seen with Gerald in the days before their departure. Garrick told NBC San Diego that "people thought it was odd because [Gerald] always kept Adagio very close. They thought it was odd that he would leave Adagio on the boat with people who weren’t even close enough to be known to friends and family."

If you have any information about this case, please call the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s office at (805) 681-4100.