Solo Sailor’s Death a Mystery

Sacramento-based singlehander Andrew Henry Ewing, 31, was found dead on Angel Island yesterday, ending an extensive, multi-agency search. According to US Coast Guard sources, he had departed Alameda’s Grand Marina aboard his Cal 2-29 sloop Alma shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday.

We may never know exactly what transpired between then and 4:15 the next morning — 10 hours — when he activated the sloop’s EPIRB and a personal tracking device. The unmanned hull was soon discovered partially submerged on the rocks near Yellow Bluff, northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge. Ewing’s body was spotted early Tuesday morning on the southwest portion of Angel Island by a Coast Guard helicopter crew — roughly three miles from where the hull was found.

The Marin County Sheriff’s office intends to do a forensic exam in an attempt to determine the cause of death as well as the circumstances surrounding it. Ewing was reportedly setting off across the Pacific alone, with the goal of eventually reaching the Philippines.