Guo’s team wants search to continue
Print Edition
THE support team of a Chinese sailor who went missing on a mission to set a solo trans-Pacific record is urging the US Coast Guard to resume its search.
In a post titled “Who can help us save Guo Chuan?” the team said yesterday it was disappointed the search had been suspended two days before and said it had written to the Coast Guard for help.
“We are deeply saddened by the decision to suspend the search and beg you to continue searching until there is confirmation that he has lost his last chance for survival,” the group wrote in the letter, according to the statement on its social media page.
“Guo Chuan’s crew will assist regardless of cost, if you could just tell us what to do,” they said in the statement.
The search was suspended on Wednesday after a US Navy crew from the USS Makin Island went aboard Guo’s trimaran about 1,000 kilometers northwest of Oahu and found only his life jacket.
Guo “was a professional mariner with a deep passion for sailing,” said Captain Robert Hendrickson, who directed the Coast Guard’s search. “Our thanks to our Navy partners who helped us search for this vessel in a timely manner so far from shore in an attempt to locate Mr Chuan. Our deepest condolences go out not only to his family and friends but also to his racing team and the sailing community.”
Lieutenant Ben Powers, the Coast Guard pilot who was air commander in the search, said waves, wind and darkness hampered the rescue effort.
“It was pretty frustrating not to find him, not to hear him,” Powers said. “The hardest thing we do is search for a person in the water because it’s a huge ocean.”
Guo, 50, was the first Chinese person to sail around the world in 2013, according to his website, guochuanracing.com. He left San Francisco on October 18 to challenge the solo nonstop trans-Pacific world record. The current speed record for that journey is 21 days, and he was trying to sail to Shanghai in under 20.
As one of the pilots of one of the HC-130 Hercules planes that took part in the search, Powers spent hours scanning the ocean for Guo through waves up to 2 meters high. There was no moon, he said, so illumination was low even with night-vision goggles.
Searchers radioed Guo every 15 to 30 minutes, Powers said. There was no response.
“When the person’s in the water basically the only thing above the water is the person’s head,” Powers said. “So that’s really what we’re looking for — something the size of a human head from an aircraft from 300 to 700 feet (91 to 213 meters).”
Because Guo’s boat was tracked, rescuers had a good idea where he fell into the water, Powers said.
Guo’s team said a company operating helicopters for tourists in Honolulu has expressed its willingness to provide up to 10 helicopters for the search.
They would need a ship as a platform for refueling and the team is in contact with commercial ships but the nearest one is hundreds of miles away because Guo was taking a non-traditional route, it said.
Guo’s boat, the Qingdao China, is adrift, the Coast Guard said, and it has broadcast a warning to mariners. Guo’s team plans to recover the boat.
In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman said Chinese diplomats helped in the coordination of the search and continued to monitor the situation.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
