Hubert Marcoux sailor who is reported missing at sea.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian rescuers have dropped the search for a missing Halifax sailor.
Hubert Marcoux, 67, hit high seas and strong winds on his way to Bermuda earlier this month and failed to arrive as planned a week ago. After 82 hours of aerial search along his planned path, no sign of his 14-metre sailboat, Mon Pays, has been found.
"We feel with the amount of time that has passed, without seeing any debris field, without any more information to go on, we've done the best we can do," said Petty Officer Andrew Kendrick of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Canadian and U.S. military aircraft from Halifax to Cape Cod to Florida took part in the search. Petty Officer Kendrick said the distance from shore of Mr. Marcoux's planned route complicated the search.
"It's rare for us to put five aircraft up to search at one time for anybody," he said. "Most of our searches are a needle in a haystack. This was a needle in several haystacks."
Mr. Marcoux is an experienced solo mariner and author of a book about his voyages around the world. He's had brushes with disaster before. He once wrecked a sailboat on a reef in the Pacific. He built a new boat but an equipment failure left him drifting in the Pacific Ocean for three weeks on his way back to Canada from Australia.
Mr. Marcoux's sister, Lucy Milroy, is grateful for the search attempt and remains hopeful her brother will be found. His sailboat's communications equipment had a limited range. She is convinced he is limping toward port from the middle of the Atlantic.
"I still feel in my heart he is still out there," Ms. Milroy said Monday morning from her home in Halifax. "It may be for another week, perhaps two, before he's able to reach land.
"I'll tell you one thing: When I finally do meet him again, I'm going to tie his ass to shore."
The Mon Pays was blown aground in port near Halifax during Hurricane Juan in 2003. Mr. Marcoux scrimped for six years to fix his ship. The trip to Bermuda was the maiden voyage for his repaired boat.
Les Perreaux