Missing sailor thought to have fallen from boat

Chinese sailor Guo Chuan went missing after being thrown into the water by high winds during his trans-Pacific voyage, Guo's support team said on Thursday.

He was suspected to have fallen into the ocean between 3:15 pm and 3:30 pm on Wednesday, Beijing time, they said.

The US Coast Guard said it has suspended its search for Guo after a rescue team did not find him aboard his boat off Hawaii.

In a statement, the US Coast Guard said a rescue team from the USS Makin Island went aboard Guo's trimaran, which was about 1,000 kilometers northwest of Hawaii's main island of Oahu, on Wednesday, but only found his life jacket. The rescue team reported that the main lateen sail of the 30-meter-long trimaran had broken off the vessel.

Rescuers from the US Coast Guard descended from a helicopter onto Guo's trimaran, Qingdao China, which was floating in the Pacific Ocean.

Contact with Guo was last made just after 3 pm on Tuesday, Beijing time, when his boat was 900 nautical miles west of Hawaii. All attempts to contact the sailor since then had failed.

Guo set sail from San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge on Oct 18 for Shanghai, attempting to break the world record for a solo crossing of the Pacific Ocean.

The 7,000-nautical-mile voyage was scheduled to take about 20 days.

On Tuesday afternoon, Beijing time, Guo spoke on the phone with his support team, telling them that all was well and he expected to arrive in Shanghai on Nov 5 or 6.

Shortly after the call, the GPS on Guo's boat reported a sudden loss of speed, his support team said.

"After that, we couldn't get through to him and did not hear from him either via phone or online," a team member said.

Twenty-four hours after the team lost contact with Guo, Maritime Rescue Coordination Center China, in cooperation with the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles, contacted the US Coast Guard in Hawaii to begin a search and rescue mission.

Guo, a professional sailor, was reported to be in good health and confident about the voyage. He holds two sailing world records - a solo nonstop circumnavigation world record set in 2013 and an Arctic Ocean Northeast Passage nonstop sailing world record set last year.

Discussing the nonstop trans-Pacific crossing with reporters, he said, "The biggest test will be the weather."

"When the wind is strong, it is possible to make small mistakes that have substantial consequences. So that's one of the things I need to be really careful about," Guo said before departing.

Had he arrived in Shanghai, Guo would have been the first-ever person to complete a solo nonstop trans-Pacific voyage from San Francisco to Shanghai.

Guo, who was born in January 1965 in Qingdao, Shandong province, was China's first professional sailor.

Messages of support and concern as well as prayers for Guo have flooded social media platforms in China such as WeChat, QQ and Weibo.

World-famous table tennis player Zhang Jike, a native of Qingdao, posted a message on Sina Weibo, saying, "Your journey leads you to the ocean, but your harbor lies here, and we are expecting your triumphant return".

Qu Chun, vice-president of a navigation school in Qingdao, said that in continuous strong winds, it is impossible for solo sailors to get any rest, adding that errors can occur due to mental and physical fatigue.

Contact the writer at yandongjie@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/28/2016 page5)