Search suspended for missing Olympic sailor in Florida

by Sail-World.com/NZL on 28 Jun 2015 A Coastguard website reports that search efforts for a missing Olympic sailor, Trevor Moore, in Biscayne Bay, Florida, were suspended Saturday evening at sunset.

The Coast Guard and partner agencies covered more than 510 square nautical miles and completed more than 29 search patterns before suspending the three day search.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones affected,” said Capt. Michael Long, Coast Guard Sector Miami deputy commander. “Despite the tireless search efforts by multiple agencies and good Samaritans, we were unable to find Mr. Moore.”

On Thursday, Moore, a member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic sailing team, in the 49er skiff class, was reported missing when security personnel at Dinner Key Marina, Miami, found his unmanned 16-foot boat at the marina just before 6 p.m. The boat’s engine was running and Moore’s personal belongings including a PFD were found onboard.

The Coast Guard diverted an MH-65 rescue helicopter crew based out of Miami and launched a rescue boat crew from Station Miami Beach to search for the missing sailor.

Additional boat crews from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, City of Miami Police Department, the National Park service and good Samaritans joined in the three day search along with a helicopter crew from Miami Dade County Fire Rescue.

Earlier the Coastguard advised that at approximately 6 p.m. Thursday, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Miami received a report of an unmanned inflatable dinghy adrift in Dinner Key, Florida, with Moore’s personal belongings onboard.

Sector Miami issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast for mariners to be on the look out for a possible person in the water. An MH-65 helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Miami and a smallboat crew from Station Miami Beach, Florida, were searching for Moore throughout the night.

Moore was last seen wearing a dark shirt and swim shorts.