No trace ever found of missing Canadian sailor

by Sail-world.com on 1 Jan 2010 An extensive aerial search for a 68 year old Canadian sailor Hubert Marcoux who set out from Halifax on board his 45 foot yacht Mon Pays on November 9th to sail 740 nautical miles south to Bermuda was suspended on 22nd November 2009 and no trace of the boat has since been found.

The Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk was coordinating the aerial search which were conducted by the U.S. and Canadian coast guards between Halifax and Bermuda. The coordination center says about 18 separate aircraft searches covered approximately 152,000-square-nautical miles.

Search crews had attempted to contact Marcoux via radio and four military aircraft have been searching the area north of Bermuda for any sign of the yacht. The Mon Pays was reported to have flares, life jackets and a radio on board.

Another yacht which left Halifax the day before the Mon Pays with the same course set for Bermuda arrived, four days late and the three sailors aboard reported they had experienced heavy conditions with winds over 60 knots.

It’s been over six weeks since Marcoux, originally from Charlo, on the Baie des Chaleurs in New Brunswick, Canada. went missing while sailing in the Atlantic. 'I’ve heard nothing,' his sister, Lucy Milroy, said just before Christmas.

Milroy said her brother has survived many dangerous weather conditions while on his boat. He completed an 18 year world sailing circumnavigation with a solo trip from Australia to Halifax in 2003.

In 2005 he wrote a book about his around the world adventures, a French version Mon tour du monde en 18 ans then the English version Around the world in 18 years.

While the search was scaled back on Nov. 22, mariners were asked to keep a watch in the area for any sign of the vessel. 'There was no remains ever found, no flotsam that could be identified with the boat,' said Lt. Al Blondin, spokesman for the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax.