Search called off for missing Canadian sailor

4:24 PM Mon 23 Nov 2009 GMT

'Hubert Marcoux'

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 has been suspended.

The Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk was coordinating the search, which was suspended Sunday night.

Air searches by the U.S. and Canadian coast guards were conducted between Halifax and Bermuda.
The coordination center says about 18 separate aircraft searches covered approximately 152,000-square-nautical miles.

Search crews 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 recently arrived, four days late and the three sailors aboard reported they had experienced heavy conditions with winds over 60 knots.

Mon Pays -

Hubert Marcoux is originally from Charlo, on the Baie des Chaleurs in New Brunswick, Canada.

Marcoux's sister Lucy 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.

Marcoux also has brother in Montreal and a brother in New Brunswick.

by Sail-world.com