BC sailors found dead in lifeboat off Nova Scotia coast

[mbianka]

https://youtu.be/n5_Ds7VJzk8?si=iwCTPQS1q08yjNvG

[seadrift]

A sad and curious loss of two apparently experienced sailors. No AIS track available for search operations? No EPIRB? No other communication equipment taken into there liferaft? The reported weather for Sable Island in this past mid-June was reasonably benign. Is anyone from around Halifax Harbour familiar with the boat?

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by seadrift

A sad and curious loss of two apparently experienced sailors. No AIS track available for search operations? No EPIRB? No other communication equipment taken into there liferaft? The reported weather for Sable Island in this past mid-June was reasonably benign. Is anyone from around Halifax Harbour familiar with the boat?

Sad ending for this couple. Whatever happened might have happened very fast. Maybe hitting a shipping container or some other debris? Still they sounded like very experienced sailors. Wonder if they had a ditch bag ready. They were making a thousand plus mile ocean crossing. Hard to imagine they did not have an EPIRB. Possible dead battery. Wonder what was also in the inflatable with them when it came ashore. Certainly a lot of questions remain.

"The last known position of the boat was in the Rescue Coordination Center Boston area of responsibility and that was just southeast of Sable Island."

[seadrift]

Quite so. Hopefully more information to come; perhaps a written record of events was left in the raft..

[leecea]

If a fire broke out below, perhaps they couldn't get to anything and just had to get the dinghy off the foredeck and jump in with what they had on them.

Very sad.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by leecea

If a fire broke out below, perhaps they couldn't get to anything and just had to get the dinghy off the foredeck and jump in with what they had on them.

Very sad.

Quite possible. They converted to electric propulsion in 2019. He talked about using a LEAF (EV Car Battery) to power the motor and recently built a hard bimini using solar panels. Wonder if they used a home brew battery charging system might have caused a fire causing them to abandon the boat?

They also had a YOU TUBE channel:
https://youtu.be/dqCJUUmvB_g?si=8LAkxRhBfXSAXLcW
and a Facebook page.

“It’s probably the biggest adventure of our lives so far.”
Clibbery said they were calling their trip the “Green Odyssey.”
“We’re doing everything we can to show that you can travel without burning fossil fuels,”

Another thought is if they were totally relying on solar for charging batteries perhaps they ran out of power for the bilge pumps if there was a major leak. Personally my boat has been using electric propulsion since 2008. But, I still carry a small Honda 2000 generator for battery charging if needed above and beyond my solar panels can deliver. "A prudent mariner always has a backup." I wonder if they had any?