Missing sailor found alive on tattered vessel two weeks after setting sail to Bermuda

A sailor who lost contact with his family while sailing from New Jersey to Bermuda on a solo adventure has been rescued by the US Coast Guard, after he was spotted hundreds of miles from shore.

The stranded mariner, who has not been named, was discovered nearly 300 miles off the coast of North Carolina in a damaged boat. The man had departed his home in Jersey City aboard sailboat Windward Passage and was en route to Bermuda when he lost contact with his family on 6 November 2023. The journey should usually take around five days.

He was officially considered overdue on 14 November 2023, and the Coast Guard Atlantic Area began to broadcast an urgent marine message, along with a description of the missing boat.

The sailing vessel Time Bandit heard the message and – a day later – happened upon an adrift sailing vessel with tattered sails and a missing boom, matching the description of the overdue mariner’s boat. The good Samaritan made contact with the sailor, but did not attempt an at-sea transfer due to deteriorating conditions.

Commander Wes Geyer, the search and rescue mission coordinator, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, described the search area as “nearly twice the size of Texas” and the seas as “very unforgiving.”

“We are pleased that this case resulted in a family reunion,” Geyer said.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Lawrence Lawson soon arrived on scene and safely transferred the mariner aboard the cutter. He was transported in a stable condition and reunited with his family Thursday 16 November at the Coast Guard Training Centre in Cape May.

It remains unclear what caused the sails on the mariner’s boat to become tattered.  

“We are pleased that this case resulted in a family reunion,” says Cmdr. Wes Geyer, search and rescue mission coordinator, Coast Guard Atlantic Area. “The search area for this case was nearly twice the size of Texas and the seas are very unforgiving. We urge all mariners venturing offshore to carry a properly registered Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). This device can help pinpoint your exact location should the unthinkable ever happen.”

Additional assets dispatched by the Coast Guard to assist in the search and rescue case, included an HC-130 Hercules crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C; an MH-60 helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City; and an HC-144 crew from Air Station Cape Cod, Mass.

The tale bears similarities to the ‘miraculous’ recent rescue of a man who had been missing at sea for almost two weeks. The fisher was spotted floating in a life raft about 70 miles off Washington state, on the west coast of the US, two days after the US Coast Guard Pacific Northwest had suspended its search for him.

All images courtesy of US Coast Guard.