Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard Thirteenth District

Date: December 16, 2006
Contact: USCG Public Affairs
206-220-7237 

SEARCH FOR CATAMARAN CREW SUSPENDED

The search was suspended at 3:47 p.m after an HH-65 helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station North Bend and a C-130 long-range search aircraft crew from Air Station Sacramento, Calif., returned from flying search patterns over the Oregon coast from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. today.

The body of an unidentified male was located on an Oregon beach today five miles north of Coast Guard Station Siuslaw River in Florence, Ore.  Station Siuslaw River located the body at approximately 1:05 p.m. after receiving a report that human remains had been spotted on a beach nearby.  Nothing at the site indicated the man was part of the catamaran's crew.  Authorities are working to identify the body. 

Searchers located the vessel's logbook aboard the wreckage of the catamaran Friday.  The logbook indicates the last entry was made December 11 at approximately 3:00 a.m. 10 miles from Cape Blanco, Ore.  The entry indicated the crew had lowered the vessel's sails and deployed two anchors.     

The vessel's Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon was found to be locked inside a box aboard the boat and unable to float free of the vessel in the event of an emergency. 

Coast Guard Station Depoe Bay received a call at approximately 10:00 a.m. Friday that a catamaran had been spotted upside-down and demasted near Lincoln City.  The owner of the vessel, a resident of Renton, Wash., was located and reported he had hired a crew to bring the boat from South Africa to Seattle for participation in a boat show.  The vessel was last seen leaving San Francisco December 8.  They were scheduled to arrive in Port Townsend, Wash., Dec. 15.

The Coast Guard is asking that anyone who may have seen this vessel in transit from San Francisco please contact Coast Guard District 13 Command Center at 1-800-982-8813.

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