A B.C. couple sailing from Hawaii to Victoria has vanished and Canadian and U.S. coast guards have suspended searches after finding no trace of the nine-metre sailboat the pair was travelling on.
-
Chris Malchow, 31, of Victoria, and Courtenay Steele, 27, of Saltspring Island, left Hawaii on Sept. 8 and were due to arrive in Victoria on Oct. 16, family spokeswoman Suzanne Steele told CBC News Monday.
-
Both quit their jobs for "an adventure of a lifetime," said Steele, who's been using the internet to track ships that might have encountered the couple's ketch.
-
Back in June, Malchow and Steele bought the sailboat, Takaroa 2, in New Zealand and set sail to Tahiti, then on to Hawaii.
-
But there were problems early on in their journey. In Steele's online blog entry dated Aug. 1, she wrote about encountering a gale.
-
"A particularly gigantic wave crashed over our stern ... we broke our main boom. Chris sent for a swim, but luckily he was harnessed in. It could have been much worse, really," she wrote.
-
Their radio receiver was soaked with salt water and wrecked. Hatches weren't closing properly and there was a problem with the bilge pump - but the pair made it to Tahiti, the blog said.
-
On the way to Hawaii on Sept. 5, Steele wrote: "Our VHF radio has quit working ... a rather scary sight ... the lights of a behemoth freighter constantly looming large behind us."
Pair not heard from since Sept. 8
-
Suzanne Steele said her niece had little sailing experience, but was learning from Malchow. "Her partner is a very able sailor and ... an extremely competent person," she said.
-
Malchow and Steele have not been heard from since Sept. 8.
-
A major search was launched in October and vessels in the area were given the boat's description, but the Canadian and U.S. coast guards have now suspended their searches.
-
John Steele, Courtenay's father, told CBC News on Monday that he worries the pair may have been caught in a commercial shipping lane.
-
"They were crossing major sea lanes between North America and Asia, as I understand, just north of Hawaii. They are probably 200 miles wide and who knows how many freighters are going through there a day," he said from his Saltspring Island home.
-
Still, family members said they aren't giving up hope.
-
"There is a possibility that they are off course, that they've been de-masted or something like that, and that they will make their way home," Suzanne Steele said.
-
"I don't think that's an unrealistic view ... I have great hope still."