Posted on 07/07/2023 1:55:20 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A pensioner is thought to be lost at sea after his empty yacht was found 50 miles off the coast Duncan Lougee, 70, was trying to sale single-handedly to Ireland
A pensioner is thought to be lost at sea after a Welsh rescue crew located his missing yacht some 50 miles off the Welsh coast. Duncan Lougee, 70, had set sail from Plymouth on board his yacht The Minke headed towards Ireland.
Mr Lougee was on his way to Baltimore and was due to arrive on June 22, via the Isles of Scily, as part of the Jester Challenge. But there has been no contact with Mr Lougee since his day of departure on June 18.
An Irish fishing vessel spotted the yacht on Thursday, June 29 and the Angle all-weather lifeboat was requested to launch by Milford Haven Coastguard to assist with the multi-agency search and recovery on the 110-mile round trip. While it made the trip to the Minke, 50 miles west of St Anne’s Head in Pembrokeshire, an Irish coastguard helicopter, Rescue 117, had arrived on scene and a winchman was lowered onto the yacht, which had been overdue for six days. He was able to confirm that nobody was onboard.
Following the lifeboat’s arrival on scene, two crew members went onboard to inspect the vessel for any information that may have indicated the last known position of the casualty.
“At this point, R117 from Ireland left and was replaced by Coastguard Rescue Helicopter R924 from Newquay, Cornwall,” said a spokesperson for Angle Lifeboat RNLI. “Due to the nature of the incident and the extent of the search area, a coastguard search plane, Rescue 51 had also been tasked and was now on scene closely followed by Coastguard Rescue Helicopter R187 from St Athan.
“With our crew members now onboard, new information was found indicating the last recorded position of the occupant. With the lifeboat out of VHF range, this information was passed to Rescue 51 for relay to Falmouth Coastguard and, following their discovery, all search assets were stood down as the new search area had shifted significantly south.”
The Angle lifeboat crew towed the yacht south and were met by Padstow lifeboat crews who then proceeded to tow the yacht back to Padstow harbour.
Lifeboat crews towed the boat back to Padstow harbour (Image: Angle Lifeboat RNLI) Mr Lougee from Colchester, Essex, remains a missing person and Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed the search has been called off.
“Therefore, due to the potentially vast and prohibitive area of search at sea, at this time there is currently no new searches planned by Coastguard.”
A spokesperson from HM Coastguard said: ““Extensive searches were carried out and coordinated by HM Coastguard and the yacht found. The search was terminated once it became clear that the period of survivability had passed.”
DI Massey added: “This matter will remain under review and if any fresh information comes to light, this will be assessed accordingly. We have informed the family of these initial updates and our thoughts are with them at this time; the family of Duncan Lougee have asked for privacy.”
When on deck, alone or not, always wear a safety harness attached to the boat.
“A pensioner is thought to be lost at sea after his empty yacht was found 50 miles off the coast Duncan Lougee,,,,”
Pretty good guessers there.
The guy who was married to Olivia Newton John didn’t do that?
I think they say that, when U.S. media would say senior citizen.
Yes, but why refer to people by their means of income . Or their means of income in their retirement years. How’s that relevant to the story ? This is very common in the UK media.
A 70 year old guy in the ocean in that small boat?
Yikes.
Better than dying in a nursing home I guess.
I think a man who was married to Olivia Newton John faked his death. Some detective found him in Mexico allegedly, the kept going back and forth whether he was actually alive.
Personally, if I ever get a yacht, I want to keep it. But maybe I haven’t gotten to the “want to fake your own death” phase in life, other than an occasional daydream.
Lord Lucan?
Because they are somewhat better protected there than here. It is a point of earned honor.
It is also a point of vulnerability, alerting people to be protective.
Yes!!
They don’t see it the same way, those silly blokes. Just cultural norm over there. It’s more of an age descriptive than income descriptive.
I remember that.
Botulism from home canned mushrooms got ‘em. Terrible way to die.
Thanks I knew the name started with an “L”!
Soo... even though 'lost at sea' is dreadful enough, it could have been worse.
That’s a “yacht?”
It’s pronounced yatch’t, but it’s spelled Throat Warbler Mangrove.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQvjKqXA0Y
There was a Robert Redford movie a few years back where he was lost at sea. I only watched previews, but I was rooting for the sea.
The Baltimore in Ireland.
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