Lost couple
took precautionsBrian and Helen Moore
appear to have been victims
of bad weather at sea
A California couple who are presumed lost at sea in rough waters 950 miles off Oahu took all necessary precautions before starting their sail from Hawaii to Long Beach, Calif., said a U.S. Coast Guard officer who worked on their rescue.
But an experienced for-hire port captain, who has sailed the same Hawaii-to-California trip roughly 50 times, said the couple should not have started their 2,500-mile voyage so late in the year.
"It can be done, but you have got to expect some rough weather," said Robby Buck, who has been sailing 29- to 150-foot boats from the islands to the West Coast for 35 years.
Buck said he rarely embarks on a voyage to the mainland after mid-October.
The Coast Guard suspended the search for Brian and Helen Moore, of Cypress, Calif., Saturday afternoon. Rescue personnel had been searching for the Moores since an emergency radio beacon on their sailboat was activated at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. The couple was spotted on a rescue raft later in the day, but rescuers were unable to pick them up because of high seas.
On Friday, Coast Guard officials said there was no one in any of four rescue rafts -- three of which were identified as ones dropped by the Coast Guard and one believed to be from the couple's sailboat -- that were found in the area.
The couple's 32-foot sailboat, Azure, was never found and is believed to have sunk.
"They were prepared," said Operational Specialist 1st class Cleve Shurtz, who was an assistant duty officer during the Coast Guard search for the couple.
"They had the right gear. They did everything that they could do. We can definitely chalk it up to severe weather," he said, noting that the couple left their intended route and arrival time with family members and had a raft onboard.
The northeast storm -- with 25-foot seas and 37-knot winds -- that hampered the couple's rescue is presumed to have caused them to evacuate their sailboat, Shurtz said.
It is unclear whether the couple was aware of the low-pressure area in advance, he said.
National Weather Service lead forecaster Tim Craig said the storm was rare because of its location and wind direction. But sailors crossing the stretch between Hawaii and California should know that winter weather in the area is "quite variable," he said.
"For a couple of weeks it may be tradewinds there, and then for a month or two you could have cold fronts coming through."
Craig could not remember any similar northeast storms in the recent past. But in September 1998, Buck said, he lost a man overboard when sailing 750 miles off the California coast in 55-knot winds created by a low-pressure area similar to the one the couple encountered Thursday.
The couple, in their 60s, had years of experience sailing the California coast and had sailed to other Pacific islands before attempting their trip to California from Kauai, the last leg of a voyage they started in May, said daughter-in-law Anne Moore.
"They often took weekend trips," she said. This "was their first big trip."
Moore said a memorial is planned for the couple during the first week of December at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Cypress.
For now the couple's family is "just kind of trying to adjust to the thought of not having them come back."
