Rescue workers widen
search for missing sailor

Coast Guard and Maui fire rescue workers expanded their search for a 74-year-old Big Island sailor believed to be floating in his lifejacket off Maui waters.

The search now includes more than 1,000 square miles of open waters and the island of Kahoolawe.

The wreckage of William Norcross's 41-foot sailboat was discovered at the remote coastal area of Kaikeana, southeastern Maui, at 2 a.m. Tuesday. The Coast Guard received a transmission from an emergency radio beacon. The unit, which had been manually activated, was recovered in the wreckage by the Coast Guard.

The Maui Fire Department used a helicopter yesterday to search along the shorelines of Maui and Kahoolawe. Crews planned to continue looking for Norcross through the night.

Norcross left Maalaea Harbor Saturday morning and had been sailing around the world, according to a Coast Guard member. He had sailed from Alaska to Mexico before sailing to Hawaii.

The Coast Guard used a helicopter, a C-130 plane, a vessel and ground crew to search yesterday.

Fire rescue workers searched the east and south shores and around the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Council base camp, including some sections of shoreline by ground crews, fire Battalion Chief Alan Pascua said.