05-09-2007, 01:50 PM
05-09-2007, 02:23 PM
They are in my prayers Ken, lets hope the good lord brings them home safely.
Brian
Brian
05-12-2007, 06:46 AM
Made the local news here, doesn't sound good..... any word?
kenconnors
05-12-2007, 05:17 PM
Nothing yet, not even any debris. RI national guard sent out a c-130 first thing this morning. Still hoping......
05-13-2007, 04:42 AM
Sending out positive thoughts and prayers of hope.
kenconnors
05-13-2007, 06:41 PM
After searching thousands of miles of sea, without finding any signs of a missing sailboat and its four sailors with Rhode Island ties, the U.S. Coast Guard decided last night to suspend its active search.
The captain and crew of the 54-foot sailboat Flying Colours were believed to be somewhere off the coast of North Carolina, where the boat disappeared Monday in rough seas. The last contact with the boat was an electronic distress signal that the Coast Guard picked up at 3:30 a.m. on Monday and which stopped a few hours later.
Yesterday, the hopes of the sailorsâ families were raised, as more search planes joined the hunt for the missing sailboat, including a C-130 search-and-rescue plane from the Rhode Island National Guard. But by late evening, the Coast Guard decided to end the search, and called the families, a spokesman said. Nearly a week of searches had turned up nothing but open water.
âItâs an extremely difficult decision,â said Petty Officer Kip Wadlow. âWeâve pretty much searched everywhere they could possibly be.â
The Coast Guard had used data-marker buoys to tell it the current and wind direction, so searchers could determine where the sailboat could have drifted, Wadlow said. They flew search planes in close to the shore as well as up the northern coast to see if Flying Colours â or anything from the sailboat â had been caught in the Gulf Stream, he said.
Coast Guard search-and-rescue personnel from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., and the Coast Guard cutter Tampa were joined yesterday by the crews of an HU-25 Falcon jet from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, a Navy P3 search plane from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., and C-130s from Moody and Patrick Air Force bases, and the Rhode Island, New York, Georgia and the North Carolina Air National Guard.
By the end, last night, the searchers had covered more than 282,000 nautical square miles, an area larger than Texas, Wadlow said. The four missing sailors all have ties to Rhode Island â Patrick Topping, 39, the master of the ship; Jason Franks, 34; Rhiannon Borisoff, 22; and Christine Grinavic, 26. They were sailing the boat from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Annapolis, Md., a trip expected to take a little over a week. All are experienced sailors; Franks and Topping each hold a captainâs license.
Yesterday morning, the Rhode Island National Guard scrapped a planned training mission for one of its C-130s and volunteered to use the plane for the real search-and-rescue mission.
The crew invited the family of Franks to come aboard before the flight, said Franksâ mother, Carol. Her husband, Ronald Dale, was a retired Army colonel who had been an adviser to the Rhode Island National Guard.
She brought photos of her son and the missing sailboat. The crew hugged and kissed her, and promised to do their best, she said. âWe want our kids back,â she said. âTheyâre out there, somewhere.â
Without word, without sight, the families were left with just hope. âWhat weâre thinking is theyâre drifting,â Dale said. âWe think their mast is down.â
In the early afternoon, her tone was upbeat and determined. âMy crying time is between 4 and 6 in the morning, and then I say, âBack to work,â â Dale said.
Meanwhile, people were bringing food by the familyâs house in North Kingstown, she said, so much that some was donated to the local Fire Department. âDonât bring food, bring wine!â she joked. âWine for the party!â
She was talking about the homecoming party, which the families are ready to hold, any moment, for the returning sailors.
With staff reports from Tom Mooney.
amilkovi@projo.com
The captain and crew of the 54-foot sailboat Flying Colours were believed to be somewhere off the coast of North Carolina, where the boat disappeared Monday in rough seas. The last contact with the boat was an electronic distress signal that the Coast Guard picked up at 3:30 a.m. on Monday and which stopped a few hours later.
Yesterday, the hopes of the sailorsâ families were raised, as more search planes joined the hunt for the missing sailboat, including a C-130 search-and-rescue plane from the Rhode Island National Guard. But by late evening, the Coast Guard decided to end the search, and called the families, a spokesman said. Nearly a week of searches had turned up nothing but open water.
âItâs an extremely difficult decision,â said Petty Officer Kip Wadlow. âWeâve pretty much searched everywhere they could possibly be.â
The Coast Guard had used data-marker buoys to tell it the current and wind direction, so searchers could determine where the sailboat could have drifted, Wadlow said. They flew search planes in close to the shore as well as up the northern coast to see if Flying Colours â or anything from the sailboat â had been caught in the Gulf Stream, he said.
Coast Guard search-and-rescue personnel from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., and the Coast Guard cutter Tampa were joined yesterday by the crews of an HU-25 Falcon jet from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, a Navy P3 search plane from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., and C-130s from Moody and Patrick Air Force bases, and the Rhode Island, New York, Georgia and the North Carolina Air National Guard.
By the end, last night, the searchers had covered more than 282,000 nautical square miles, an area larger than Texas, Wadlow said. The four missing sailors all have ties to Rhode Island â Patrick Topping, 39, the master of the ship; Jason Franks, 34; Rhiannon Borisoff, 22; and Christine Grinavic, 26. They were sailing the boat from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Annapolis, Md., a trip expected to take a little over a week. All are experienced sailors; Franks and Topping each hold a captainâs license.
Yesterday morning, the Rhode Island National Guard scrapped a planned training mission for one of its C-130s and volunteered to use the plane for the real search-and-rescue mission.
The crew invited the family of Franks to come aboard before the flight, said Franksâ mother, Carol. Her husband, Ronald Dale, was a retired Army colonel who had been an adviser to the Rhode Island National Guard.
She brought photos of her son and the missing sailboat. The crew hugged and kissed her, and promised to do their best, she said. âWe want our kids back,â she said. âTheyâre out there, somewhere.â
Without word, without sight, the families were left with just hope. âWhat weâre thinking is theyâre drifting,â Dale said. âWe think their mast is down.â
In the early afternoon, her tone was upbeat and determined. âMy crying time is between 4 and 6 in the morning, and then I say, âBack to work,â â Dale said.
Meanwhile, people were bringing food by the familyâs house in North Kingstown, she said, so much that some was donated to the local Fire Department. âDonât bring food, bring wine!â she joked. âWine for the party!â
She was talking about the homecoming party, which the families are ready to hold, any moment, for the returning sailors.
With staff reports from Tom Mooney.
amilkovi@projo.com