On Jan. 26 at 9:30 a.m. the search for a family reportedly missing at sea 65 miles off the coast of Monterey, Calif., was called off by the U.S. Coast Guard.
On Sunday, Feb. 24, the crew of Charm Blow radioed the Coast Guard to report their 29-foot sailboat with four people on board—4 adults and 2 children under the age of 8—was taking on water. At 5:30 p.m. a seemingly calm male voice came over the radio to say they were abandoning ship, after which all communication was lost.
Coast Guard, Coast Guard, we are abandoning ship. This is Charm Blow. We are abandoning ship.
“It was incredibly far away, 68 miles offshore and the signal was really weak so we had to piece together what we can, said Petty Officer Pamela Boehland from the U.S. Coast Guard. “They had a cooler and a life ring and they were going to try and put them together to make some kind of life raft.”
The multi-agency search that lasted 42 hours covered approximately 20,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of West Virginia. Water temperatures in the area were between 40 and 50 degrees.
The Coast Guard has released the abandon-ship recording in hopes that someone from the public will call in (415-399-3547) with information. Click here to listen.
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