Hurricane Hides Fate of Family

A San Clemente couple were trying desperately Saturday to locate their daughter and son-in-law, who had been sailing with their children and friends off the Yucatan Peninsula where Hurricane Gilbert struck Wednesday.

Marti and Paul Aspegren, former owners of KTWV-FM radio in Costa Mesa, said their daughter, Christine Morehart, 37, her husband Michael, 39, and their two children were scheduled to return Thursday to their home in Aspen, Colo.

The Aspegrens haven’t been able to learn whether the family found its way to land before the hurricane swept through the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Aspegrens, who are staying in Colorado, said they last saw the Moreharts on Sept. 7, the day the family left for Cozumel.

“They were going to be traveling about 200 miles, right in the path of the hurricane,” Marti Aspegren said Saturday.

The Moreharts were scheduled to leave Cozumel, Mexico, in their 112-foot cargo sailboat, the Manatea, on Sept. 8. Their route was to take them to Puerto Progreso on the northwest tip of the Yucatan, then to an island reef and then back to Cozumel.

“We don’t know when they started back from the reef, and we don’t know whether they got back to Cozumel or Cancun,” Marti Aspegren said.

Gilbert has already killed at least 29 people on the Yucatan Peninsula and 69 in the Caribbean.

The hurricane, with winds of more than 150 m.p.h., blasted the Caribbean side of the Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, destroying the resort town of Cancun.

The Aspegrens said their calls to the U.S. Coast Guard in Florida, South Carolina and Texas have not brought any news. Michael Morehart’s brother was flying by private plane to the Gulf Coast on Saturday, hoping to have more success in tracking down the travelers.

An estimated 8,000 tourists were left stranded in Cancun and Cozumel. Most of the island has been without power or communications.

“We’re very concerned, of course, especially because of the children,” Marti Aspegren said.

Besides their children, Jetzen, 8, and Moorea, 5, the Moreharts were traveling with at least three friends and two crew members, Marti Aspegren said.

Michael Morehart is a professional skipper. He has led chartered pleasure trips on the Manatea throughout the world, Marti Aspegren said. Michael Morehart’s brother-in-law, actor Timothy Bottoms, recently filmed aboard the vessel.

The Aspegrens have lived in Orange County for 20 years. Christine Morehart graduated from La Habra High School and was a model for Bullock’s in Santa Ana, Marti Aspegren said.

The Aspegrens sold their share of KTWV, The Wave, about three years ago. Marti Aspegren was vice president and manager of the station for about eight years. Paul Aspegren is a retired controller from IBM in Costa Mesa.