Sailor of Drifting Boat Is Feared Overboard

A Canadian sailor was feared lost at sea Tuesday after the U.S. Coast Guard found his sailboat, the Migal, adrift 23 miles from San Diego with a tattered headsail.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Carl Hansen said it is feared that Joseph Clarke, 61, was swept overboard. A search for him began Tuesday.

Clarke, whom Hansen described as “a very experienced sailor,” is from North Delta, British Columbia.

Officials do not know how long the boat, which is registered to Clarke, had been adrift. Hansen said it was spotted southwest of San Diego on Tuesday morning by a Navy helicopter, which reported the sighting to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard boarded the vessel at 9:30 a.m. and found it empty, Hansen said.

There was no evidence of foul play, and the boarding party found the boat’s radio and navigation equipment working properly, he added. There was also plenty of food and water on board.

“We’re going on the assumption that he was swept overboard,” Hansen said.

Although the seas were relatively calm and the water temperature 65 degrees when the boat was discovered, Hansen said ocean waters were rough Monday night. He said the wind registered 20 to 25 knots Monday, and waves measured 4 to 6 feet.

Earlier Tuesday, Coast Guard officials reported that Marie Tomko, 52, was also aboard the vessel and missing. However, CWO Dan Dewell said later that Tomko was found in Canada. She was to have joined Clarke in San Diego, but never made the trip, Dewell said.

The Coast Guard used two helicopters and a Falcon jet in a daytime search, and officials said they would continue the search Tuesday night using flares dropped from a helicopter and jet. If Clarke is not found overnight, the search will continue this morning, Hansen said.

The search is concentrated in an area stretching 20 miles south from a point 50 miles off Dana Point.

Although investigators do not know how long Clarke had been missing, Dewell said he was last sighted Sunday in Dana Point.

“That’s the last firm sighting that we have of him. We just don’t know what happened after that,” Dewell said.

Coast Guard officials added that they also have information that Clarke docked at Newport Beach on Nov. 20 and 21. Entries in the ship’s log show the Migal sailed past Oceanside at 1 a.m. and Del Mar at 3 a.m., but the day is not indicated.

The Migal sailed out of Vancouver, but U.S. Coast Guard officials do not know when. Hansen said Clarke was en route to Cabo San Lucas, at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula.