Man Vanishes While Sailing to Cabo San Lucas

The U.S. Coast Guard transmitted urgent broadcasts over marine channels every two hours Friday after a 25-year-old man who set sail from San Pedro for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, three weeks ago was reported missing.

The father of Jebediah Cross reported Thursday that his son had planned to leave March 5 and hadn’t been seen since. Cross’ neighbors told the Coast Guard that they thought his planned departure date was March 8, said Petty Officer Dave Hardesty, a Coast Guard spokesman.

Cross is thought to be sailing solo on a 27-foot white sailboat with wood and bronze trim. The boat is named Quest Star 2, and its registration number is CF 9188 EM, Hardesty said. It was not clear who owned it.

Cross moved from Idaho to California recently and took classes at the Santa Barbara Sailing Center, his father told the Coast Guard.

Skip Abed, owner of the Santa Barbara Sailing Center, said Cross had taken three classes in February and passed all tests to become certified with the American Sailing Assn. The certification qualifies Cross to rent boats for trips within coastal waters, such as the 3 1/2-hour trip from Los Angeles to Santa Catalina Island, Abed said, but not the one- to two-week trip to Cabo San Lucas on the tip of the Baja Peninsula.

“With the classes he had, it would be rather premature to be casting off dock lines and setting sail on that voyage he claimed to undertake,” Abed said.

The Coast Guard hopes the broadcasts will give them a lead to Cross. If not, senior Coast Guard officers will decide whether to begin a more intense search with airplanes and boats, a spokesman said.

Anyone with information should call (310) 732-2044.