Couple found dead in life raft

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d_marsh

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A Canadian couple who were found dead in their life raft after a failed attempted to sail across the Atlantic Ocean have been identified.

Brett Clibbery, 70, and his wife, Sarah Packwood, 60, had set sail on June 11 from Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, intending to sail to the Azores, a group of Portuguese islands about 2,000 miles away in the middle of the Atlantic. The trip in their 42-foot-vessel was scheduled to take 21 days.

Clibbery and Packwood, of British Columbia, were reported missing a week later. On July 10, their bodies were discovered washed ashore in their inflatable lifeboat on Sable Island, about 190 miles southeast of Halifax, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

It’s remains unclear why the couple abandoned their larger boat.

Sable Island has been dubbed “the graveyard of the Atlantic” where more than 350 shipwrecks have occurred since 1583, according to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The area usually bears the brunt of storms that travel up the Atlantic coast, often blowing sailing vessels directly into the island.

One theory investigators are pursuing is that their larger boat was hit by a passing cargo ship which didn’t see them, according to Canadian news outlet Saltwire. No wreckage of the vessel has been found. Their deaths are not considered suspicious, according to the RCMP.

The couple, who posted updates about their travels on a YouTube channel named Theros Adventures, had promoted their voyage as a “green” solution since their eco-friendly boat, also named Theros, was electric and powered by solar panels.

“They were amazing people, and there isn’t anything that will fill the hole that has been left by their so far unexplained passing,” Clibbery’s son James wrote on Facebook.

The two had met in London in 2015 and later married in British Colombia.


https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...aft-after-trying-to-sail-across-the-atlantic/
 
Sailing that far has never been on my bucket list. God rest their souls, and prayers for their friends and family. I would doubt anybody will find out what really happrned. Sad. :(
 
Sad story. Several years ago my brother and his wife sailed from Galveston Texas heading to Belize. They hit a storm off the coast of Yucatan and were trapped in the storm and were lost at sea for a couple of weeks. They were finally found by a Russian tanker. The tanker was too fast to tow their sail boat so they had to cut it loose. They lost everything. A couple years later they got a call from a salvage company and asked if they wanted to buy the boat back. They declined. The salvage company allowed them to come on board and take whatever they wanted.
 
sometimes ya gotta act ya age...friend thought he could ride motorcycle again like when he was younger...at 70something...laid the bike down and now dang near crippled in old age from compound fracture from wreak he had.
 
My dad was 80 the last time he went commercial fishing alone, a rough business. Age is not the issue but your shape is. There is not an over abundance of freighter traffic in that area so getting run over is possible but not likely. A rogue wave, broken through hull, bad weather, or a thousand other things. Many people abandon ship too early. If they didn’t take water and supplies they could have died from dehydration. Without survival suits hypothermia would have taken them quickly.
 
My dad was 80 the last time he went commercial fishing alone, a rough business. Age is not the issue but your shape is. There is not an over abundance of freighter traffic in that area so getting run over is possible but not likely. A rogue wave, broken through hull, bad weather, or a thousand other things. Many people abandon ship too early. If they didn’t take water and supplies they could have died from dehydration. Without survival suits hypothermia would have taken them quickly.

A sail boat is a young man's game. Sadly it doesn't appear they were physically ready for what ever happened. :(

Anything can and does happen at sea. From modern piracy in the Caribbean to... I once saw a wave swallow the first 300ft of a 400ft us navy frigate. Nothing but the stern sticking out of the wave, could see the rudder and screws turning, i was in awe.

If you're not ready to spend weeks in a life boat... don't go. No doubt there's people somewhere in the world right now sitting in a life boat. Wondering when someone will come to help. It happens.
 
I have been thinking of giving my street bike to my son lately. After a lifetime of riding I am probably pushing my luck. Also the thought of my wife and I hitting the pavement at 60 years old seems less likely we will walk away unharmed.
 

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