Canadians Cruisers Travelling Through the Panama Canal Found Dead in a Life Raft

Two people were found dead in life raft washed ashore near Nova Scotia’s Sable Island.  The cruisers were experienced and avid mariners who had sailed through the Panama Canal and from the Caribbean to Nova Scotia, originating their journey in British Colombia Canada.   An inflatable lifeboat containing two bodies washed up on an island nearly 300 kilometres southeast of Halifax on Wednesday and RCMP say they believe they are the remains of a British Columbia couple whose sailboat was reported missing nearly three weeks ago.  The sailors, a 70-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman, and their vessel named Theros were reported missing one week after leaving Halifax Harbour en route to the Azores, an archipelago off the coast of Portugal.

The couple last made contact through Garmin messaging to friends and family on June 13, from a position near Sable Island, said Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax spokesman Lieutenant Commander Len Hickey. On June 18, their family reported they no longer had contact with the sailboat.  When the sailboat was determined overdue, JRCC Halifax, operated by the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Coast Guard, launched a two-day search, flying two planes including a CC130 Hercules from Nova Scotia to the Azores and near Sable Island. A rescue co-ordination centre in Azores also mounted a search, he added.  “JRCC never found, visually or by sensors, any indication that the boat was in the last known area,” said LCdr. Hickey.

On the day and following day after the vessel last made contact, the winds were pretty standard at 15 knots with two-metre waves, said LCdr. Hickey but there was heavy fog and mist. Visibility was only 200 feet.  RCMP arrived on the island Thursday after receiving a call from Parks Canada staff about the human remains. In a statement, the Mounties said their investigation is continuing. They did not confirm the identities of the bodies found this week, but said the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service is working to make positive identifications.  The sailboat Theros belonged to Brett Clibbery and Sarah Packwood of Salt Spring Island, B.C., said Chris Bewsher, a friend and member of the Dartmouth Yacht Club, where the couple set off from on June 11.

“He and Sarah had very clear visions of arriving in Spain through the Azores and setting about on their next adventure which would have been a series of walks and hikes and caminos and sharing all of that online with people that followed them or cared about them,” said Mr. Bewsher, who last spoke to Mr. Clibbery on May 23.  “He was very excited. He had a lot of work to do on the boat to get it ready to go and they were very much looking forward to the journey,” said Mr. Bewsher, adding that they expected to make the crossing in two to three weeks.  Mr. Clibbery was an avid and experienced mariner who had sailed through the Panama Canal and from the Caribbean to Nova Scotia, added Mr. Bewsher. The couple, who had married on the boat, were avid hikers who had completed the Camino de Santiago in Spain and were in the process of building a green, off-the-grid home on Salt Spring Island.  A few years ago, they attempted the same trip across the North Atlantic to Spain but turned back to Nova Scotia after they ran into bad weather off Sable Island. 

“So many people have been concerned about them and waiting for an update, a favourable update,” said Mr. Bewsher. “This is obviously an outcome that could have come as a result and it’s tragic. They’re just such awesome people, so genuine and giving and considerate.  “When people set out to take these type of journeys as part of a lifelong ambition for cruisers and people in the sailing community that love the ocean and love the water, to see them have this type of outcome – it’s sad. It’s very sad for them.”  The pair had various social media pages dedicated to their voyages, including Theros Sailing Adventure on Facebook and Theros Adventures on YouTube.  On June 11, the day they set sail under blue skies and calm waters in Halifax, they posted photos of themselves leaving the dock, Ms. Packwood waving from the back of the boat to friends.  Later that day they posted a video of Mr. Clibbery wearing an orange flotation coat, with his silver hair blowing in the wind at the helm of the boat.

“Well we’re away from the Nova Scotia coast right now,” he said, sounding upbeat as the sailboat bobbed in the waves. “We’re 16 nautical miles from where we started which is probably 12 miles inshore.  And we’re doing five-and-a-half knots average. So we’re not doing bad.  If the winds stay the same as it is right now, we’re basically southeast, which would get us to the Azores. So we’ll see. We’re sailing away.”  At the Dartmouth Yacht Club, many people were exchanging condolences about the missing couple on Friday. The couple’s black, rusty boat cradle remained on the grounds, painted with Ms. Packwood’s poetry in white cursive: “I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky. And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. And the wheels kick and the winds’ song and the white sails shaking.”