The 51 year old Chinese sailor, Guo Chuan has gone missing in the Pacific Ocean. Two American Navy vessels headed to the last known position of the maxi trimaran, Qindado-China, which was drifting a few hundred miles west of Hawaii. Crewmen from USS Mankin Island went aboard the boat this morning and confirmed that the Chinese sailor was missing.
Guo Chuan left San Francisco on 19th October to attempt to smash the Pacific crossing record to Yokohama (Japan), a distance of 4500 miles. He had hoped to take less than 18 days aboard his maxi-trimaran, Francis Joyon’s former IDEC.
It was in 2015 that he acquired the Irens designed boat built by Francis in 2007, aboard which the skipper from Locmariaquer achieved some of the greatest sailing records. It was with extreme sadness that Joyon and the crew of IDEC SPORT heard the news. “We are concerned on more than one level by this tragedy that happeened aboard our former boat,” declared Francis. “Guo is someone for whom I had the greatest admiration. A former scientist, he wasn’t one with the same background as us. He turned to sailing late on and was self taught. I watched his attempts with interest and respected what he was able to achieve.”
This sentiment was shared by the crew of Idec Sport, currently on stand by for another attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy, and particularly by the German, Boris Herrmann, who recently accompanied Guo on his recent attempt through the NE passage.
In 2013, Guo Chuan became the first Chinaman to complete a non-stop round the world voyage on a monohull (137 d 20 hrs).
