Wife of missing Chinese sailor Guo Chuan raises funds to continue the search

Guo Chuan, China's most famous sailor, was on a solo trans Pacific voyage when he went missing.

2 November

The wife of missing Chinese sailor, Guo Chuan, has launched a crowdfunding project to raise money to continue the search for her husband.

It comes after the US Coast Guard called off their search for Chuan off Hawaii. His 97-foot trimaran, Qingdao China, was found without the 51-year-old sailor on board.

Chuan was attempting to break the current world record set for the fastest sail from San Francisco to Shanghai.

He left the American port on 18 October, 2016 and was planning to reach Shanghai in 20 days, beating the current 21 day record.

Chuan’s support team lost contact with him on 25 October, 2016. A search plane found the Qingdao China 100 kilometres off the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Chuan’s life jacket was found on board.

According to the China Daily website, Chuan’s wife, Xiao Li, launched the crowd-funding project on the site gongyi.qq.com.

It aims to raise two million yuan ($295,000). By noon on 31 October, 2016, it had received almost 1.3 million yuan from 12,000 donors.

28 October

The search for Chinese sailor Guo Chuan, who was attempting to set a world record by doing a solo trans Pacific voyage in 20 days, has been called off, the US Coast Guard have confirmed.

Guo Chuan set sail from San Francisco on October 18 on his 97ft trimaran . He was trying to break the current world record of 21 days, by sailing to Shanghai in 20.

His boat was spotted in Hawaii without him aboard. The US Coast Guard have been searching the waters but have not found him. They however found his life jacket.

His support team were last in contact with him on Tuesday 25 October. They tried to contact him again but failed so a search plane was sent out about 900 nautical miles off the Hawaiian island of Oahu. His trimaran, Qingdao China, was found without its mainsail, but the was no sign of Chuan.

“Our deepest condolences go out not only to his family and friends but also to his racing team and the sailing community,” said Coast Guard Captain Robert Hendrickson in a statement.

“Crew of USS Mankin Island has visited the boat but did not find Guo. They collected all Guo’s belongings aboard for his family. They lowered the mainsail around 11.50 a.m”. the statement says.

Guo Chuan is one of China’s most famous sailors. In 2013 he became the first Chinese sailor to circumnavigate the globe alone.