Urgent search for missing sailor as yacht vanishes during solo challenge to Ireland

Fears growing for experienced skipper Duncan Lougee, last seen 10 days ago en route to southwest Ireland

Duncan Lougee on his yacht, the Minke (Facebook )

A huge air-and-sea search has been launched for a sailor who has been missing for a week since he left Devon to travel to Ireland.

Aircraft and helicopters have been out looking for Duncan Lougee, who left Plymouth on Sunday, 18 June, as part of a challenge for solo sailors.

He had been due to stop at the Scilly Isles in his yacht Minke, but he was last seen near Helford River in Cornwall the next day, Monday.

The Minke was heading for Ireland via the Scilly Isles (HM Coastguard / SWNS)

The Minke had been due in Baltimore, Co Cork, a week ago, 22 June, but there has been no contact from him since he left.

Neither of Mr Lougee’s two distress beacons has been set off, and coastguards have issued an urgent appeal for information.

Organisers of the Jester Challenge event say all the other skippers and yachts taking part either arrived at Baltimore in southwest Ireland or retired to another port.

Mr Lougee, from Dedham, Suffolk, who is reportedly in his late sixties, is an experienced yacht broker, boat builder and sailor, according to a Facebook post.

He has many miles of sailing including a single-handed crossing of the Atlantic and three trips from Plymouth to the Azores and back, according to the information thought to be from a family friend.

“He has even done this trip to Baltimore in Ireland before,” she wrote.

He is also a volunteer for a blood-delivery emergency response organisation in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

Mr Lougee with his emergency response motorbike (Facebook / SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire)

Mr Lougee’s family are said to be “frantic”.

The Jester Challenge is not a race, but an event to try out sailing skills. In evenly numbered years, single-handed sailors travel from Plymouth across the Atlantic. In odd years, including 2023, they sail to Ireland.

The search has involved three HM Coastguard aircraft, an aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth, a coastguard helicopter and an Ireland Coastguard helicopter, as well as RNLI lifeboats from Falmouth and Angle, and a coastguard rescue team.

Challenge organisers said that despite the best efforts of Falmouth Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Irish coastguard, including a fixed-wing search between the Scillies and Baltimore, Minke’s whereabouts were still unknown.

“Everyone involved in the search for Duncan and Minke is perplexed by the absence of any sign of her position.

“Duncan is carrying both an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Beacon) and a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon), neither of which have been activated.

The sailor disappeared last week (SWNS)

“Conditions in the Celtic Sea have generally been benign throughout the last week, further contributing to the puzzle.

“Hope has not yet been lost that after some major setback, Duncan is still trying to reach a safe haven.

“This is a particularly difficult time for Duncan’s partner, who is showing great fortitude during the wait for some firm news and the thoughts of all the Jester Challengers, past and present, are with her.”

HM Coastguard said the Minke was a 25ft fibreglass folkboat with a white hull and white sails, with sail number FB597.

Coastguard officials said they had issued regular broadcasts and liaised with the Irish Coastguard, UK police and the RNLI in an effort to trace Mr Lougee.