FAREWELL GUO CHUAN The Chinese loner who disappeared in the waves of the Pacific.

Chinese sailor Guo Chuan (pictured with legend Francis Joyon), national idol and became world famous after setting the record for circumnavigating the globe solo nonstop on a Class 40 in 2012 (137 days, 20 hours, 1 minute and 57 seconds: just the time he is trying to beat our Gaetano Mura), has disappeared off the coast of Hawaii during the Transpacific crossing aboard the maxi-trimaran he had purchased from Francis Joyon (the former IDEC, 29.70 m long x 16.5 beam).

WHAT HAPPENED?
All attempts to contact him by the shore team had been unsuccessful as of Tuesday at 3 p.m. (Beijing time), the rescue team sent a reconnaissance plane that found the trimaran all intact and the mainsail reefed in notice.

But unfortunately no trace of the Chinese skipper. As seen in the video below, the boat kept sailing almost as if it were a ghost vessel.

VIDEO – GUO CHUAN’S GHOST BOAT

THAT DAMN VEST ON BOARD
The U.S. Coast Guard then went on board, and unfortunately-very bad sign-they found the sailor’s life jacket. Guo fell overboard, probably during a gennaker maneuver. In a 2013 interview he had said, “Falling overboard and being separated from my boat, that’s what I fear.” It had also happened to him once and he had gotten away with it. It was 2011, during a regatta in the Atlantic: he had managed to grab a line before going overboard and with that he was able to bring himself back on board. Chuan wanted to set a new transpacific solo record from San Francisco to Shanghai, and had set out from the United States on October 18. The skipper was 51 years old. The search was halted. Good wind, Guo!

A SAILING PIONEER
Guo Chuan, an aerospace engineer born in 1965, fell in love with sailing very late, at age 33, when he first sailed a 40-footer in Hong Kong. His passion made him quit his job to chase his dream of becoming a professional sailor, and he succeeded. He made history in his country because he was an absolute pioneer: first and only Chinese professional sailor, first Chinese to participate in the Clipper Round the World Race in 2006, first Olympic torchbearer to pass with the torch sailing in Qindgao in 2008, first Chinese in the Volvo Ocean Race in 2008-09, first Chinese to participate in the Mini Transat in 2011, first man to circumnavigate the globe on a Class 40. Last year, together with five companions, he had completed in the Arctic the first Northeast passage under sail, across the Bering Strait (separating Siberia and Alaska).