Miami search for missing Olympic sailor suspended

Three days after launching a massive search for a missing U.S. Olympic sailor — who friends and family have described as physically fit and a boating expert — the Coast Guard has suspended the mission until new information is available.

“We haven’t seen anything,” Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer Mark Barney said Sunday. “We have no new evidence of where he may be.”

Trevor Moore, a member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic sailing team, was reported missing on Thursday. Security at Dinner Key in Coconut Grove found his 16-foot boat at the marina just before 6 p.m. The boat’s engine was running and Moore’s belongings were onboard.

On Sunday, Will Ricketson, Olympic communications manager with U.S. Sailing in Portsmith, Rhode Island, said the sailing community continues to hope for the best.

“We have a great deal of confidence in his abilities on the water, but anytime you get separated from your boat it’s a dangerous situation,” he said.

The Coast Guard launched the search on Friday with a rescue boat crew from Station Miami Beach and an MH-65 rescue helicopter crew out of Miami. Boat crews from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Miami Police Department, the National Park Service and good Samaritans also joined in the search, along with a helicopter crew from Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue.

While the Coast Guard called off the search, some of Moore’s friends and family continued to search the area. A man at the U.S. Sailing Center in Miami, who identified himself as Andrew, told a Miami Herald reporter that there was a “major volunteer effort” on the water of people looking for Moore.

Friends and family even launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to fuel the boats that continue to search Biscayne Bay.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is now leading the investigation into Moore’s disappearance.

The search covered more than 500 miles of water.

Moore, 30, was born in North Pomfret, Vermont. He was a member of the New York Yacht Club and graduated from Woodstock Union High School in 2003. He then attended, Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York, where he graduated in 2007. That same year he was named the 2007 College Sailor of the Year.

Ricketson said after graduating from college, Moore decided he would train for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He came in fourth in the trials, which was a feat considering the amount of time he had to train, Ricketson said.

He then teamed up with Erik Storck for the 2012 Olympics in London. Ricketson said sailors need to be “extremely fit and strong” to handle the most challenging boats. The team did not win a medal.

Ricketson said he recently bought a house in Coconut Grove and works as a sailing coach. He also recently became engaged to Libby Patton, who told CBS4 that she intended to stay on the water looking for her fiancé as long as possible.

“I pray that people will do what they can and pray that we will find him,” Patton said.