By Daisy Blacklock From This is the West Country

“THOUGHTS and prayers” are with the families of two Somerset yachtsmen feared lost at sea in the mid-Atlantic after their vessel capsized in the Caribbean.

Steve Warren, 52, from Bridgwater, and Paul Goslin, 56, from Yeovil, are among the four missing British crewmembers of the Cheeki Rafiki.

The yacht ran into difficulties while sailing from a regatta in the Caribbean to the UK on Thursday, when it began taking on water. The United States Coast Guard says it has called off its active search.

Contact with Stormforce Coaching, a Southampton-based training and charter company, is said to have been lost in the early hours of Friday.

In a statement, the US Coast Guard said: “The Coast Guard has suspended its active search, pending further developments, for four sailors 1,000 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at 5 a.m. Sunday.”

The statement continues: “Multiple crews from numerous nation’s military branches and commercial vessels searched approximately 4,146 square miles for them.”

Mr Warren and Mr Goslin were joined on their sail by James Male, 23, and 21-year-old Andrew Bridge.

Doug Innes, principal and director of Stormforce Coaching, said: “We were in contact with the skipper and at the time the yacht and crew were keeping the situation stable.

“They had not been able to ascertain where the water ingress was from and were diverting to the Azores.

“Unfortunately we lost contact during the early hours of Friday morning and we believe the crew abandoned to the life raft.

“Search and Rescue authorities were mobilised and a mixture of Canadian and US aircraft along with merchant vessels searched throughout Friday and Saturday.

“Although the search efforts co-ordinated by Boston were exceptional we are devastated that search has been called off so soon after the abandonment to a life-raft.

“Our thoughts are with the four yachtsmen and their families and we hope and pray for them all.”

Captain Anthony Popiel, chief of response for the Boston-based 1st Coast Guard District, said: “We appreciate the assistance of the U.S. Air Force, Canada and the three merchant vessels helping us to conduct a thorough search so far from shore.

“We are extremely disappointed that we were not able to locate the sailors during the course of this extensive search. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families during this difficult time.”

PHOTO: STEVE Warren from Bridgwater is among the Britons missing. PHOTO: Royal Yachting Association.

For more on this story go to: http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/somerset_news/11220842.Two_Somerset_men_among_four_feared_lost_at_sea/?ref=nt

See also related story:

Families of missing British sailors call on U.S. to resume search*

From Chicago Tribune

LONDON (Reuters) – The families of four British sailors missing since their yacht capsized in the Atlantic Ocean three days ago appealed to the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday to resume its search.

Last contact with the missing yacht, Cheeki Rafiki, was on Friday after it ran into difficulties about 1,000 miles off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, while returning to Britain from a sailing event in Antigua in the Caribbean.

A search was called off on Sunday after two days as the U.S. Coast Guard said it did not have the capability to support a large-scale search.

The missing men were named as 21-year-old captain Andrew Bridge along with Steve Warren, 52, Paul Goslin, 56 and James Male, 23. All four were described as experienced sailors.

For more: http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80243811/

LATEST: 20 May 2014 Last updated at 21:13 GMT

*Missing yacht: US Coast Guard resumes search

From BBC

The search for four British sailors missing in the Atlantic has resumed after it was called off on Sunday.

Ministers said the US Coast Guard had agreed to continue searching after a request from the UK government.

The 40ft Cheeki Rafiki was sailing back to the UK from a regatta in Antigua when it got into difficulties.

The wife of one of the men said it had been an “emotional rollercoaster” since all contact with the crew was lost on Friday.

Cressida Goslin – wife of Paul – and other members of the men’s families met with Foreign Office Minister Hugh Robertson on Tuesday afternoon before leaving for the US Embassy.

‘Followed procedures’

The four missing crew members are Mr Goslin, 56, from West Camel, Somerset; Andrew Bridge, 22, from Farnham, Surrey, the yacht’s skipper; Steve Warren, 52, also from Somerset, and 23-year-old James Male, from Southampton.

The US Coast Guard, which on Monday said the search would only be resumed if “new developments about the case” emerged, said it had agreed to deploy rescuers at the request of the UK Foreign Office.

“It’s a shame that it has taken this long for them to change their mind and go back out there” – Kay Coombes Sister of skipper Mr Bridge

Mr Robertson said on Tuesday afternoon the Foreign Office had been “impressing on them the need to continue the search” since the weekend.

“They’re human beings and they absolutely understand what is going through the minds of the families and the relatives of all those affected,” the minister said after meeting men’s families.

‘Very positive’

The coastguard’s chief of media relations Carlos Diaz told the BBC: “There’s no frustration about the search – our guys followed the procedures they had to follow at that time.”

The US rescuers issued a video of one its aircraft leaving North Carolina for Boston on Tuesday.

Speaking outside the Foreign Office after what he described as a “very positive meeting”, Graham Male – father of missing James – thanked the UK, Canadian and US authorities and urged people to continue signing an online petition which has attracted more than 200,000 signatures.

“Let’s bring our loved ones home,” he told waiting reporters.

The racing yacht began taking on water 620 miles (1,000km) east of Cape Cod in Massachusetts and diverted to the Azores on Thursday.

Missing Mr Warren’s son-in-law, Dan Carpenter, said: “We are holding out hope. We are aware that it is still a long shot but while there is some hope, we are concentrating on that.”

‘You never know’

The Americans had said the estimated survival time past the time of distress was approximately 20 hours and that their crews had searched for 53 hours.

But the decision to resume searching came after family members insisted they could still be alive in the yacht’s 12-man life raft.

For more on this story go to: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27492026