Last Update:5/16/2007 2:06:48 PM
Web Editor: Bernie O'Donnell
A Macon family is still holding out hope even though their son has been missing at sea for a week.
After six days, the Coast Guard has given up searching for Patrick Topping, age 39, and three friends lost off the North Carolina coast.
He's the son of Pat Topping, senior vice president of the Macon Economic Development Commission and of Diane Rodgers, an assistant school superintendent.
Also missing, according to the Coast Guard, are 34-year-old Jason Franks; 22-year-old Rhiannon Borisoff, and 25-year-old Christine Grinavic. The four were reportedly sailing a boat from the Virgin Islands to Maryland.
The Coast Guard says the sailboat sent a distress signal last Monday in rough waters off the North Carolina coast.
The Coast Guard says rescue crews have scoured more than 200,000 square miles of sea for the missing boat.
Pat Topping said Monday that he was still holding out hope that the boat was adrift somewhere. He said he would be attending a candlelight vigil Friday in Rhode Island for the four missing sailors.
He said the support from the community has helped his family continue as the search continued.
He said his son was a Macon native who attended Central High School and Macon Junior College.
His son had been sailing for more than a decade and the captain of the missing Flying Colors for more than a year and a half.His son was also an adventurer who had traveled and climbed mountains all over the world.
