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May 09, 2007Update: Families push search for missing R.I. sailorsJason Franks, one of the two licensed captains aboard the Flying Colours sailboat that is missing off the coast of North Carolina, has many years of sailing experience. He’s the captain of the Adventuress, an 85-foot wooden charter sailboat based in Newport, said his mother, Carol Dale of North Kingstown. Franks, 34, lives in a Newport apartment, his mother said. He was helping to bring the Flying Colours back to the United States from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, because his friend and fellow sailor Patrick Topping was looking for an experienced person to help on the journey, Dale said early this afternoon. In the U.S. Coast Guard’s third day of searching for the boat, the families of all four people with Rhode Island ties who were aboard the Flying Colours are convinced it’s too soon for the Guard to stop searching, Dale said. “What we’re doing right now is calling congressmen to make sure they [The Coast Guard] keep the search up,” she said. Particularly since the weather was so rough during the first two days of the search and today is the first day they’ve been able to conduct a thorough search, the families believe the Coast Guard shouldn’t give up, Dale said. Yesterday, the Coast Guard told Mary Grinavic -- the mother of another Rhode Islander aboard the sailboat, Christine Grinavic -- that the presence of a lifeboat on the Flying Colours was reason for the Coast Guard to search longer than they otherwise might. They told her this morning that they’d likely reassess their efforts after a search scheduled for around 3 p.m. today. That lifeboat is a “very good, safe life raft,” Dale said this afternoon. -- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson, with reports from Journal staff writer Mark Arsenault Posted by Kate Bramson |
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