Keeping The Faith Vigil

Story on the "Keeping the Faith" Vigil in Rhode Island from The Newport Daily News

Keeping the faith: Benefit supports missing sailors

By Rick McGowan/Daily News staff

NEWPORT - Bad weather nearly two weeks ago was the reason hundreds of people with ties to the sea gathered Friday night at Newport Shipyard.

More wind and rain didn't dampen the spirit at "Keeping the Faith for Flying Colours," a benefit to support the safe return of the Newport-based crew aboard the missing 54-foot sailing vessel. The families and close friends of the four missing Rhode Islanders, well-known in the local sailing community, were the hosts of the benefit under a large white tent.

Flying Colours, its captain, Patrick "Trey" Topping III, 39, and crew Jason Franks, 34, Christine Grinavic, 26, and Rhiannon Borisoff, 22, have been missing off the North Carolina coast since May 7. The Emergency Position Indication Radio Beacon on the boat alerted the Coast Guard that morning at 3:30.

Tropical storm Andrea was building in the area, a busy shipping route where 40-foot seas and 45-mile-an-hour winds were reported.

The Coast Guard rescued the crews of three other boats but there was no sign of Flying Colours, which was en route from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, to Annapolis, Md. The Coast Guard suspended its search last Saturday after using planes and cutters to search a 282,000-square-mile region. (Rhode Island measures 1,214 square miles.)

Topping has lived in Newport the past 15 years. He has worked on Madeleine, a schooner popular with tourists for its cruises on Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay.

Franks, a native of England, lives in Newport. He is captain of Adventuress, a ketch available for charters.

Grinavic, originally from Cumberland, and Borisoff, originally from Baker City, Ore., have worked on Madeleine and Rumrunner, a local vintage motorboat. Grinavic recently had been on Arabella, a luxury yacht based in St. Thomas in the winter and Newport in the summer.

Many in the crowd at the benefit danced to the band "Hot Like Fire" until past 9 p.m. They wore white T-shirts bearing the logo "Keep the Faith for Colours" on the front and a line drawing of the boat on the back.

Beer on ice, wine such as Clarke Cooke House Chardonnay, California rolls, mussels and chowder were among the donations from many Aquidneck Island and Jamestown businesses.

"Sail Newport and the Seamen's (Church) Institute have been unbelievably helpful," said Walter Cavanagh, Borisoff's boyfriend and first mate on Adventuress. "Sail Newport donated lanterns and tables, and the Seamen's is helping us draw up a Web site to help continue the search."

A spirit of optimism prevailed throughout the evening that the foursome is alive.

"He's been in life-or-death situations before," Cavanagh, 26, said about Topping. "He has biked across Africa, the whole United States. He's been to India, Nepal, told stories of having guns to his head, of having encountered problems in Third World countries.

"He's the person who can get out of these situations."

Cavanagh said the four missing sailors have personalities where they're not going to break down. "They're very hopeful people," he said. "The whole sailing community here is. You read stories of people surviving for much longer out there."

In an e-mail last week, Cavanagh wrote that he spent two weeks last spring on Flying Colours in rough seas off the Southeastern coast.

"The boat is strong and well made! It is not going to sink unless it hits something!" he wrote.

"We were in sustained 30-40 knot winds for half that trip and 20-, 25-foot seas without the centerboard working and we had no problems! I know the centerboard was working now and that just makes the boat that much more steady and controllable. Trey is diligent and meticulous in his necessary and preventive maintenance."

Cavanagh wrote that the boat "was seriously looked over last summer by Hinckley yard in Portsmouth, who are the old Little Harbor where the boat was made, and they know these boats in and out. Trey made sure all things were sorted out before the boat went any further under his watch!"

Tom Evans, currently sailing 12-meter boats, used to be a roommate of Franks in Newport. "Jason, and Trey as well, are two guys who know exactly what they are doing," Evans said. "There are people who have survived in life rafts longer than this.

"Keep positive and never give up hope."

Members of the tight-knit East Coast boating community and the commercial maritime industry continue to look for the sailors as they travel the Atlantic.

Monetary donations to the event may be made by check payable to Flying Colours Fund, c/o The Newport Shipyard, 1 Washington St., Newport, RI 02840.

All monies raised will be donated to the search efforts and to a charity of the families' choosing.