Thousands of supporters have signed a petition for the US Coast Guard to give the sailors of Cheeki Rafiki a 'chance to be found'

A campaign to encourage the US Coast Guard to resume searching for four British sailors is gaining momentum.

More than 27,400 supporters – and counting – have signed the petition, which can be found here.

Cheeki Rafiki, a Beneteau First 40.7 yacht from Southampton, was returning home to the United Kingdom with a crew
of four, following a successful race campaign in the Carribean.

The four crew members have been named as Andrew
Bridge, 21, from Farnham, Surrey; Paul Goslin, 56,
from West Camel, Somerset; Steve Warren, 52, from Bridgwater, Somerset,
and 23-year-old James Male, from Southampton.

On
Thursday, the skipper, Andrew Bridge reported they were taking on water. The
experienced offshore yachtsmen believed that the situation was stable but amended
their course to head for the Azores. On Friday morning, Southampton-based Stormforce Coaching lost contact with them.

The US Coastguard carried out an extensive two-day search before making the ‘difficult decision to suspend search efforts.’

Heart-felt campaign

Friends and family of the sailors are calling for the US Coast Guard to ‘please search again’.

Nicola Evans, of Belvedere, Kent who started up the petition, said: ‘I sailed with Andy on Cheeki Rafiki last summer during the Fastnet
2013 campaign.

‘Andy is an amazing guy and showed such genuine care for
me and all his crew mates, that we all consider him a close friend and
desperately want him to be found.’

Family members have joined the call.

Claire Goslin, of Plymouth, said: ‘One of the sailors is my dad and we cannot give up! He is my world and we need to start this search again!!’

Gemma Townsend, of London, said: ‘My uncle is on board. We mustn’t give up. Two days searching is not enough. When people have survived many months on life rafts.’

Supporter David Williams added: ‘I crewed Cheeki across Biscay on the first leg of her outward journey in
October.

‘She’s a well prepared boat with an experienced crew who will
have the resources to survive for a lot more than 2 days (Tony Bullimore
survived a week before being rescued and he was on his own).

‘It’s far
too early to call the search off and give up on four men who could still
be alive and hoping for rescue.’

US Coastguard statement

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Anthony Popiel said after learning of the vessel’s distress at 12.30am, Friday, watchstanders at the 1st Coast Guard District immediately
began coordinating efforts by air and sea to locate the crew of the
Cheeki Rafiki.

The locator beacons activated by the crew indicated
they were in a position 1,000 miles east of Massachusetts as of Friday
morning. Seas were 15 feet with winds surpassing 50 knots. The air
temperature was 59 degrees and the water was 60 degrees.

He said: ‘Based on the extreme conditions at
sea, but assuming best-case emergency equipment, the estimated survival
time past the time of distress was approximately 20 hours. Crews
searched for 53 hours.’

Capt Popiel added: ‘Air crews from North Carolina, Georgia and Canada
searched an area of more than 4,000 square miles and worked with
commercial liners who volunteered to assist from the sea.

‘At
approximately noon, Saturday, the crew from the 1,000-foot motor vessel
Maersk Kure located an overturned hull that matched the description of
the Cheeki Rafiki, but could not find any sign of the sailor.

‘After more than two days of searching and no
indication of surviving crew members, the U.S. Coast Guard made the
difficult decision to suspend search efforts.

‘We will continue to provide any information we can
about the search efforts and wish to extend again our deepest
condolences to the family and friends of these four sailors.’