Crews continued to search Monday for several sailors who were missing after a powerful and fast-moving storm swept over Mobile Bay on Saturday during the annual Dauphin Island Regatta.
Two people have been confirmed dead since the race. Coast Guard officials say four people are still unaccounted for and are believed to be missing in the waters of Mobile Bay. A fifth person who was feared missing was located safe and sound at his home on Sunday night.
“Those of us that were out there, we all race and sail together. We knew who those people were,” said Joshua Edwards, who skippered his parents’ boat, St. Somewhere, told AL.com.
“We dropped our sails because we had finished the race and were heading home,” Edwards notes on the nearly 17-minute video that was taken on his boat and posted on YouTube. “Life jackets were handed out as soon as the severity of the storm was realized. If you have sailed the bay longer than a week you have been in a storm. It’s a regular thing around here. That was the equivalent to a hurricane.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJF7i5z9lQ4
A young sailor interviewed by WALA News said of weathering the storm below deck: “It’s the closest to death I’ve ever come.”
For those unfamiliar with Mobile Bay, a report by TOMO News offers a timeline of the unfolding series of events.
