Friends of Missing San Francisco Sailor Expand Search to Waters Off Mexico
By MARCUS WOHLSEN
SAN FRANCISCO Feb 7, 2007 (AP)— Friends of an acclaimed computer scientist who vanished at sea said Wednesday they were expanding their search for him
to waters off Mexico, nearly a week after the Coast Guard called off its own search.
Colleagues of Jim Gray, 63, have been combing satellite images of Mexico's Baja California coast for any sign of the Microsoft engineer and his
40-foot yacht, Tenacious. They are also distributing posters of Gray and his boat at Mexican marinas.
"There were supplies on the boat and Jim's an able sailor," said friend Mike Olson. "It's entirely possible he could still be out there."
Gray, whose pioneering research on databases paved the way for innovations such as automated teller machines and online shopping, set out from San
Francisco late last month to scatter his mother's ashes around the Farallon Islands, about 25 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Coast Guard scoured some 132,000 square miles of the Pacific over four days without finding a trace of Gray or his boat. The agency looked as far
south as the Channel Islands, just off Santa Barbara.
Weather and ocean-current data suggest that Gray likely would have traveled south, whether he sailed that direction or drifted, Olson said.
"The experts at the Coast Guard tell us we almost certainly would have seen debris if (Gray) went down," Olson said. "It's likely the boat's still
above water."
Searchers are also using technology developed by online retailer Amazon.com to enlist more than 6,000 volunteers to examine about 100,000 digital
photographs taken from space covering nearly 3,500 square miles of ocean.Dave - 2-8-2007 at 04:20 PM
Probably in Davy's locker. Microsoft has the means to scour every inch of ocean... in real time. My guess is a container or other large vessel got
him.tim40 - 2-8-2007 at 05:35 PM
Tend to agree.... I have been following this news story from start, and unless I missed it, I have not read/heard any reason he would put his family
in such pain if he where able to do otherwise.bajajudy - 2-8-2007 at 05:56 PM
How long has he been missing?
Was he single handing? If so, I would tend to agree with Dave. You have to sleep and those big guys cant see a 40 footer.Hook - 2-8-2007 at 06:14 PM
Definitely a seasoned guy. Odd that the EPIRB hasnt activated.
Could have been a peeed off grey whale, too. One sank a private boater off Morro Bay a few years back.
[Edited on 2-9-2007 by Hook]Crusoe - 2-8-2007 at 06:38 PM
I also agree........I to have been folowing this story since the begining. You are just so vulnerable when singlehanding, especially a 40 ft. C~C fin
keel design. So much large comercial shipping traffic near the approaches to S.F. Bay. It can get wild after dark with limmited visability and if you
have electrical problems with runnng lights etc., etc....Things can deteriorate fast.There always is and can be the smallest of miracles. Lets pray he
and his vessel will turn up unharmed.oxxo - 2-8-2007 at 06:40 PM
>How long has he been missing?
Almost a couple of weeks.
>Was he single handing?
Yes
>You have to sleep and those big guys cant see a 40 footer.
He just went out to the Farallons for a daysail. Apparently the weather was good and clear.
It is very puzzling.Hook - 2-8-2007 at 06:43 PM
Wouldnt you think there would be some wreckage if it was a large container ship? The search started pretty quick.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- The Mexican navy is aiding in the search off the country's Pacific coast for a Microsoft Corp. engineer who disappeared
after sailing out of San Francisco, California, last month.
In a news release issued late Thursday, the department said it was offering its services "as part of its duties to protect human life on the seas."
The release did not say if either the U.S. government or friends of 63-year-old Jim Gray had requested the help. A Navy spokesman told The Associated
Press on Friday that no additional information was available.
Gray, whose pioneering research on databases paved the way for innovations such as automated teller machines and online shopping, set out from San
Francisco last month to scatter his mother's ashes around the Farallon Islands, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The U.S. Coast Guard called off its search after scouring about 132,000 square miles (342,000 square kilometers) of the Pacific over four days without
finding a trace of Gray or his 40-foot (12-meter) yacht, Tenacious.
Gray's friends, including fellow engineers, have been combing satellite images of Mexico's Baja California coast for any sign of him. They also are
distributing posters of Gray and his boat at Mexican marinas.
Gray's friend Mike Orson said weather and ocean-current data suggest that Gray likely would have either sailed or drifted south.bajajudy - 2-9-2007 at 04:54 PM
As for the container ship theory. I have seen them come into port with rigging dangling from the anchor. They never knew that they hit anything.
Very sad story. I hope that it has a happy ending but two weeks is a long time. The EPIRB certainly should have activated.Dave - 2-9-2007 at 05:28 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by bajajudy
The EPIRB certainly should have activated.
Depends on what category and where mounted.
A container ship could slice up a boat and send it to the bottom in less than 30 seconds.
[Edited on 10-2-2007 by Minnow]Crusoe - 2-9-2007 at 06:13 PM
Not so fast Dave.......He's only been missing 12 days so far. Granted..... the odds are not in his favor right now, but it is possible he could be
bobbing along either in his life raft or on his disabled vessel and unable to send out any signals.Lots of times the Coast Gaurd has rightfuly given
up on searchs for vessels and due to unpredictable current directions and wind force, vessels can turn up from Micronesia to Alaska to the Hawaiian
Islands to Costa Rica, much to everyones total amazement months and months later sometimes with people aboard, and hanging on by the skin of their
wits.This man is very clever and doing what most likley is his real passion in life and has a strong will to survive.Lets hope he turns up rescued
and alive!!!.......and Minnow....... What about the poor whale?? Something sure wrecked his day!! He's gotta have a headache after that one!!Minnow - 2-9-2007 at 06:31 PM
That whale might have well as had "tenacious" written across his back>BajaNomad - 2-10-2007 at 12:58 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Crusoe
This man... has a strong will to survive.
Actually, when he first disappeared, many thought this may not be
the case since he had gone out to spread his mother's ashes at sea - an event that could have easily triggered any sort of unexpected emotions and
impulsive reactions as a result of those emotions.
One can get VERY introspective when alone - and I'd imagine that's multiplied incredibly when alone on the ocean.
--
DougCrusoe - 2-10-2007 at 01:41 PM
Thanks Doug.........For writing the unspeaksble. Yes--Personal introspection when all alone can rear its head in many forms.Lets hope he is found
alive and well!!BajaNews - 2-10-2007 at 04:54 PM
Jim Gray's sailing vessel Tenacious - from the San Francisco USCG web site:
Jeez, what a fugly plastic boat! capt. mike - 2-11-2007 at 06:51 AM
who's to say this wasn't a ruse to escape, disappear from all??
been done before.
my EPIRB won't go off unless I activate it manually. and it has internal GPS, tells rescue where it/I am constantly.
this is why i would never sail alone - no help, jeez the thot of a container ship eating you up without a care dead of night...........gives me the
willies.bufeo - 2-11-2007 at 10:35 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by capt. mike...my EPIRB won't go off unless I activate it manually. and it has internal GPS, tells rescue where it/I am
constantly....
That's the type we had on our trawler (Santa Barbara Marina), and I was in the process of up-grading to the auto type when we sold the boat.
For anyone interested here's a LINK to Emergency Position Indicating Beacons and their types.
There is also a web site regarding "help find Jim Gray" HERE.
I've sailed and motored up and down both U.S. coasts, the N. Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Don't think I'll speculate in this case. Too many
variables.Minnow - 2-11-2007 at 10:45 AM
Man that picture in front of the Casino brings back memories. I spent every summer on Catalina from the time I was old enough to remember till about
14. Mini golf, salt water taffy, under sea gardens, flying fish, Buffalo. My family used to fly over on our twin beech. Anyone ever land at that
airstrip? Cliffs at both ends. What great times. I hope mr. gray turns up somewhere, somehow I doubt it though.Bob and Susan - 2-11-2007 at 11:02 AM
susan and i spent alot of summer weekends there too...
a couple rows back with the smaller boats...
we always watched movies in the evening at the casino..
motored over in our dingy
that's a pretty big sailer...
an ex-mayor of catalina stays in mulege every winter...
susan's at their house EVERY night...eating...and remembering
small world
hope he's found safe...
Fugly Plastic Boat ?
MrBillM - 2-12-2007 at 09:49 PM
The Boat doesn't look that bad. Ugly Paint job, though. Don't knock those Plastic boats. I've had many friends, including a next-door neighbor who
made the Mistake of realizing their dream and buying a Classic Wooden Sailboat. In the case of my neighbors, they sold their 30ft.
Newport (Plastic) Sloop and bought a Cheoy Lee Wooden Schooner built in the 50s. As the wife put it "we used to go out sailing every weekend. Now we
go down and work on the boat". After three years of restoration and maintenance, they sold it and bought another "Plastic" Sloop.
Back in 1992, I was in Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor with a leased Hunter Legend 35.5. The couple in the next berth had a brand-new Hunter Vision 36.
Their first comment on the Legend was that "it had too much wood". One of the deciding factors when they bought the Vision to keep in the BVIs was
the lack of Wood to maintain.
Speaking of the Avalon Casino, I spent many, many weekends and vacations (Summer and Winter) on Catalina from 1956-1959 as an 11-14 year old kid. My
father was a Fishing Fanatic and almost always took me along to do the grunt work and fish cleaning. The upside was that he would give me money in
the evening to go to the movies while he and his friends drank in the bars. During the summer, of course, the theater in the Casino was open, but
during Fall to Spring, they would close and there was a smaller theater on the waterfront at the other end of town. It's still there, but it's a shop
of some sort now. Avalon was a Ghost town during the Dead of Winter. Today it's packed no matter what the time of year. I wandered just about every
street in that town.
Much later, in the 1970s, I landed a few times at the hilltop airport. It was a strip that made you pay attention to your instruments. Coming in off
the water, you had a distorted perception of your altitude relative to the Airport. Part of that, I was told by one of the airport staff, was that
the runway had a slight "hump" in it. Another Airstrip which had a "Hump" (at the near end) was runway 8 at Twentynine Palms. At one time, one of
the local pilots (as a result of "Hard" landings ) made up some T-Shirts that read "I HATE EIGHT". On the few times I used it, I shared the feeling.Crusoe - 2-13-2007 at 10:00 AM
My older brother and I use to fly over to Avalon in the 50's from Long Beach Airport to meet my dad and his fishing buddies, in the Grumman Gooses.
Landing on the water in those planes was the biggest thrill for me.I thought they were perfect rigs and always would wanted to build one out of wood.
Avalon was lots of fun for kids in those early days. "Dead in the Winter" is putting it mildly Bill M..... Thanks for the nostaligaBajaNomad - 2-13-2007 at 11:23 AM
Note the PDF "poster" for distribution and posting in Mexico from the helpfindjim website noted previous:
And requested contact email if you've posted one of these somewhere:
search.jimgray+posters@gmail.comDave - 2-13-2007 at 12:45 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
The Boat doesn't look that bad. Ugly Paint job, though. Don't knock those Plastic boats. I've had many friends, including a next-door neighbor who
made the Mistake of realizing their dream and buying a Classic Wooden Sailboat.
Bow entry......ugly
Toe rail.....ugly
Paint job.....way ugly
Reverse transom......fugly
The reference to plastic was because it is. I wouldn't own a wood boat.
There are lots of good looking plastic boats. This ain't one of them.Bob and Susan - 2-13-2007 at 01:28 PM
it's not about looks...
it's about performance...
I would have been single a looong time ago if it was about looks
I've seen worse, BUT.........
MrBillM - 2-13-2007 at 05:40 PM
Beauty is as beauty does. I'll agree that it's not the best looking sloop.
I've sailed many boats in the mid 30 foot range (I'm sure others have sailed more) and each had its merits. The Best sailing boat was an Oday 34, but
I wouldn't have owned it. Typical forward-Head config. In 1991, I chartered a Beneteau Oceanis 350 for two weeks down in Tortola. A Great sailing
boat, too, but pricey to own and too much Teak below. Another couple came along and it was immediately apparent it was too small a boat for four
people. In 1992, my wife and I went back alone and chartered a Hunter Legend 35.5. An excellent, powerful sailer, but you could see where they saved
money.
My favorite boat in the class if I were going to own and live aboard often ? The Catalina 34. GREAT interior layout. In my opinion, The most
comfortable in the class. It is, no doubt, the slowest sailing boat of the bunch, but you'll be happier when you drop the hook. I would have rented
one in the BVIs, but there were none around in those days. Right after that, they went to the shallower-draft keels to make them more popular for
charter boats in the tropics.
[Edited on 2-14-2007 by MrBillM]
Okay, that settles it
oxxo - 2-14-2007 at 12:39 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
I spent many, many weekends and vacations (Summer and Winter) on Catalina from 1956-1959 as an 11-14 year old kid.
I already knew I was smarter and better looking than MrBillM, now I know I'm older too!comitan - 2-14-2007 at 01:27 PM
Dave
I can't believe what I am hearing, the C&C 40 is an old IOR design it was built for racing and cruising, it has fine lines and is a beautiful
boat, Many years ago I was crewing on one coming back from the Farallon Is. winged out with the jib and we were doing 13 knots in fact someone took a
picture of the knotmeter they also got a picture of me which was shown extensively around the Bay because I was green around the gills.
Ah, Catalina, the Island of Romance
Sharksbaja - 2-14-2007 at 02:08 PM
Sure is fun to visit, fun to play, fun to reminisce. Try living on that rock for 4 yrs. Talk about small town mentality. Watched the whole place
suffer severely from weekend warriors and loco big-game big-egoed hunters over the years. Got my first pink abalone when I was eight or nine yrs old there.
Used to be abs, bugs, barracuda bla bla bla everywhere. Used to watch night-checkout-divers take whatever they wanted with no problem from the
skipper or divemasters.
It's no wonder there's a moratorium on damn near everything there. It was a good experience and really enjoyed it for a while. Good thing Baja isn't
accessable.
endofrant
Comi- I have sailed on those. I find 13 knots extremely fast for that rig.Dave - 2-14-2007 at 03:13 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by comitan
Dave
I can't believe what I am hearing, the C&C 40 is an old IOR design it was built for racing and cruising.
The C&C 33 was the best looking modern racer I ever saw. IMO, the 40' looks like a pig. Don't doubt that it's fast, though.comitan - 2-14-2007 at 03:40 PM
Sharks
You Southern Calif. Sailors don't know what wind is, we would have been flying the shute if we could have. I have done 12 knots in my Newport 30 not
possible in So.Cal.? Now if anyone wants to question my sailing credentials its too much to be posting here but is very verifiable one of my biggest
accomplishments is being the originator of the Silver Eagle Long Distant race on San Francisco Bay that I started in 1976, Google it, It won't say
who, but email Island Yacht Club they will tell you.
Oxxo the Elder ?
MrBillM - 2-14-2007 at 05:26 PM
I'm one week short of 62, but they say you're as old as you feel.
By that standard, many days I'm 80 or so.
I've never sailed SF Bay and never had any desire to do so. I approached sailing as a pleasant pastime, not a challenge. One of the reasons that I
never participated in any racing events. Subscribing to Latitude 38 for years, I saw and read enough to know it wasn't my idea of sailing. I once
met a couple in Chula Vista who were retreiving a New F27 Trimaran they had taken out on her maiden voyage with the dealer that sold it. He was an
Airline Pilot based in the SF area. His wife said that a normal day on the bay was one with the main double-reefed. She had convinced him to buy the
F27 because she wanted something that sailed flatter.Crusoe - 2-14-2007 at 05:39 PM
Any word on "Tenacious" and Cappy Gray yet??
Technologists Apply Tools Of The Trade In Search For Jim Gray
Volunteers use satellite imaging and ocean surface modeling in their quest to find Microsoft's missing database guru.
By Charles Babc-ck
InformationWeek
Feb 10, 2007
Silicon Valley continues its search for Microsoft researcher Jim Gray, who hasn't returned from a Jan. 28 solo trip in his 40-foot sailboat off San
Francisco. In the effort to find him, technologists are using the latest tools, some of which Gray himself helped develop: advanced satellite imaging,
ocean drift modeling, and large database searching techniques.
Within days of his disappearance, the U.S. Coast Guard ran grid searches by ship and air over 132,000 square miles of ocean from the Channel Islands
off Los Angeles to Humboldt Bay in Northern California. Unable to find any sign of Gray's red-hulled Tenacious or debris that might indicate a wreck,
the Coast Guard discontinued its search on Feb.1.
The odds get longer each day, but a network of colleagues, peers, and acquaintances has picked up where the Coast Guard left off. Jim Frew, an expert
at using satellite imagery in environmental science and an associate professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and others quickly
concluded that with the right imagery and enough eyeballs, a 40-foot boat could be found on the ocean. In addition, Gray's boat has a standard piece
of equipment for Bay Area sailors, a pie-plate-like radar reflector, good for alerting container ships to a sailboat's presence. That could yield a
characteristic signature if it comes within range of a radar satellite, potentially functioning as a second data source, they reason.
IMAGES, DRIFT
On the day before the Coast Guard search ended, Joseph Hellerstein, a computer science professor at the University of California at Berkeley,
established a Web site devoted to the ongoing civilian effort, and researchers at the Ames Research Center, a NASA unit at Moffett Field in the
valley, persuaded a high-altitude aircraft pilot to change his flight plan and take high-resolution imagery of the search area. And, at the request of
the group and the Coast Guard, DigitalGlobe, a satellite imaging company, redirected its satellites to capture more imagery of the search area.
One of the people volunteering to help is Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon.com, who has written several research papers with Gray. Vogels arranged for
satellite images to be uploaded to Amazon, where its engineers subdivided the huge images into smaller 400-by-400-pixel tiles that were posted to
Amazon's Mechanical Turk site, which divvies up routine tasks among many people. Twelve thousand volunteers viewed blown-up versions of the tiles and
in a few days inspected all of them for objects that might be a boat.
Coordinating that effort was Oracle VP Mike Olson, a veteran open source project leader and a friend of Gray's. As the image review proceeded, Olson
found other volunteers at the Jet Propulsion Lab to apply the latest ocean surface modeling techniques to data obtained from a buoy dropped by the
Coast Guard. Their objective: to determine where a boat might drift under prevailing conditions. Olson, in a Feb. 8 Web site posting, called the work
done by the image and drift teams unprecedented and said it produced valuable information.
Based on the modeling, the Coast Guard went out again to search the shoreline north of San Francisco and Drakes Bay. If Gray had gotten into trouble
in San Francisco's northern offshore shipping lane, the model indicated, the boat or debris would wash ashore in that area. If he were drifting south,
he would be far offshore and driven by the wind, it showed. Private planes headed south.
Thus far, they have come up empty handed. The search for Jim Gray continues.BajaNews - 2-22-2007 at 04:40 PM
Since January 28, the San Francisco police, the Coast Guard and Jim’s friends and family have conducted an extensive search to find him and his
sailboat, Tenacious, off the California coast. I want to summarize the status of that search here, so that the broad volunteer community that’s done
so much knows where we stand.
The Coast Guard’s air and surface search covered 132,000 square miles in the days immediately following Jim’s disappearance. This search was thorough:
Planes, boats and helicopters covered much of the region repeatedly. Radio broadcast alerts were made for a week, and all marinas and harbors were
canvassed repeatedly. It found no trace of Tenacious or Jim.
During the Coast Guard search and in the days that followed it, Jim’s friends and family assembled satellite imagery, collected wind and current data
and arranged for more air and surface searches over the ocean and coast from Oregon and into Mexico. We have walked stretches of coastline and have
postered marinas with details on the missing boat. The story has drawn attention from around the world.
Based on our knowledge of the boat and weather conditions, we do not believe that Tenacious could have outsailed our search, whether it was under
power, adrift, sailing under autopilot, or even sailing at best possible speed. We have covered an enormous area.
In the last several days, the Friends of Jim group has reviewed all the data with Coast Guard officials. The fact is that we have no evidence as to
what has happened to Tenacious or to Jim Gray. Neither we nor the Coast Guard can come up with a surface search plan that is likely to find either
Tenacious or Jim, given everything that has been done already.
Accordingly, the Friends of Jim group is suspending its active effort to find Tenacious that has been centered here at the blog. For both the Coast
Guard and the Friends of Jim, “suspension” means that the active search has been discontinued due to exhausting all present leads and the lack of new
information. Of course, should we or the Coast Guard receive any new information, we will investigate it.
Understandably, Jim’s family is determined to continue to seek answers, but they deserve to be able to pursue them privately. The family deeply
appreciates everything the Coast Guard and Friends of Jim have done.
Jim’s wife Donna asked me to add this statement of thanks from her on behalf of the family:
--------
On behalf of our entire family, I would like to thank every individual and organization who helped, and is continuing to help, in a long and difficult
search. As the search takes on a new direction, I want you to know that your faith, hard work and boundless creativity sustain us during this
unbearable time.
Jim is very lucky to have you as friends and colleagues, and we are very lucky and grateful to have your support.
Below, in the previous post to the blog, we have posted recent photos of Jim, photos of Tenacious at anchor and under sail, and an email address where
you can send any information that could help us with our search. Coast Guard and San Francisco Police contact numbers are also listed.
The e-mail address is: search.jimgray@gmail.com.
The Coast Guard contact number is: (415) 399-3547.
The San Francisco police department contact number is: (415) 553-1071.
Thank you, one and all, for this amazing effort to find our Jim.
--------
[Edited on 2-22-2007 by BajaNews]Crusoe - 2-23-2007 at 10:33 AM
BajaNews.......Thanks so much for such a precise report. This total dissappearance with absolutely no wreckage or trace of any sign of him goes into
the "very strange but true drawer". Many condolonces to his family and loved ones. So Sad
Any NEWS ? Can't seem to find anything now. >f<
Got my first pink abalone when I was eight or nine yrs old there.
