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52-year-old Josiah Victor Hoffman set sail in a 32-foot sailboat on January 3rd and was supposed to arrive in Ocean Spring, Mississippi. When he didn’t show up on schedule his wife notified authorities.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Lehmann says an aerial search Tuesday was unsuccessful. Early this morning an offshore supply vessel the Cajun Courage received a message from Hoffman. The Coast Guard was notified and Hoffman and his sailboat were towed to Grand Isle, LA.
Lehmann says Hoffman’s boat became disabled over the weekend.
“On Sunday Mr. Hoffman experienced a storm just outside of Louisiana that made his rudder inoperable. Upon discovery of this he moored himself outside Marsh Island in Louisiana.”
Petty Officer Lehmann says one reason this search ended successfully was because Hoffman had a “float plan“.
“The fact that his wife knew where he was taking off from and when he was supposed to arrive and the day he was supposed to arrive helped us narrow the search down from the entire Gulf of Mexico to a specific sail track.”
Lehmann says Hoffman was not injured and is in good shape.