A couple on a “green voyage” across the Atlantic were found dead in their lifeboat after being forced to abandon their wind and solar-powered yacht.
Sarah Packwood, 54, and Brett Clibbery, 70, of Warwick, were reported missing on June 18 after leaving Nova Scotia, Canada, a week earlier on their 42ft sailboat, Theros. They were headed to the Azores.
Last week, two bodies were found in a 10-foot (3-meter) life raft that washed up on Sable Island, 180 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia.
As the mystery of how the couple’s planned trip turned into tragedy remains, fears are growing that their reliance on a sail and an electric motor powered by solar panels could leave them without back-up power if things go wrong.
“We are doing everything we can to show that you can travel without burning fossil fuels,” Mr. Clibbery, from Canada, said in a video shared on April 12 before setting sail.
After her departure, Ms Packwood posted a farewell video message: “Captain Brett and First Mate Sarah set sail on leg 2 of The Green Odyssey on the Theros – GibSea 42ft sailboat. Powered by wind and sun. Heading east towards the Azores.”
Mrs Packwood, a poet, musician and reiki healer and described by friends as a master sailor, added: “This is probably the greatest adventure of our lives so far.”
Police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have launched an investigation into the deaths but have not ruled out accidental collisions, power outages, fires or suspicious circumstances.
The couple’s adventurous life began with a chance meeting at a bus stop in London in 2015.
They married on a yacht before holding a Celtic marriage ceremony known as “handfasting” at Stonehenge a year later. They then returned to Canada and bought a plot of land on Salt Spring Island near Vancouver.
Ms Packwood learned sailing at university in England and was a crew member on the Lord Nelson in the first leg of the Jubilee Sailing Trust’s European Long Distance Sailing Race.
He sailed 5,000 miles with Mr. Clibberry along the Pacific coast of Canada, the United States and South America.
Packwood previously worked as an aid worker in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.
The duo, who blogged about their travels, ran a YouTube channel to spread the word to friends, family and fans about their plans to convert the Theros into a fully solar-powered ship.
“I believe in the mystical and often feel like guardian angels are watching over us,” Packwood wrote on one of their trips together on the Camino Frances in Spain.
“We spent a year on the high seas together on Theros, sailing from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, through Central America, through the Panama Canal and across the Western Caribbean on the first leg of our world tour,” he wrote on his online blog about one of his voyages.
Their voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Theros was planned to be the first after the yacht was converted to fully environmentally friendly power.
With the help of Ms. Packwood, Mr. Clibbery converted the Theros into a self-contained solar-powered system by removing the diesel engine.
He installed six solar panels on the boat, which power a lithium battery pack and auxiliary electric motor.
Solar panels are attached to the roof of a steel frame, while side panels made of fiberglass and Plexiglas create a waterproof “hard escape” cabin.
Mr Clibbery explained how he carried out the transformation using hand tools and readily available DIY materials in a video posted on YouTube.
Some experts said adding solar panels and a battery pack would add weight to the yacht and potentially make it unstable. There were also concerns that salt water could cause the lithium battery pack to corrode and catch fire.
In her final message before the couple set sail on June 11, Ms Packwood wrote on Facebook: “If all goes well and the winds and seas are with us we aim to cross the ocean!”
At that stage the Theros was 10 nautical miles offshore, travelling at five and a half knots towards the Azores. Mr Clibbery said in the video that they were moving away from a large tanker leaving Halifax.
After Theros lost contact with the shore, friends began posting worried messages on her Facebook page.
Catherine Allison wrote: “The coastguard are keeping an eye on Theros. Fingers crossed they will do an AIS when they get within 150 miles of the Azores. [Automatic Identification system] “The ringing sound will be heard and we will all be able to breathe again.”
But after more than a month of silence, his friends’ worst fears were confirmed.
Since then, dozens of people have posted messages of condolence.
Tim O’Connor, 64, and John Dolman, 63, who have been friends with Mr Clibberly and Ms Packwood for years, described them as “two peas in a pod”.
“They were the kind of couple you’d see at a table and they always had something to say to each other instead of looking at their phones. They were always laughing together. They were one of the happiest couples we knew,” Mr Dolman said.
The couple said Clibberly’s son James had traveled from his home in Ontario to the island, where an event to celebrate their lives was planned.
“The past few days have been very difficult. My father James Brett Clibbery and his wife Sarah Justine Packwood have sadly passed away. There is still an investigation and a DNA test to confirm this but it is difficult to remain hopeful with all this news.
“They were wonderful people and there is nothing that can fill the void left by their hitherto unexplained death. Life will not be the same without your wisdom and your wife was fast becoming a beacon of knowledge and kindness. I miss your smiles. I miss your voices. You will be missed forever.”
It is not yet known how the couple got into trouble.
Coroners are carrying out a full examination of the remains of Ms Packwood and Mr Clibbery to determine if there are any signs of injury.
If the Theros is eventually salvaged, it will also be determined whether it was accidentally rammed by a larger ship or if a fire broke out on the ship and it was forced to abandon ship.
An experienced Nova Scotia sailor, understood to be close to the investigation, said on condition of anonymity: “They suspect, although they have no definitive proof, that the schooner whose crew was washed up dead on Sable Island was struck by a bulk carrier just a few days after leaving Halifax.
“The sailboat crew either failed to avoid the collision or they could have been below while Theros was on autopilot.”
“We cannot say for certain at this time that the sailing vessel was struck by a ship, as we are still gathering information regarding the overdue sailing vessel Theros,” said Hugo Fontaine, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
There is also speculation that fire, a common hazard on the ship, may have forced the ship to be abandoned.
The couple do not appear to have made any distress calls or fired any distress flares before their boat disappeared.
Guillaume Tremblay, public affairs officer for the Halifax Royal Canadian Mounted Police regional detachment, said “investigators are looking at all possible avenues.”
Trooper Tremblay said the couple may have gotten into trouble in the dangerous waters off the coast of Nova Scotia.
“The Atlantic Ocean can be very unfavorable with the current weather and weather cycles, especially with hurricanes coming in from the south, so there’s definitely a lot of impact and negativity on ocean liners,” he said.