RedactedNarrative: On Saturday March 7th, Operator departed Ft. Desoto in his 17ft sailboat heading south to Key Largo as part of the Everglades Water Tribe Challenge. 
  
    On March 8th at 12:44 am, Operator checked in at Check Point 1, while he was slightly northwest of Cape Haze Marina.
  
    On the morning of Monday March 9th, Operator's family and race officials noticed he was extremely off course. At 07:24 am Operator pressed the "I'm ok" button on his SPOT satellite messenger. After the SPOT failed to send an automated ping at 08:01 am Operators family became worried and at 10:46 am they contacted the Coast Guard. 
  
    The United States Coast Guard (USCG) conducted a search with various aircraft and vessels. At approximately 7:10 pm on the 9th, Operator's sailboat was found upright and drifting by a USCG helicopter. As they were lowering a rescue swimmer the helicopter's rotor wash capsized the sailboat. The rescue swimmer checked the sailboat and did not find Operator.  The helicopter continued to search without any success. A small boat from a USCG Cutter later relocated the sailboat and was able to re-right the sail boat. The search for Operator continued, unsuccessfully, until it was suspended at sundown on Friday March 13th.
  