- The racing yacht, Low Speed Chase.
Two Irish men are among four missing after they were swept overboard from their yacht off the coast of San Francisco last weekend.
The missing Irish sailors have been named as Cork native Alan Cahill, a resident of Tiburon, Ca., for many years, and his friend Elmer Morrissey from County Cork. It is believed that Mr. Morrissey was studying in the U.S. for the past year.
According to reports, Mr. Cahill is understood to be a married father-of-two and an experienced yacht race sailor, originally from Blarney in County Cork.
The Coast Guard pulled one dead sailor and three survivors from the ocean before standing down the search, this after covering more than 5,000 square miles of ocean in its search and rescue operation.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Irish consulate in San Francisco was liaising with the Coast Guard and providing assistance to the missing men's families.
The vessel "Low Speed Chase," a 38-foot racing sailboat with a crew of eight, was one of 49 yachts competing on Saturday in a race around South Farallon Island, part of a rugged, sparsely populated chain of islands offshore from San Francisco.
Officials said trouble began as the vessel rounded South Farallon Island on Saturday afternoon. A large wave initially swept four crew members into the ocean and when those remaining aboard tried to turn the craft around, another wave pushed the boat onto rocks, where it foundered. Local media said the second wave tossed three more people into the water.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Bay Area's tightly knit sailing community was reeling after what is one of the region's most catastrophic boating disasters in decades.
