Lost contact with Lawson along Mexico

Donald Lawson (USA), who has sights to set sailing speed records on his 60-foot trimaran, is overdue in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico. He has not been heard from since July 12.

Lawson’s Dark Seas Project had acquired the ORMA 60 Trimaran Mighty Merloe from Howard Enloe in April 2022, but a series of mishaps has delayed his initial plan of sailing solo and nonstop around the world, with a start date in February 2023 from Honolulu.

After recently incurring sail and equipment issues along Mexico, he had left Acapulco on July 5, 2023, bound for the Panama Canal and ultimately Baltimore to prepare for a single-handed world record attempt for circumnavigation on the trimaran this fall.

He first communicated on July 9 that he had been experiencing problems with his hydraulic rigging and was without engine power, relying solely on a wind generator. According to his wife Jacqueline in his last communication on July 12, he lost his wind generator due to a storm that day.

His last known position was detected July 13 at 1324 GMT (1:24 pm), updated through the Predict Wind App, at 12°13.475’N, 099°19.735’W.

The US Coast Guard has issued a AMVER report (Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System) to alert vessels within a 300-nautical mile radius of Lawson’s last known position.

Anyone with information should contact the US Coast Guard National Command Center at 202-372-2100.

Lawson sought to be the first American to attempt a trimaran record single-handed without stopping (only five sailors worldwide have attempted it). He and his wife launched the Dark Seas Project, in part, to bring visibility to African Americans in the sport of sailing. Lawson serves as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee chair for US Sailing.

Originally Groupama 2, Lawson’s boat was the last ORMA class trimaran to be built, launched in 2004 and winning five ORMA championships under skipper Franck Cammas. After serving as Oracle Team USA’s training platform for the 33rd America’s Cup in 2010, the VPLP designed 60-footer was sold to Enloe in 2014.

From its base in San Diego, Mighty Merloe was well known on the California offshore circuit, setting the Transpac Race record in 2017 of 04:06:32:30. Under Lawson’s care, the boat has run aground and incurred collisions along the California coast during his Dark Seas Project outreach program.

UPDATE: Lawson was singlehanding the boat, and when a storm knocked out his wind generator, he decided to return to Acapulco. His tracker shows this turn when contact was lost. No one has heard from him since July 13 when Defiant was detected 285 miles off Acapulco.