- Title: FRANCE: SEARCH FOR YACHTSMAN GERRY ROUFS CONTINUES
- Date: 17th January 1997
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 17, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. EXTERIOR OF VENDEE GLOBE CHALLENGE HEADQUARTERS 2. INTERIOR, MODEL YACHTS 3. POSTER WITH DETAILS AND PHOTOGRAPH OF GERRY ROUFS 4. EVENT SPOKESMAN PHILLIPPE JEANTOT TALKING ABOUT THE UNCERTAINTY OVER THE MESSAGE, AND WHETHER IT IS FROM GERRY ROUFS, AND THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO IDENTIFY THE POSITION. (FRENCH) 5. VARIOUS OF REPORTERS 6. JEANTOT SAYING THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO GET MORE PRECISE INFORMATION (FRENCH) 7. JEANTOT WITH REPORTERS Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 1st February 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City:
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA8W8FZ3BN1L0IB6BPKR9HT8DM7
- Story Text: Organisers of the Vendee Globe Challenge are cautiously optimistic that a VHF transmission received on Thursday (January 16) may have been that of Canadian yachtsman Gerry Roufs.
The Chilean navy stepped up air searches for the sailor, Gerry Roufs, after a military plane picked up a brief radio signal -- but no visual sign -- from a ship apparently 100 miles (160) northwest of Cape Horn.
Event spokesman Phillippe Jeantot told reporters in the Paris headquarters on Friday that bad weather had prevented any visual contact with Roufs, but the signal had given them hope that he was alive.
Roufs was part of the Vendee Globe around-the-world race. He disappeared somewhere between New Zealand, Chile and Antarctica in an area known for treacherous seas and currents.
The signal has raised some doubts amoungst Chilean naval officials who were given Rouf's last known position as 1,500 miles west of Cape Horn.
They say if the message came from the missing yachtsman, it raises the prospect that he had managed to sail 1,400 miles (2,040 km) across the South Pacific without being detected by satellite radar, search planes and ships of various nationalities.
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