Coast Guard suspends three-day search for Laura Gainey

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- The U.S. Coast Guard's aerial search for the daughter of hockey great Bob Gainey was suspended Monday night, three days after she was washed overboard in the Atlantic during a storm while working on a sailing ship bound for the Caribbean.

Laura Gainey was on the deck of the tall ship Picton Castle on Friday night when a large wave swept her overboard. Petty Officer Larry Chambers said the U.S. Coast Guard's search about 475 miles off Cape Cod was on hold, but the Picton Castle would continue looking for her.

U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard aircraft had scoured the ocean for Gainey since Friday, Chambers said from U.S. Coast Guard district headquarters in Portsmouth, Va., where the search was being coordinated.

The U.S. Coast Guard continued to oversee a search Monday evening by a merchant vessel and the ship from which Gainey fell, Chambers said. The Canadian Coast Guard aircraft -- which had been swapping shifts with the U.S. Coast Guard -- also ended its search Monday.

The 25-year-old daughter of the Montreal Canadiens general manager was thrown from the 180-foot boat Friday night without a lifejacket.

The water temperature in that part of the mid-Atlantic is about 68 degrees. The U.S. Coast Guard said Gainey, a strong swimmer wearing protective clothing, probably could survive for about 36 hours. However, Chambers said, after 70 hours in the water "the likelihood of survivability" would "diminish rapidly."

"The reasonable time for survivability has already been expended," Chambers said Monday. "I just want to make clear that suspending a search is one of the most difficult decisions we can make."

Matthew Brooks, a civilian search and rescue specialist with the U.S. Coast Guard, said U.S. air rescuers used infrared night-vision goggles to search the dark waters late Sunday. American and Canadian search aircraft later dropped data buoys in the area.

"They talk to us via satellite, and they send us positions on the hour," Brooks said. "This is the best way to tell us how the water is moving."

Less than two weeks ago, the tall ship set sail from the Lunenburg for a six-month tour that would take it to the Caribbean. Gainey was a member of the crew, with responsibility for certain watches and instruction of volunteer trainees.

The ship's senior captain read a statement on behalf of the crew.

"They are tired and, like us, they are devastated," said Daniel Moreland, who was in the ship's home port of Lunenburg when Gainey was reported missing. "But they soldier on. They have a job to do. So do we."