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Couple found dead in lifeboat after attempting to cross the Atlantic

A couple living in Canada died while attempting to sail across the Atlantic.

According to a July 12 news release from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, investigators responded to reports of the human remains of two people found in a 10-foot inflatable boat that washed ashore in Sable Island National Park Reserve, a sandbar off the coast of Halifax.

On Monday, July 22, police issued an update announcing that the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service had officially identified one of the individuals as a 70-year-old man and that investigators were confident the other remains belonged to a 54-year-old woman. Both are from British Columbia.

Several outlets, including The guardCNN and the Vancouver Sunidentified them as Sarah Packwood, 54, and Brett Clibbery, 70.

James Brett Clibbery and Sarah Justine Packwood.

James Brett Clibbery/Facebook


According to police, the couple were first reported missing on June 18 after they left the coast of Nova Scotia in their 42-foot yacht. Theros Last week.

The couple had set off for the Azores – a group of Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 3,000 kilometers from their starting point – and were planning a 21-day trip. The guard reported that Clibbery’s GPS device was last spotted on June 13, about 40 miles southwest of Sable Island.

The life raft in which they were found probably belonged to their larger ship, according to the Sun.

Clibbery’s son James commented on the deaths of his father and stepmother in a post shared on Facebook on July 13.

“They were amazing people and there is nothing that can fill the void left by their unexplained deaths,” he wrote. “Life would not be the same without your wisdom and your wife quickly became a beacon of knowledge and kindness. I miss your smiles. I miss your voices. You will be missed forever.”

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The guard The couple and their relationship were already portrayed in 2020. According to the newspaper, the two met in Great Britain, where Packwood is originally from. Clibbery told her about his love of sailing and Theroswhere the couple later got engaged and married. In 2018, they moved to Canada together.

The couple also documented their travels on their YouTube channel, Theros Adventures, and said in April that they had modified the yacht themselves to rely on sails, solar panels, batteries and a car engine.

“We are doing everything we can to show that you can travel without burning fossil fuels,” Clibbery said in a video released on April 12. Sun.

“It’s probably the greatest adventure of our lives so far,” added Packwood.

According to police, the couple’s deaths are “not believed to be suspicious” and investigations are ongoing to determine what might have happened to the two. Theros.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that “an update will be issued if the investigation uncovers any criminal offenses.”