A vessel has been found in the search for a solo sailor who went missing last week while en route to West Cork.

However, there is still no sign of its skipper, whose family have issued an appeal for any information as to his whereabouts.

As the Irish Examiner reports, Duncan Lougee set out from Plymouth on Sunday 18 June on his 25-foot fibreglass Varne folkboat Minke, with the hull number FB597, as part of the 2023 Jester Baltimore Challenge.

Lougee, in his late 60s, was last seen on Monday 19 June near the Helford River in Cornwall. His yacht has both and EPRIB and a personal locator beacon and neither has been activated.

Duncan Lougee’s 25-foot fibreglass Varne folkboat Minke

The Irish Coast Guard have been assisting in the search for the missing yacht and sailor alongside HM Coastguard and RNLI lifeboat crews, as RTÉ News reports.

On Thursday afternoon (29 June), it reported that the Waterford-based coastguard helicopter Rescue 117 was tasked to a possible sighting of Minke some 75 miles southeast of Ballycotton in Co Cork.

The IRGC added: “A crew member from R117 boarded the vessel and conducted a visual check. Unfortunately the missing skipper was not onboard. R117 has departed the scene.

“As the vessel is positioned in the UK Search and Rescue Region, the UK authorities are continuing to coordinate the operation.”

A message on behalf of Lougee’s family on social media says “any information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is desperately needed”.