A couple have been found dead in a lifeboat after attempting to sail across the Atlantic Ocean.
The bodies of Sarah Packwood, from the UK, and her Canadian husband Brett Clibbery washed up in the boat on a beach in Nova Scotia.
They were last seen six weeks ago when they left Canada in a 12.8m eco-friendly yacht, called Theros.
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They were heading to the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, “powered by the wind and sun,” they said online.
Searches including by plane had been underway after they failed to arrive or communicate.
Clibbery’s son James announced the couple’s deaths on Facebook.
“There is still an investigation, as well as a DNA test to confirm, but with all the news, it is hard to remain hopeful,” he said.
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“I am so very sorry to the people who were friends of them.
“They were amazing people, and there isn’t anything that will fill the hole that has been left by their, so far unexplained passing.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating.
One theory about what happened is that the small yacht was hit by a much larger ship.
The couple documented their adventures on Facebook and YouTube.
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They had been living in Salt Spring Island in the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia.
They had recently driven an electric vehicle across Canada on a trip they called ‘The Green Odyssey’.
On June 10 they posted a video saying they were heading on “our new adventure,’ from their home in Saltspring Island, British Columbia to Dartmouth Yacht Club, Nova Scotia.
“All being well, and weather permitting the Captain and I intend to set sail in the next day or two for an ocean crossing,” Packwood said.
The last video they shared was of them leaving Halifax on June 12.
In the video, taken aboard the yacht, Clibbery said they could see “one big ship on the horizon which came out from Halifax, so they’re out of our way. We’re sailing.”
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The couple said they met at the number 87 bus stop in London in 2015, and had “been travelling and co-creating adventures ever since.”
Experienced sailors, they had also completed the Camino de Santiago walk in Spain.
They had married in Canada on their yacht, and also held a Handfasting ceremony at Stonehenge in 2017.
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