CG suspends search for 2 boaters

The Coast Guard has been searching the Gulf of Mexico for a father and son: Gerald Cook, 81, and Peter Cook, 55. They left Panama City, Fla., area on Feb. 13 and tentatively scheduled to arrive at Vero Beach on Feb. 18, according to the CG. The Cooks are traveling with four dogs on a 52-foot yellow steel vessel called Rome. The Cooks were planning to travel down the Gulf Coast from the Florida panhandle to the Okeechobee Waterway, which cuts across south Florida to the East Coast, according to Petty Officer Ayla Hudson in Tampa. The CG began searching after checking whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the intercoastal Okeechobee Waterway, had received any reports of the vessel. The search has covered more than 31,000 miles in the GoM since last Wednesday. Elisabeth Cook, 82, wife and mother of the missing men told TCPalm.com it was the Cooks’ first voyage on the recently purchased boat. They were bringing it to Vero Beach, near where the Cooks have lived for the past six years. (They were originally from Rhode Island.) She last talked to her husband Feb. 13, when they stopped at Port St. Joe, about 40 miles from Panama City. Gerald Cook was an oceanographer who worked with the Navy on ships and submarines across the world, TCPalm reported. (Source: Providence Journal 02/24/20) https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200224/coast-guard-in-florida-searching-for-father-and-son-from-ri UPDATE: CG officials are in the eighth day (Feb. 26) of searching for missing father-and-son boaters, Gerald and Peter Cook. “One thing we can never factor in is a person’s will to live,” said Petty Officer Jonathan Lally, CGuard spokesperson. “You can factor in all the other implements, but that person’s will to live is the unknown variable in the mathematical equation.” Lally said the Cooks’ float plan was playing a crucial role in the search. “Float plans are a key factor,” Lally said, adding it provided projected beginning, middle and end points they could coordinate their search around. UPDATE2: The CG suspended its search for two boaters, Gerald Cook, 81, Peter Cook, 55, and their four dogs, at sunset Feb. 26. The Cooks have been missing since Feb. 19, after they were reported overdue by family. Since the search began on Wednesday, CG air and surface units conducted over 56 searches covering more than 109,319 square nautical miles.