SV Avrio, a UK registered yacht reported missing on 16 December 2019, was discovered late on Monday night (27 January, 2020) drifting off the north coast of Jamaica. The decomposing body of its British skipper Mark Brenan was on board.

Published 5 years ago

BoatWatch reports on their website that SV Avrio was reported missing by a concerned friend of the skipper in Grenada on 16 December 2019. He had observed SV Avrio departing Clarkes Court Marina on 06 December in the evening.

Skipper Mark Brenan had arrived in Grenada from Barbados on 02 December, and prior to that had crossed the Atlantic.  BoatWatch report that the crossing had been hard on both the inexperienced skipper and the boat, which had dirty fuel issues, no radio or cell phone and no dinghy (which was lost during the crossing). 

SV Avrio is a Halmatic 30, blue hull, with “TYC” on the stern for the Thurrock Yacht Club in Essex, UK.

On 19 December a vessel adrift was spotted by an SAR aircraft from RCC Curacao approximately 126 NM NNE of Aruba. 

This information was forwarded to JRSC San Juan who had seen the alert about the missing SV Avrio on Boatwatch.org and connected the dots. A request for assistance from ships in the area proved futile as there were none.

BoatWatch asked Chris Parker to conduct a drift analysis for SV Avrio based on the positions given by RCC Curacao which put the vessel somewhere to the north of Jamaica.

On 27 January, 2020, the US Coastguard sighted SV Avrio 71 NM from Ocho Rios, on the north Jamaica coast.

The Jamaica Coastguard were notified and arrangements were made to bring the yacht to Port Antonio in the NE of Jamaica.

Skipper Mark Brenan’s body was found on board. Jamaican authorities are investigating. 

Related Links: 

BoatWatch Report

British man on pleasure tour found dead on boat near Jamaica (Jamaica Observer)

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Noonsite has not independently verified this information.