Coast Guard suspends search for missing sailor on voyage to Shanghai from San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- One of the world's top sailors remains missing, after his world-record attempt that began in San Francisco looks to have ended in tragedy.

Chinese sailor Chuan Guo holds the world record for sailing around the world solo and is a national hero in China.

Nine days ago, he left San Francisco. Guo was trying to sail to Shanghai in 20 days to claim a new record for crossing the Pacific on his own. But something happened, two days ago his team lost contact with him.

Coast Guard search crews have now located Guo's Trimaran several hundred miles west of Hawaii.

Helicopters dropped rescuers onto the vessel, the Qindao, China. They found a broken sail, Guo's personal belongings, and his life jacket, but no sign of the man.

Accomplished Bay Area sailor Peter Hogg was one of the last people to see Guo before he departed San Francisco. Hogg wanted to meet him, after hearing of his accomplishments at sea.

"Last summer he did the northeast passage, which is basically from the Atlantic across the top of the Russian Arctic to the Bering Sea, which had not been done before. So he was rapidly becoming a well-known sailor," Hogg said.

Guo's shore team tweeted, "We feel sorry we have to take his account in this way. We are devastated today and we hope he is still safe." His team also tweeted two theories for what might have happened. Neither is encouraging.