Baltimore sailor hoping to shatter records goes missing after storm

A sailor who was hoping to break world records has gone missing during a storm off the coast of Mexico as authorities discovered his capsized boat.

Captain Donald Lawson, 41, set off from the coast of Acapulco on July 5 with plans of sailing to Baltimore, but just four days into his journey a “storm knocked out one of the engines,” his brother Quentin Lawson Senior, 39, told NBC News.

Due to engine failure, Lawson had to turn his boat Defiance back toward Mexico instead of heading toward the Panama Canal and eventually to the US.

The experienced sailor had to rely on wind generators, but just a few days later, he lost his backup wind turbine, his wife Jacqueline Lawson told WBAL.

By July 13, he lost all communication with his family and was 285 miles away from Acapulco, according to NBC News.

His boat tracker last recorded him traveling at 6 knots.

Quentin said his brother dramatically reduced his vessel’s speed late on July 12, going from 11 knots to under 3.

Quentin said his brother had turned course, going against the wind late into the evening.

“I believe something happened at that moment,” he told NBC News. “It doesn’t make sense to turn out of the wind into the wind, when you’re on emergency route to turn back.”

The US Coast Guard said the Mexican Maritime Search and Rescue team is leading search efforts for Lawson.

The Mexican Navy spotted a capsized boat on Tuesday, but have not been able to approach the vessel due to bad weather, the Baltimore Banner reported.

The Mexican Navy said they have not detected any flares or electronic messages coming from Lawson’s boat.

Lawson had a goal of wanting to break 15 world records and wanted to be the first African American to circumnavigate the globe alone on a vessel that was 60 feet or under. His boat measured 60 feet, according to NBC News.

Lawson told WBAL in April 2020 that he planned on sailing around the world in 70, 35 days shorter than the current American record.

The sailor, who helps black youths get into sailing, said he learned he wanted to do it after doing a children’s program.

“I went and asked the captain, ‘Hey, how far can you take on a boat like this?’” Lawson told WBAL. “He looked at me, and said, ‘Technically, you can sail it around the world.’ And that’s when the light bulb went off. I said — at 9 years old —  ‘I want to sail around the world.’”