Donald Lawson and his Dark Seas Project was nothing if not ambitious. Lawson, 41, was preparing to set out to break at least 35 sailing records on his ORMA 60 trimaran, Defiant. 

Lawson is a professional sailor from Baltimore who hoped to become the fastest person to sail solo and nonstop around the world in a boat no longer than 60 feet. He also hoped to become one of the few African Americans to set world records in the sport of sailing. Lawson and his wife started the Dark Seas Project, an effort to promote more diversity in the sport of sailing. He is also the chairman of the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee for U.S. Sailing, the national governing body for the sport.

Lawson set off alone, on July 5, from Acapulco, Mexico, en route to his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, by way of the Panama Canal. His plan was to begin his solo circumnavigation, leaving from Baltimore, in October.

After eight days at sea, Lawson was last heard from on July 13. On July 24, a Mexican Navy plane spotted a capsized boat later identified as the Defiant, about 300 miles south of Acapulco. The U.S. Coast Guard dispatched a 210-foot patrol boat called the Active to assist in the search-and-rescue operation.

Sadly, Lawson was not found on his trimaran.  A sliver of hope remains, however.

The New York Times reports that when Mr. Lawson set sail from Mexico aboard the Defiant, the boat was equipped with a survival suit, a 12-foot dinghy and a life raft. The Mexican Navy found the survival suit and the dinghy during its search mission.

But as of Sunday, the Mexican Navy had not found the life raft after repeated searches in the area where the Defiant was found.

“I view this as encouraging news,” his wife Ms. Lawson said in her statement on Sunday. “I believe Donald used the life raft when the Defiant became disabled, and that he is still out there somewhere.”

She added that she and her family remained “hopeful and optimistic” that her husband would be found alive.