Peter Farrell, 72, left Fire Island on October 13, 2019, aboard his 29-foot sloop Tally Ho! (a 1931 Atkin cutter with a dark blue hull and red sails) for a solo voyage to Jost Van Dyke with an intended stop in Bermuda. He had his dog Sunny with him and carried an EPIRB and a life raft; his communication appears to have been limited to VHF radio. Farrell was an experienced sailor and author who had made the route before.

Farrell missed a customary check-in after reaching Bermuda, and when weeks passed with no word his family reported him missing. The U.S. Coast Guard conducted an extensive search over hundreds of thousands of square miles using SAROPS modeling but found no trace of Farrell, Sunny, or the boat. The active search was suspended on November 15, 2019. Investigators later learned the vessel had recently been repainted and briefly renamed Blue Dog, a detail not initially clear. On March 20, 2020, the Tally Ho! s EPIRB activated about 1,200 nautical miles east of Norfolk, Virginia, but searches there turned up nothing.

What information might help fill gaps about Farrell s last known movements or sightings at sea?