Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
National

Adventure-seeking B.C. couple were victims found on Nova Scotia island: relative

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 25 Jul, 2024 02:51 PM
  • Adventure-seeking B.C. couple were victims found on Nova Scotia island: relative

The British Columbia couple whose remains recently washed ashore on Nova Scotia's remote Sable Island have been identified as 70-year-old James Brett Clibbery and his 54-year-old wife, Sarah Packwood.

Clibbery’s sister, Lynda Spielman, said Tuesday the RCMP had confirmed their identities.

Spielman, a Calgary resident, said she's heard many theories about what happened to the adventurous couple after June 11 when they left Halifax harbour in a 13-metre sailboat en route to the Azores.

Spielman declined to speculate on what went wrong during what was intended to be a 3,200-kilometre voyage to the Portuguese archipelago, and the Mounties have said they are still investigating.

On Monday, the RCMP confirmed they had identified Clibbery's body with the help of the province's medical examiner's office, but they declined to release his name, citing privacy legislation.

The Mounties previously confirmed the couple's sailboat, Theros, was reported missing on June 18. But it wasn't until July 10 — nearly a month after they set sail — that their bodies were found in a three-metre inflatable boat on Sable Island, about 280 kilometres southeast of Halifax. 

The Theros has yet to be found. A spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which investigates marine accidents, said the agency is still gathering information about the boat's disappearance.

Clibbery and Packwood, who lived on B.C.'s Salt Spring Island, described themselves as adventure travellers. They routinely posted details of their trips on a YouTube channel called "Theros Sailing Adventures."

The channel features videos showing sailing trips that extend from Canada's west coast to the Panama Canal, and from Central America to the Maritimes. The smiling pair can often be seen on the open ocean aboard their two-masted GibSea yacht, which featured an electric motor powered by solar panels.

“Yes they were quite a pair and will be missed,” Spielman said in an email “Theros Sailing Adventures really document their lives almost from the day they met. They will always be present with their YouTube videos. Real characters.”

In a short video posted on June 8, Packwood included images of the sailboat at the yacht club in Dartmouth, N.S., across the harbour from Halifax, where she said the couple were preparing for their "Green Odyssey" adventure.

"All being well and weather permitting, the captain and I intend to set sail in the next day or two for an ocean crossing," Packwood's message says. "I will endeavour to document our experiences along the way and will be able to publish videos when we reach land." 

The video shows the exterior of the sleek sailboat and concludes with the message, "See you on the other side," superimposed on a partly cloudy sky.

On June 11, Clibbery posted a video on Facebook showing him at the helm of Theros as the boat was about 15 kilometres off Nova Scotia's south coast, heading to the southeast at 5.5 knots.

"We're sailing away," Clibbery says, the vast sweep of the blue North Atlantic in the background. "One big ship behind us, and that came out from Halifax behind us."

Spielman said Packwood's career had focused on relief work in Sudan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Africa, Asia and Latin America. As for her brother, she said Clibbery worked as a locomotive engineer for Canadian Pacific Railway and retired at 55.

Clibbery and Packwood first met in May 2015 at a bus stop in London, where Clibbery was undergoing tests before donating a kidney to his sister Glory, who at that time lived in the U.K.

Packwood, who was working in London at the British Department for International Development, recalled her first impression of the man. "I thought Brett was so handsome, like Robert Redford," she told the London-based Guardian newspaper in October 2020. "He was very interesting and chatty."

The pair discovered a shared passion for travel and their relationship blossomed. He proposed to her in the spring of 2016 while she was visiting his home on Salt Spring Island.

"He took me on my first ever yacht trip and I loved it," Packwood said. "Brett proposed to me in the main cabin of the boat."

Their sailing adventures started the following year.

Clibbery told the Guardian he was impressed by his wife's resourcefulness. “She is an amazing lady who never lets anything get in her way," he said. "Not even months of sea sickness when we went sailing."

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. politicians ask for audit of $3.86 billion North Shore water treatment plant

B.C. politicians ask for audit of $3.86 billion North Shore water treatment plant
A group of local politicians from B.C.'s Lower Mainland are asking the provincial auditor general to investigate how the cost of a wastewater treatment plant could balloon to $3.86 billion. The original cost of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2018 was $700 million and it was expected to open in 2020, but the Metro Vancouver regional district fired the contractor over construction delays in 2021. 

B.C. politicians ask for audit of $3.86 billion North Shore water treatment plant

Nanaimo man charged with gun offences

Nanaimo man charged with gun offences
The Canada Border Services Agency says a man from Nanaimo has been charged with nine counts of gun and drug-related offences. The agency says it launched an investigation after border officers inspected three firearm suppressors at the Vancouver airport between August and October 2022.

Nanaimo man charged with gun offences

Targeted shooting in Penticton

Targeted shooting in Penticton
Mounties in Penticton are asking for the public's help after a man was shot in the leg. They say officers responded to the call around 7 a-m yesterday, and the victim was brought to hospital.

Targeted shooting in Penticton

Attempted robbery at UBC

Attempted robbery at UBC
Mounties at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver are searching for a suspect after an attempted robbery with a weapon. Police say officers responded to an assault near the school's Rose Garden parking structure around 1:30 p-m yesterday, and found a victim suffering from non-life-threatening injuries.

Attempted robbery at UBC

Work pauses on Calgary water pipe after injuries; consumption continues to rise

Work pauses on Calgary water pipe after injuries; consumption continues to rise
Repairs to a fractured Calgary water pipe were paused Thursday after two workers were injured at the site, while the city's mayor pleaded with residents to step up their conservation efforts. Gondek said daily water use increased by another eight million litres on Wednesday.

Work pauses on Calgary water pipe after injuries; consumption continues to rise

Tech summit coming to Vancouver

Tech summit coming to Vancouver
Global technology conference Web Summit is headed to Vancouver next May. Destination Vancouver says it expects the event to generate 172-million dollars in direct spending and 279-million dollars in overall economic impact for B-C over three years.

Tech summit coming to Vancouver