Missing Haddam Boater Found Dead

Francis Closter III, 63, of Little Meadow Road in Haddam, who had been missing since his 34-foot sailboat was discovered floating off the coast of Long Island early this morning, was found dead in Long Island Sound Friday afternoon.

According to state police Lt. J. Paul Vance, the Connecticut State Police Marine Unit found Closter at about 2:30 p.m. "in the water off Long Island Sound," and his body was transported to the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner for an autopsy. 

The U.S. Coast Guard, the state Department of Environmental Protection and rescue crews from Madison, Westbrook and Clinton had searched the 60-degree waters off Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison for Closter since the early hours of Friday morning.

The Coast Guard is still investigating why Closter's 35-foot sailboat, the Jagular, was found floating with no one aboard at the docks of ConocoPhillips on Long Island's north shore at about 5:30 a.m. Friday. The Connecticut DEP is also conducting an investigation.

According to the Coast Guard, the boat was spotted unmoored, with the sails up, electronics running, and the boat owner's wallet and glasses aboard.

The Jagular "appeared from the GPS that it might have went into a circle pattern at an unknown time closer to the Connecticut side of the Long Island Sound," according to Lt. David Lessard of the Riverhead, NY, Police Department. "Then it started tracking from northeast back to our location."

Lessard said no foul play is suspected at this time.

Col. Kyle Overturf, the head of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Conservation Police, said initially, the search was hampered by the foggy weather, which reduced visibility and prevented rescuers from launching a helicopter.

"The Riverhead police along with the Coast Guard were able to determine from the course plotter on the sailboat that he came down the Connecticut River and made it to somewhere between here [Hammonasset] and Kelsey Point in Clinton and there the boat began to circle," Overturf said.

Overturf said the Coast Guard was notifed around 6 a.m. that there was a boater missing. At 5:30 a.m. the police department in Riverhead, NY, on Long Island had found a 34-foot sailboat washed up against an oil farm, where oil tankers dock.

According to authorities, Closter's wife told police he had left the marina at Midway Marine in Haddam at 5 p.m. on Thursday and was headed to Clinton, west of the mouth of the Connecticut River, where he had a mooring.

Boats from the Clinton and Westbrook volunteer fire departments helped in the search, which initially focused on the many breakwalls in the area Closter's boat went adrift. 

Roy Guile, a customer at Midway Marine, said he didn't know Closter personally, but saw him and his sailboat at the marina recently.

"If he was heading to Clinton, he shouldn't have ended up east of the Connecticut River," Guile said as he worked on his sailboat's mast at the marina Friday afternoon.  "But if you have mechanical problems or lose control with winds and the tides, you could end up almost anywhere."