PORT ANGELES — Family of the two men who disappeared while on a fishing trip Friday scoured the beach and waters from Port Angeles to Neah Bay on Monday — and planned to continue their efforts indefinitely.
Peko Larsen, the father of Rob Larsen, who along with Brooke Bennett went missing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, has been searching extensively throughout the Freshwater Bay area, said Kim Jackson, Rob Larsen’s sister.
A group of about 20 searched the shore from Ediz Hook to west of the Lyre River, and they were joined by many boaters assisting the group, Jackson said.
“But so far we haven’t found anything,” she said.
Launched off Hook
Bennett, 39, and Larsen, 42, left in a 14-foot motorboat to fish off Ediz Hook at about 6 p.m. Friday.
About an hour later, Tammy Bennett spoke to her husband on the phone and he indicated he was fine.
“But she tried to contact him about a half-hour later and wasn’t able to,” Kim Jackson said.
The U.S. Coast Guard used the earlier call to track where the men were at the time — about 4 miles north of Freshwater Bay, Jackson said.
Tammy Bennett and her family joined Larsen’s family walking the beach between Port Angeles and Freshwater Bay.
Other groups were combing the beaches all the way to Neah Bay.
“We have a cousin out in Sekiu who is organizing all the boaters out there to search in the waters, too,” Jackson said.
“And we are working on contacting the Canadian Coast Guard to be sure that they are on the lookout to the north for any trace of them.”
Tammy and Brooke Bennett have four children and are raising a 17-month-old granddaughter.
Official search ended
The Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and Canadian Coast Guard ended their official search midday Sunday after they had begun scanning a 200-mile area of the Strait since about 11 p.m. Friday.
The families will continue looking for the two men, Kim Jackson said.
“We are so grateful to the community members who have continued to help us search,” she said.
Her brother was an experienced fisherman.
“He had been out salmon fishing and crabbing many times,” she said.
She said that his boat was also fully equipped with flares, life jackets and other safety equipment.
“Our mom [June] saw him not that long ago and knows for a fact he had the boat loaded with all that stuff,” she said.
As of Monday evening, no trace was found of either man, who work at Port Angeles Hardwood mill in west Port Angeles.
Boot found
“I found a boot while I was out on the boat, but I don’t believe it is my brother’s,” Jackson said.
“The search just so far has come up empty.”
The pair left to fish for salmon in the 14-foot, blue-and-green skiff which had a 50-horsepower motor and a windshield.
Anyone with information on the men’s or boat’s whereabouts is asked to phone the Coast Guard Group/Air Station in Port Angeles at 360-417-5840.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
