CAMP LACUPOLIS, Minn. - A search is underway for a missing man after an unoccupied boat washed ashore Sunday on the Mississippi River.
Wabasha County Sheriff Rodney Bartsh says a bystander found the sailboat owned by 61-year-old Dave Sheridan running and with no one aboard at Camp Lacupolis on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border Sunday morning at about 9:30 a.m.
Camp Lacupolis is north of Wabasha, on the Mississippi River.
Sheridan is a veteran sailor and owner of a charter service called Sail Pepin, and the Breakwater Wine Bar. He was apparently taking his boat out for a Spring shakedown cruise Saturday night.
"The last contact with this gentlemen was last night at approximately 9:40 p.m.," Jim Warren, Chief Deputy of the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office, told KTTC TV. "He was going to take his boat out for a test run for the start of the season and take an overnight and sleep on the channel."
Sheriff Bartsh says the search for Sheridan hit the 28 hour mark as of 1:30 p.m. Monday. Crews are using sonar in the Mississippi and in Lake Pepin, but Bartsh says the search is complicated by the huge area where Sheridan could be. No foul play is suspected. The Minnesota State Patrol, Minnesota DNR, and Wabasha and Goodhue County Sheriff's Offices have all been searching by air and water. and boaters are asked to be on the lookout.
Dave Sheridan is described as approximately 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds, last seen wearing a green long-sleeved shirt and khakis..