Family seeks missing sailor's body off Grays Harbor

John Phillip Stapp's two sons, John Phillip Stapp Jr. of Stanwood and William Stapp of El Paso, Texas, are headed to Grays Harbor to search the beaches.

They hope to recover their father's body and lay him to rest next to their mother in Bothell Cemetery.

The elder Stapp is missing and presumed dead after his sailboat apparently ran into rough seas off the coast of Washington last month.

The body of his 47-year-old sailing companion, Teri Dascher of Kingston, washed ashore in Grayland, Grays Harbor County, on Oct. 23.

Remnants of Stapp's boat, a 25-foot Coronado named Connie B., were found nearby and police are asking beachcombers to look out for more.

"It's pretty clear the boat suffered a catastrophic event," said Grays Harbor Undersheriff Rick Scott.

The missing man's mother, reached by phone at her Madison, Ala., home, said her son and Dascher had been sailing down the coast on their way to California.

They had been at Long Beach, Pacific County, and then at Westport, where sheriff's detectives discovered they had purchased items to repair the boat, Elenita Stapp said.

"He'd called me sometime earlier this month to tell me that he'd just been through a storm. He said it was a little scary, but he'd managed to get the boat back to safety," she said. "I didn't think much of it because he'd been through rough waters before."

She said investigators told her that a storm hit the coast late on Oct. 22.

"It produced a tidal surge so bad they closed all the beaches to beachcombers," she said. "It wasn't even safe to walk on."

The next day, Dascher's body was found and the Coast Guard launched a rescue effort using helicopters and searchlights.

The mission was called off at nightfall on the 24th.

"They said that probably no one could survive in that icy water more than two hours," she said.

She said police believe her son may have been heading his sailboat for the relative shelter of Willapa Bay.

Phil, or Phil Sr., as he was known, grew up "all over the place," his mother said, but he visited his maternal grandparents, Clifford and Marie Royer in Seattle, as often as possible.

He fell in love with sailing when he was about 7 years old and his father bought a boat. The two of them learned to sail it together on Lake Lanier in Atlanta.

Stapp once lived in Mill Creek but began to live on his boat at marinas throughout Puget Sound after his wife, Cara, died in 1995.

For many years, Stapp worked as a mechanic for a Chevrolet dealer in Bothell and most recently he was a handyman at Skol Properties & Investments in Lynnwood.

In addition to sailing, Stapp loved the night sky and everything to do with it. He was fascinated by NASA and could name most every constellation, his mother said.

Earlier this year, he wrote his mother an e-mail extolling the virtues of the sea.

"Oh, beautiful sailing today! Had Dolphins swimming to the boat for several hours. It was awesome!"

His family is making peace with his death, his mother said.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com