The father of one of four yachtsmen missing in the Atlantic Ocean has pleaded for the search for them to be resumed saying the sailors needed to be "given a chance".
David Bridge told Sky News he was "devastated" to hear the US Coastguard had called off the rescue mission on Sunday due to treacherous weather conditions.
He said the group had set off a personal locator beacon suggesting the group were in a life raft.
Contact with Andrew Bridge, 21, James Male, 23, Steve Warren, 52, and Paul Goslin, 56, was lost in the early hours of Friday while they were diverting to the Azores.
The overturned hull of a yacht matching the description of the Cheeki Rafiki was spotted and photographed by a cargo vessel assisting the search.
It reported no there were no signs of life on board and no life raft, however no one from the Greek-registered 1,000ft container ship Maersk Kure tried to climb down to the yacht to check if anyone was trapped alive inside.
The yacht reportedly capsized on the way back from the Caribbean The crew was returning from Antigua Sailing Week in the 40ft yacht when it ran into difficulties 620 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Mr Bridge said he last heard from Andrew, 21, as they prepared to leave Antigua.
Speaking from Farnham, Surrey he told Sky News: "They were just happy to be on their way.
"He's very experienced, he's done a lot of offshore racing. I think he's equipped as anybody would be."
He had been told in conference calls with the American authorities that they felt "they have done enough" after searching more than 4,000 square miles of the ocean for pings from the vessel's personal locator beacons over two days.
But he said the search should be resumed while doubts over their fate remain.
"They need to go out there and carry on searching.They should give them another chance," he said.
And Mr Bridge's aunt, Georgie Bridge, told Sky News the sailor's family remains hopeful that the crew will be found alive.
L-R: Andrew Bridge, Steve Warren, James Male, Paul Goslin "Obviously the family are really concerned that the search has been suspended and we are really hoping that it will be resumed," she said.
"We are hopeful that they were able to launch a life raft and that they are still on board that, so we would just really like the search to be resumed."
The US Coastguard said it cancelled the search, involving American and Canadian aircraft and three merchant vessels after failing to receive any transmissions from the locator beacons.
A spokesman also defended the actions of the crew of the cargo vessel which spotted what was thought to be the yacht, saying it did not the capabilities to search or pick up the Cheeki Rafiki.
Andrew Bridge was being paid by the Southampton-based yacht training and charter company Stormforce Coaching for his role as captain, a spokeswoman for the firm said.
Stormforce director Doug Innes said that the yacht had first started taking on water on Thursday, but the skipper was in contact and the crew were keeping the situation stable.
"Although the search efforts co-ordinated by Boston were exceptional we are devastated that the search has now been called off so soon," Mr Innes said.
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