HALIFAX — The sister of a missing Nova Scotia sailor continued to hold out hope Saturday as several planes swept a large swath of sea along the eastern seaboard in the ongoing search for the solo yachtsman.

Lucy Milroy said she remains convinced that her brother, Hubert Marcoux, was swept off course in rough weather as he ventured from Halifax to Bermuda.

"I really believe he's alive and he's drifting," she said from her home in Halifax.

"I believe that in my heart. I feel it."

Milroy said she last spoke to her 67-year-old brother when she saw him off on Nov. 9, the day he set out from Halifax on his 14-metre boat for the long trek to Bermuda.

He was due to arrive in Bermuda last Monday, but has not been seen or heard from.

A search official in Norfolk, Va., said Saturday that fixed wing planes from the States and Canada were covering 323,000 nautical square miles in the search for the experienced sailor.

Brian Neilan of the U.S. Coast Guard said they haven't seen any sign of his boat, but adds that rough weather may have simply delayed him.

Still, he said messages have been going out steadily to other vessels on VHF radios since the search began last week and they would have expected a response from Marcoux.

"Any prudent mariner would be monitoring that and he should have heard the broadcasts by now," Neilan said. "So that's not a good indicator."

Marcoux is an adventurer and author whose 2005 book "Around the World in 18 Years" chronicled his lengthy voyage that began when he was 44.

A spokesman for the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax said Marcoux would have run into bad weather partway through his voyage as he faced winds up to 60 knots and 10-metre seas.