Hubert Marcoux, seen here in Eastern Passage in July, spent 18 years sailing around the world. (CBC)

An aerial search has been called off for a Halifax sailor who was caught in a severe storm in the Atlantic Ocean.

Hubert Marcoux, 68, was expected to arrive in Bermuda last Monday on his 14-metre sailboat Mon Pays, but no one has seen or heard from him.

Several aircraft from Canada and the United States were sent to look for Marcoux. After searching about 400,000 square kilometres of open ocean over several days, they turned up nothing.

"The search for the Mon Pays has been officially reduced," said Jeri Grychowski, spokeswoman for the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax. "There will be no more aerial searches."

Search officials said mariners in the area are being asked to monitor VHF broadcasts for any sign of Marcoux.

Marcoux, an experienced sailor who has travelled around the world, left Nova Scotia on Nov. 9, sailing alone.

Officials said he would have encountered four very stormy days on his voyage south, with 60-knot winds and 10-metre seas.

With files from The Canadian Press