Authorities are asking the public to identify the family missing at sea.

The family of 4, a husband, wife and two young children that abandoned their sinking sailboat far off the central California coast reportedly sent out several distress calls seeking help.

The last message delivered at 4:20 p.m. Sunday was "Coast Guard, Coast Guard, we are abandoning ship. This is the Charm Blow, we are abandoning ship," with that radio communication was lost between the boat and the Coast Guard.

"There is still no information on where the boat was coming from, where it was going or who the people on board are," said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mike Lutz.

The unidentified family of four had been sailing a 29-foot sailboat Sunday west of Monterey Bay. Weather reports had issued a weekend advisory warning of rough seas in the area due to strong winds, cold water and big swells made for perilous conditions.

"We will just saturate the search area with as many assets as we can, so we can hopefully rescue them," Lutz said.

Coast Guard Lt. Heather Lampert said the family had made its first call of distress late Sunday afternoon.

One of the family's recorded distress calls have been released by the Coast Guard in hopes that it might lead to new information that would help in the search.

Investigators have so far determined from the broken distress calls that the family included a husband and wife, their 4-year-old son and his cousin, Lampert said.

The Coast Guard is expanding their search to Hawaii, the Seattle area and north into Canada. The search will continue for the family of four is found or until the limits of survivability have passed.