Two Women Rescued After Being Stranded At Sea For 5 Months

[Cyric30]

Two Women Rescued After Being Stranded At Sea For 5 Months

Posting for discussion.

But i do have this question for those with more knowledge than me.

It says the engine died, then they sailed on, it makes no mention of sails being shredded or anything of that nature, and from the pics it seems the sails are furled and lowered. (maybe they are damaged and if so end of discussion on my question.) but couldn't they keep sailing to somewhere even if it wasn't Tahiti? maybe Guam i realize getting across the equator would be harder, but other points could be reached. whats your thoughts?

But ultimately i want to say we weren't the so its all conjecture.

ttps://www.yahoo.com/news/two-women-rescued-being-stranded-172823399.html

[SeaHusky]

I am mulling over this too.
Te Guardian says that "their mast broke" but on the picture the rigging looks fine..
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/26/two-women-dogs-rescued-five-months-lost-at-sea

[Bubba the Pirate]

I'm not a huge Linus Wilson fan but he posted a vlog on youtube (slow boat sailing) with their news conference and his commentary. I had to stop watching them talk about the voyage. My head was spinning.

I can't understand the facts as they are presented. I really want to give fellow sailors the benefit of the doubt, but something is fishy.

Either they were completely unqualified and unprepared for offshore sailing
  ... or its some kind of stunt or scam.

The 'captain' said a spreader broke but the spreaders look good in the reacue footage.

I don't know.

[CaptMac]

My wife asked me the same things, it seems to bring up more questions than answers
One article I read said they started sailing after the motor broke, but they got lost (no GPS or Compass?)
Why did they have enough food for a year but no navigational skills?
They had enough propane to cook for 5 months?
They had power to run a watermaker for 5 months?
They were attacked by sharks?
Why did the rigging look fine?
What does the insurance company say about abandoning a sailable vessel?
Maybe there going to write a book and needed a story?
Or maybe its as simple as, they had more money than brains, just because you can afford a sailboat doesn't make you a sailor.
Anyways I am glad there safe, but it still smells a little fishy to me

[Bubba the Pirate]

One of my pet peeves too is not scuttling a boat being abandoned.

It is surely easier said than done, but the safety of other sailors is of paramount importance and a grave responsibility of every offshore sailor.

[CharlieJ]

One thing I've said several times- we, none of us, was there. We have no real idea of the state of mind of the two. I'm not gonna judge til more answers come out

[CharlieJ]

One of my pet peeves too is not scuttling a boat being abandoned.

It is surely easier said than done, but the safety of other sailors is of paramount importance and a grave responsibility of every offshore sailor.

Usually when the Coast Guard rescues folks off a boat, the boat is rammed and sunk. Don't know about the Navy, but it should be the same- a boat adrift is a hazard to navigation

[Norman]

Personal reasons, personal priorities, and abandoning functional vessels at sea.

A decade or so ago, a sailboat owner departed Florida for his summer home in the New York area.  He was a little behind on his maintenance, and the sails were fairly old, but seemed adequate for the journey.

After burning diesel for a couple of days, he elected to go out of the ICW and sail, and save some money.  A few days later, single handing and standing no watches at night, he was surprised by a storm.  He did not reef soon enough, and the main was torn.  He rode the rest of the storm out, bare pole, and when the weather settled, he stitched and sail taped the main, and returned to sailing, but his patch job ripped out, and he was unable to make progress toward  New York under jib.

This was an emergency condition, althow he had water and minimal provisions to reach port in Newfoundland or Greenland, he would miss the wedding of a relative.

He radioed a distress call, and was contacted by a cruise liner enroute to New York, they changed course and picked him up.

He was going to scuttle his sailboat, but the skipper of the liner refused to allow him to.

He attended the wedding, and collected from his insurance company for the complete loss of the vessel.  He was extremely unhappy with the check, as they valued it at the depreciated value from the purchase price, and since it was a Flicka, he felt it had appreciated.  (He had not upgraded his insurance to cover that increasing value, with higher premiums, of course).

A fisherman off Newfoundland found it drifting, and towed her to port.  The insurance company took possession, and sold her to the highest bidder, much to his dismay.

The man who had wished to scuttle her, expecting enough money to buy another, thougt the insurance company should give her back to him for what they paid him for the loss.

She is completely restored to outstanding condition, and sailing under the name "Red Rover".

There are several lessons here.

Pay insurance premiums for the value that you expect to recover if your vessel is lost.

The master of the vessel that rescues you has the final say as to the future of the vessel you are leaving.

Don't go to sea with old sails and no spares.

Have sail repair materials, and KNOW HOW TO USE THEM.

Don't commit to be at a specific place and time, then travel off shore in a sailboat. Stick with the ICW and put it in a marina if time runs short.


We all make decisions, on boats or off, and live with the outcomes. 

Those two ladies made theirs, and while the sailors here may be puzzled by the many inconsistencies that are clearly visible, I am sure that they are happy to be of her.  If she is left drifting, more likely than not, someone is going to have a rather substantial derelict boat.

Time will tell just what the real story is in this case.  Maybe.

[Lars]

https://youtu.be/qd2hR3AKhQY

whole interview and story hear.. i could not watch the whole thing ...very fishy indeed

[Owly055]

This goes far beyond "fishy".  Almost nothing about it makes any sense at all, from sailing from Hawaii into a "force 11" storm onward..... The absurd "shark attack" story, "The Devil's Triangle",  a 10 knot westward current, a year's worth of supplies,"canned goods don't work", a 600 pound mast???  No real communication system, can't get anywhere because they can only do 4-5 kts?   Cockpit flooded with rain which flooded the engine compartment? 
     The boat is an absurd boat for offshore sailing with solid raised sides where there should be stanchions and cables or netting creating a swimming pool with the coach roof an island in the middle of it..... look at the photos.  Someone suggested it was a Morgan 45, but it obviously is not.  They had 6 forms of communication including an EPIRB, and a Satellite Phone, Marine Radio, VHF, etc.   20' tiger sharks attacking their boat and trying to knock holes in it?  Tiger sharks don't get that big and they don't attack 50' sailboats... or any boats for that matter, and 10' is a big tiger shark.  While some of the Atolls of Kiribati have shallow entrances, Tarawa has facilities for ocean going freighters.  The entrance to Fanning's Atoll is quite large and deep, and should accommodate almost any sailboat.
     The story as it is narrated makes no sense at all..... at least to me, leaving me with only one conclusion.... That these two women set out to create an adventure story out of whole cloth, perhaps in hopes of becoming celebrities as a result and perhaps making appearances on TV or getting a book contract.  In general, it stinks to high heaven, and really doesn't merit "the benefit of the doubt".

                                                                                H.W.