I am calling b.s. on the recent story about the two women with their two dogs that got “lost” at sea for 5 months. There are just SO many questions that I have.
I have read a lot of books about sailing, boats and navigation, (although I don’t sail myself) and think that if faced with a life or death situation that a captain and one crew member could make something work and at least get one sail up on that boat (that looked in decent shape in photos and video) and hit some land just by sailing east or west (depending on the situation) with the sun as your only navigational guide in far less time than five months. Thoughts? Dr. Kennedy, paging Dr. Kennedy! (who I believe has sailed the Pacific).
I agree. Sounds like 100% BS. If they’re capable enough to stay alive on a sailboat for that long, they’re capable enough to get where they want to go with an intact sailboat.
Also, the mast didn’t look broke to me.
Probably B.S., but without knowing more about the women, I can’t say for sure. There are some truly daft and clueless people out there.
they managed to stay alive because they had packed a water purifier and enough food to last for a year
Expecting trouble, were they? At least they got their 15 seconds.
About the water purifier. Those things need power, which comes from batteries, which are recharged by the engine, which the ladies assert was knocked out long ago. Just one of my many questions.
Who would sail from Hawaii to Tahiti these days without an EPIRB?
You aren’t the only one asking the question Dan. And how do you end up 5,000 miles off course? At least they didn’t float into North Korea while tryinkg to go to Tahiti ;-)
They make Wrong Way Corregan look brilliant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Corrigan
EPIRB’s are so relatively cheap that you have to either be a complete imbecile to not have one on a trip of this type or intentionally leave without one.
I have thought this was a hoax since first seeing the story.
I have sailed from California to Hawaii and know the sailing conditions to Tahiti. There is no way they could have enough food. There are solar power water stills for collecting fresh from sea water but they are delicate and do not usually last for long. They are usually included in life raft packages.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, would try to motor to Tahiti from Hawaii. The motor on a sailboat is only used for battery charging and maneuvering in port.
I haven’t figured out what is going on but they are probably writing a book and setting up a GoFundMe page.
There are plenty of books about real incidents and here is an excellent novel by Neville Shute about sailing from Hawaii to Tahiti.
They’re obviously lying about nearly everything:
http://www.syracuse.com/us-news/index.ssf/2017/10/inconsistencies_cast_doubt_on_hawaii_womens_harrowing_tale_of_sea_survival.html
Shocka! I know what I look like after one day on a sailboat, much less 5 months.
Yeah, I had a strong feeling of something being queer about their tale when I first saw the story.
Re. purified water: Reverse Osmosis system probably exists for sailboats since all that’s required is water pressure…I imagine a hand pump with a check valve would do the trick.