Two sailors and dogs rescued after 5 months

R

RKoch

Super Anarchist
14,865
347
da 'burg
They were seriously off course from Tahiti. Fuck, Rimas gets closer than that and he can only drift downwind. I'm suspecting there's a patreon account involved.

engine probably just sucked up a bunch of crap from the fuel tank. Doesn't sound like they knew how to sail or maintain a boat. Def couldn't navigate.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
D

DarkHorse

Member
230
29
They had water purifiers and a year's worth of food aboard — mostly dry goods like oatmeal, pasta and rice — before setting out for Tahiti from Hawaii on May 3, the Navy and Marie Appel said, and they used those supplies to survive.

The fishing vessel contacted Coast Guard in Guam and the USS Ashland, an amphibious dock landing ship that was operating in the area, reached the sailboat late Wednesday morning, the Navy said.

Appel and Fuiaba were taken aboard the USS Ashland and will remain until the ship’s next port of call, the Navy said.

"They saved our lives. The pride and smiles we had when we saw [U.S. Navy] on the horizon was pure relief," Appel said in a statement released by the Navy.

The sailboat the pair was on lost its engine during a storm on May 30, and they believed they could make it to land by sail, according to the Navy. But by two months after leaving Hawaii, they began making distress calls every day, but were out of range for any stations or ships, the Navy said.

Marie Appel said she was told that after her daughter, a landscape architect who has been sailing for about a year and a half, and her friend Fuiaba set sail from Oahu, a series of things went wrong.

 
I

Two hours in the trip her phone was washed overboard, Jennifer Appel contacted the Coast Guard to let them know and the Coast Guard estimated the pair should arrive in Tahiti by around June 5.

Then there were problems with the antenna, the motor starter failed, and new rigging on the mast broke, Marie Appel said.

The Navy said the engine became disabled during bad weather on May 30, but they continued on by sail. When they were found they were far off course, closer to Japan while Tahiti is south of Hawaii, around 2,600 miles away. They sailboat was found more than 5,000 miles away from Tahiti.








 








"At one point she was close to Wake Island but because of the winds she never made it there either. And so she’s just been drifting, drifting with the currents," Marie Appel said.

Marie Appel said she doesn’t know when she will be reunited with her daughter, who is from Texas and has been living in Hawaii for around eight years.

"Jennifer’s a very strong-willed person, and very curious, and very creative, so consequently when things would break she would try to fix them," Marie Appel said. "And so I was sure that if it was any possibility, she would pull it out, she would make it."

 
when Jennifer Appel called her mother from the Navy ship, Marie Appel said "she was so enthusiastic and she really sounded healthy and in good spirits. That was fantastic."

Appel said with a laugh that she would advise her daughter "I think four wheels on the solid ground is preferable to sailing," but doesn’t think the experience will land lock Jennifer.

"She loved the water, she loved going to Galveston, she’s always enjoyed the water," Marie Appel said. "So I doubt that she’ll stop, I doubt that she’ll stop sailing." 

 
D

DarkHorse

Member
230
29
Well, she lost her cell phone - Google maps would have saved her.

Hell at least DR might have put her in the right hemisphere. Female driver.

 
Al Paca

Al Paca

Super Anarchist
2,055
593
El Lay
daddle said:
That weed implies hard aground somewhere. Or hove to at a constant angle for months (How?).

And nobody missed them?

Yeah. There is more to the story. 
Click to expand...
Nope,  no more story here.  Just two stupid Americans.  And there's tens of millions more of them.  

 
J

Jud - s/v Sputnik

Super Anarchist
6,569
1,912
Canada
1 hour ago, RIGO said:

Wow - never heard this story before.... That's this evening's TV viewing sorted then 

Click to expand...

One of the most riveting, harrowing chase scenes ever in cinematic history --and certainly nautical cinematic history-- starts at 4:00.  A must see, like the 5 month drift-a-thon...

 
C

CALtd

New member
26
0
San Luis Obispo
Look for the movie "Abandoned" about 4 guys on a flipped cat from Oz or NZL. They were tormented when they finally made landfall because no one believed their story.

 
Jiffy Reefer

Jiffy Reefer

Member
60
0
Sydney
The slime could be from a rope slung from bow to stern. Setup as a means of hanging on/getting back on board? Doesn't look like an easy boat to get back onto if you went overboard. Just sayin but probably not!

 
sunol

sunol

Member
141
67
Looking forward to more info on this one. I don't have an explanation for sailing to Tahiti without (apparently) knowing how to sail. However, given the prices in Tahiti, I can understand bringing a year's supply of food.

 
jack_sparrow

jack_sparrow

Super Anarchist
37,393
5,094
So the most up to date count is Rimas has 2 sisters, 2 brothers and may or may not have had  a less than christian relationship with one of his brothers dog, causing it to run away to sea. The Rimas damage bill direct and indirect is going through the roof.




 
Godzilla

Godzilla

Member
186
11
Nor Cal
Looks like there are a main and a jib on the boat. Reminds me of All is Lost.

 It's a sailboat so SAIL it!

Rudder problems perhaps.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
sailsail

sailsail

Member
123
9
Boston
There appears to be someone half way up the mast in the pictures.

the ladies look very healthy and clean in the pictures. Not what I would expect someone who was drifting around for five months trapped on a little boat. Something is very fishy.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Latest posts



Top