MarkMT 68 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Slightly curious story...got lost on way from Hawaii to Tahiti after departing in (northern) spring. Rescued yesterday by the US Navy. http://wapo.st/2yPGNZ0 The pair had prepared for a long trip; they had water purifiers and over a year’s worth of food on board, mostly dry goods like oatmeal, pasta and rice. But apparently didn't have the ability to navigate or someone to raise the alarm if they didn't show up when expected? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 amazing hawaii to tahiti by sailboat became 900nm from japan because the engine failed..... good ad for dried food and water makers bad ad for .................. better not go there looks like they boat was scuttled? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Addem 94 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Shots on TVs showed a furled mainsail??left to cross the pacific: didn’t know how to navigate? Didn’t know how to sail? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
clareb 1 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Certainly makes Cat 1 look like a sensible idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Yeah I don't get the fact the Sail was tied up on the boom. It's easy to read into the article that they were motoring the distance and the motor failed. But surely not.I wonder if the motor was only source of charging and thus when the batteries died, they lost all means of navigating.due to the Chartplotter not operating.But good grief, 5 months out there?! all they had to do was raise the sail and go any direction till they bumped into land.This has to be one of the strangest stories of lost at sea I have ever heard. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ex TL systems 63 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Or maybe the sail is furled because someone is rescuing them ., and they know how to sail. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
raz88 96 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Yeah it kind of reads a bit like they've just been sailing around in circles lost, rather than having an actual problem with the boat. Interesting the navy went aboard and determined the boat wasn't seaworthy - perhaps there were more issues with it than just a dodgy motor. Certainly doesn't seem like they were well prepared, makes one wonder whether the engine issue was something minor/fixable and they just didn't have the knowledge. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 watermakers use a ton of power unless it was a manual 1...... hope someone writes up a full investigation and we scan skip the made of tv thelma + louise beat neptune Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwifish 30 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 It's all planned, now wait for the movie and book contracts, they will make more $$ per hour from that stunt than a house in Auckland.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
raz88 96 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 It's begun, they've done their first interview... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11937674 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Two Honolulu women, Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava, were lost at sea for five months after their planned voyage went horribly awry On the first day, one woman's cell phone washed overboard and sank........maybe a sat phone...a wave in the ocean, what are the chances..... A month into their trip, poor weather conditions caused engine to lose power, resulting in a damaged mast ???? The pair sent out daily distress calls that no one heard for nearly 100 days....what were they using?...it seems vhf, hopefully on 16 Group of sharks attacked their boat one night and a single shark returned a day later........did they ram it until their noses bled?....again it seems that's what they did...or some fish were eating the growth on the hull... Appel and Fuiava, along with their dogs, were finally rescued by the U.S. Navy on Wednesday about 900 miles southeast of Japan after the treacherous trip The women received medical assessment, food and beds aboard the Navy ship, where they will remain until the next port of call, the Navy said Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5023025/Women-rescued-voyage-went-bad-worse.html#ixzz4wk1yarDp good to see the dogs had their jackets on Quote Link to post Share on other sites
raz88 96 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 So I saw another interview with them which now I can't find the link for. Based on the interview it seems like they are total idiots with absolutely no idea and either shouldn't have been out there or the story is fantasy. Apparently the motor was disabled by some rain(????!!), and the mast was somehow "broken" beyond repair. Then they had to hide from sharks that "could hear them", and encountered "10 knot currents" mid pacific that meant although they could do 5 knots themselves they had no choice about where they were headed, all the while continuing to make distress calls each time they saw another vessel but nobody answered them. From the growth up the side of the boat it kind of looks like it's been sitting on its side in shallow water somewhere, not actually at sea... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Berend de Boer 2 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 In the mean time every fake news newspaper has printed this story and received the click bait. Job done! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Berend de Boer 2 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Here link to interview with a completely different story than you have seen so far: Forget everything you have read on the fake news sites. In this interview they appear to be knowledgeable. It appears they had a force 11 storm on day 1 (hmm), then did fine for a long time, their spreader broke, but they arrived still fine in Kiribati. The boat was too big fit into the lagoon there they claim, so they decided to continue to the Cook Islands. Arriving in that area, and due to counter currents they decided to go North. That was May 25. They lost the ability to start the motor due to flooding of the boat caused by rain. Then they arrived in the "Devil's Triangle." According to them this was Tiger Shark territory. They had two water makers, the first one failed. Other's pointed out they had a wind turbine and solar panels, so that seems to have provided the power for the water maker. Also the lady on the left claims she repaired this boat for 2.5 years before they set off for a three month cruise in the South Pacific. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 so the rain flooded the cockpit, the drains must have been blocked because the rising water in the cockpit then shorted the start panel devil's triangle where tiger sharks eat boats https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/unexplained-mystery-the-devils-sea-the-dragons-triangle/ seems they didn't scuttle as "we left the bilge on and we're hoping to get her back" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 hmmm... they couldn't get in to the lagoon at kiribati guess it wasn't the capital of kiribati, tarawa, as in ww2 "Two minesweepers, with two destroyers to provide covering fire, entered the lagoon in the pre-dawn hours and cleared the shallows of mines" Marine battle planners had expected the normal rising tide to provide a water depth of 5 feet over the reef, allowing their four-foot draft Higgins boats room to spare. However, on this day and the next, the ocean experienced a neap tide, and failed to rise. In the words of some observers, "the ocean just sat there", leaving a mean depth of three feet over the reef. Unfortunately, the task force commander had rejected advice from a New Zealand liaison officer with experience of the island that the tide would be unsuitable on the day of the landing that mistake probably cost a few thousand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa#cite_note-17 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 Bizzare it most certainly is. It's a honey pot for conspiracy thoughts.I watched the interview and thought blimey, they are making weird claims. Like thinking they would only survive another 24hrs, yet they had been at sea ruffly 5months. You would think that after 5 months, several severe storms etc, they would have had many previous similar thoughts and then woke the next morning to find themselves alive and well.I can't see anything wrong with the Rig.I am surprised they thought they would take a month or more to get to Tahiti.They had supposedly, already made it to several Pacific Islands.They can't have had any flares on board. They had seen boats, but obviously no way of contacting them. Except I would expect for most of us, we would have tried something. A piece of broken mirror to reflect. Burn some diesel and anything plastic to make smoke. There is always a way to do something that looks out of the norm. And far out at sea like that, it is pretty sure that if they see a boat, that boat see's them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dr Dave 5 Posted October 28, 2017 Share Posted October 28, 2017 Barking Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RWC 2 Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 Raz, interesting point about the growth. Does look as though they have been listing/lying for a while. Would be keen to know what antifoul they use though, looks like a damn good promo for someone for 5 months worth of drifting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Romany 162 Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 I'm with Dr Dave on this. Reckon its complete bollocks. Why any worthy media house would waste the time it takes t write such a load of crap is beyond me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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