Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins

Gizmodo article: "American Women and Their Dogs Rescued After Being Stranded at Sea for Five Months in Shark-Infested Waters"


bcl05

Recommended Posts

Love this article and the embedded video/pics...

 

https://gizmodo.com/american-women-and-their-dogs-rescued-after-being-stran-1819903026

 

I particularly like the last paragraph:

 

"“The US Navy is postured to assist any distressed mariner of any nationality during any type of situation,” Cmdr. Steven Wasson, Ashland commanding officer, said in a statement."

 

So much badassery (badassitude?) in that simple statement.  Awesome stuff...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, bcl05 said:

 

"“The US Navy is postured to assist any distressed mariner of any nationality during any type of situation,” Cmdr. Steven Wasson, Ashland commanding officer, said in a statement."

 

 

 

We actually do it quite often, though not usually people that have been out 5 months.  

 

I remember during my Wog day (look it up) it got cut short by about 5 hours because we had to go help a fishing boat.  We got to them and turned out their engine was completely blown.  They had been floating for a week if I remember correctly.  We gave them food and water, hooked up a tow line, and towed them for about a day until we meet up with the Malaysian Navy (they were Malaysian) and handed them over.  That stuff actually happens quite often.  That one only stands out to me because of Wog day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

We actually do it quite often, though not usually people that have been out 5 months.  

 

 

Well, that's awesome.  And underpublicized (or at least wasn't on my radar).  Well done!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

I'm glad that there is a mariner tradition of helping out others at sea, and proud our Navy and Coast Guard are part of this tradition.

 

My question is: this was a sailboat so why couldn't they sail even if their engine was disabled? 

 

 

Broken mast

 

add

They were not experienced enough for that trip

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This reads like two people that had absolutely no business being out in blue water decided to have themselves an adventure.  This is not really a criticism as much as simply noting an amusing aspect of this story.  I can't help but admire that kind of crazy.  

 

Adventurer:  Prep is boring just grab all the food and let's get out there, we're ready for this!

Narrator:  They were not ready.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Destino said:

This reads like two people that had absolutely no business being out in blue water decided to have themselves an adventure.  This is not really a criticism as much as simply noting an amusing aspect of this story.  I can't help but admire that kind of crazy.  

 

Adventurer:  Prep is boring just grab all the food and let's get out there, we're ready for this!

Narrator:  They were not ready.

 

I dont know, maybe just bad luck.  The bottom of the ocean floor is littered with corpses of the most experienced and capable nautical minds in human history

 

They had water purification and a years worth of rations... thats something

 

Ocean question... why is the hull black, and would that be different if the boat was moving under its own power?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, zoony said:

I dont know, maybe just bad luck.  The bottom of the ocean floor is littered with corpses of the most experienced and capable nautical minds in human history

 

They had water purification and a years worth of rations... thats something

 

Ocean question... why is the hull black, and would that be different if the boat was moving under its own power?

 

If they were competent they coulda jury rigged a sail.

 

Black from the shark poop?  :)

 

Probably a mix of oil,mold and excrement and such......drifting and eating results in chumming for sharks, ya can add in the monthlys .

Movement reduces buildup.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, twa said:

 

If they were competent they coulda jury rigged a sail.

 

Black from the shark poop?  :)

 

Probably a mix of oil,mold and excrement and such......drifting and eating results in chumming for sharks, ya can add in the monthlys .

Movement reduces buildup.

 

 

 

I dont think Oracle Team USA could repair a broken mast in the middle of the ocean

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, zoony said:

 

I dont know, maybe just bad luck.  The bottom of the ocean floor is littered with corpses of the most experienced and capable nautical minds in human history

 

They had water purification and a years worth of rations... thats something

 

Ocean question... why is the hull black, and would that be different if the boat was moving under its own power?

 

They were relying on a single phone for communication and could not fix either mast nor engine.  All of those scream inexperience to me.  

 

No radio, no beacons, no back up phone?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Destino said:

 

They were relying on a single phone for communication and could not fix either mast nor engine.  All of those scream inexperience to me.  

 

No radio, no beacons, no back up phone?  

 

My only question is are they lesbians, and did they continue to get it on even after their situation deteriorated?  I mean, does your drive to have s3x diminish or increase when youre floating around at sea in a hopeless void?

 

Also, didnt realize sharks lived in the middle of the ocean.  Its a well documented desert, no food chain exists u til you get somewhat near land

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These ladies were very lucky, not being able to make way in the ocean is usually a death sentence. All it would take is one storm.

 

International vessels are required to have an EPIRB (a satellite distress beacon) and a SART (short range radar transponder. 

 

It seems they lacked these devices but did have a short range radio. The only problem is that they were likely in an area where there were no commercial vessels.

 

Unlike what you might believe, sailors follow pretty distinct routes which leads to better efficiency due to the circumference of the earth. If you aren't along those routes and get in trouble, you are pretty much finished unless you get lucky. 

 

3 hours ago, LadySkinsFan said:

I'm glad that there is a mariner tradition of helping out others at sea, and proud our Navy and Coast Guard are part of this tradition.

 

My question is: this was a sailboat so why couldn't they sail even if their engine was disabled? 

It's not just a maritime tradition, it is international law as covered by SOLAS, an international maritime agreement. 

 

Ive done two rescues, both with similar problems to these ladies. Such scenarios are pretty common and usually due to a lack of proper ship equipment or general lack of nautical understanding. 

 

The bottom line is that the ocean doesn't care about you and for as peaceful as it can be, it can be alternately oppressive and intimidating. You have to know what you are doing and have the right equipment to deal with such scenarios. Their provisions in this scenario and the luck of being seen saved their life. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

That's a pretty gross speculation, zoony, and beneath you. The Lesbian part anyway. 

 

I'm a Lesbian and I didn't think that. 

 

Oh come on, like nobody else wonders what sex drive is like when death is on the line?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, zoony said:

 

I dont think Oracle Team USA could repair a broken mast in the middle of the ocean

 

I could jury rig a short mast from the boom at the minimum, pretty sure others could do even better with months to play with. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two Hawaiian mariners who say they were stranded at sea for five months had an emergency beacon aboard their sailboat that was never activated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Jennifer Appel and Natasha “Tasha” Fuiava, who said they left Honolulu on May 3 aboard aboard a 50-foot sailboat, told Coast Guard officials that they never turned on the boat’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) because they never felt "truly in distress," nor did they think the situation was "dire" enough to warrant it, a spokesperson for Coast Guard District 14 confirmed to ABC News on Monday.

The EPIRB -- which the Coast Guard confirmed was properly registered -- would have immediately notified search and rescue teams of a vessel in distress, officials said.

Appel and Natasha Fuiava told reporters over the weekend that they feared they had less than 24 hours to live when they were rescued in the Pacific Ocean nearly 900 miles southeast of Japan.

But some people said they have questions about their story.

Linus Wilson, a boating expert and author of three sailing books, told ABC News that he wondered if the women had fabricated some of their claims.

“Several of Ms. Appel’s statements about her voyage do not check out and don’t ring true to many experienced sailors,” he said in an e-mailed statement on Monday. “I think a reasonable person may start out thinking that Ms. Appel was just a foolish skipper, but it seems likely many events that she recounts may have been fabricated to sensationalize the story.”

“It would be a shame if someone used a very expensive U.S. Navy rescue as a publicity stunt,” he added...

......

The women also declined to say why they felt they only had 24 hours to live.

“I would love to answer that question now. I’m not actually allowed to answer that as long as we are on the vessel,” Appel said before going on to detail how their sailboat was damaged while it was being towed by the Taiwanese vessel.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/sailors-lost-sea-5-months-didnt-activate-emergency-080905434--abc-news-topstories.html

 

 

 

hmmmmm....they did look really healthy when they were 'rescued'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, MarkB452 said:

Also they said the boat was damaged in a big storm right after they left Hawaii, but there was not a storm in the area at the time they said there was.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/questions-raised-about-sailors-story-after-months-stranded-at-sea/ar-AAugiZk?li=BBnb4R7&ocid=iehp

 

 

One story said it was two months out and they thought it better to keep going on the auxiliary engine ....till that broke.

 

They 'just' missed Tahiti by a couple thousand miles 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...