Survival at Sea

[maxingout]

The whole story does not make sense. I wonder what really happened?

[NorthPacific]

Another link to an interview with a TV reporter.
Sailor missing since January rescued off Cape Hatteras | WAVY-TV
He also now states that he had food and a stove.

Here he claims he was rolled 3 times, but his boat had a "righting mechanism". that brought the boat back up each time. He says he has little experience, I think he may have been an absolute beginner, who did not know what the keel does?

What ever the story, he was 200 miles offshore without a mast, and lucky to be alive. Glad it was not me.

[maxingout]

I would not want to be in a monohull without a mast in rough seas. The roll moment of inertia of the mast makes a boat habitable in adverse conditions or at least makes the rolling motion less severe. Without a mast, you can get pummeled as the boat rolls from rail to rail.

[NorthPacific]

Originally Posted by maxingout

I would not want to be in a monohull without a mast in rough seas. The roll moment of inertia of the mast makes a boat habitable in adverse conditions or at least makes the rolling motion less severe. Without a mast, you can get pummeled as the boat rolls from rail to rail.

Very true.

Having said that I would rather be on a monohull that has been rolled and dismasted than a multi hull that had been rolled.http://www.cruisersforum.com/images/.../whistling.gif

[DeepFrz]

I think most of the crap we are reading is made up by reporters not knowing a thing about what they are writing about. In the picture of him sitting on his boat he looks much larger than he looks in the picture after his rescue. The CG has said that he was dehydrated.

[biscuitsjam]

I don't know if this is legit or not, but it seems like a lot of doubts are from poor reporting.

He was barely sunburned and didn't die of hypothermia... He also didn't starve to death or die of dehydration.

However, he says that he spent most of the time sitting inside his boat, which was upright. While he mentions bailing water out, it isn't clear how much of the time it was waterlogged (it might have only been after he initially rolled over)

He mentions catching fish and drinking rainwater. However, it is also clear that he had food and water already on board. This was his home.

I have a vision of this guy just hanging out bored inside his boat and occasionally opening up another can of pork and beans to pass the time. I have no idea what happened, but this reporting is miserable.