Man Washes up in Marshall Islands 'After 16 Months Adrift'

[SaltyMonkey]

Did that look like a whole 14 month long beard to you? Why, I could grow that in a week.

[Cotemar]

Stranded at sea? Follow this 7-step extreme survival guide

Never drink saltwater - it will make you ill and speed dehydration and death.

1) Trap moisture - Outfit your vessel with a plastic tarpaulin to catch rainwater and drain it into containers

2) Orient yourself by the stars

3) Catch fish in open waters - If you're in a life raft, small fish often gather beneath the raft, either out of curiosity or because they feel sheltered there. Who knows? But catching those fish might satisfy your need for nourishment.

4) Avoid shark bites - Sharks don't usually hunt people as a food source, which is why most shark bites stop there: Once the shark realizes you're not a nice blubbery seal, it leaves you alone.

5) Right a capsized boat - Small sailboats capsize easily, but luckily, they're easy to right. Crawl up onto the overturned hull, grab the centerboard (keel), and lean back, using your weight against the centerboard as a lever to flip the boat over.

6) Put out a boat fire - A fire on a boat is a life-threatening catastrophe, so it's wise to have a plan in place before you leave shore.

7) Plug a leak - Water is supposed to stay on the outside of a boat, but inevitably some gets inside due to rain or waves coming over the bow. That's not a big problem. However, when water invades because of a leak, the problem becomes quite real.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/sport/ultimate-survival-guide/index.html

[TacomaSailor]

Did I miss something in the reporting and prior 152 entries on this thread?

I have seen no reports that anyone in Mexico where he and his young friend started ever contacted authorities about two missing fisherman.

Why has there been no mention of the authorities in Mexico looking for him or even the local fisherman reporting him missing.

When did his employer, Camoronera Dela Costa, report him or the panga missing?

That information would certainly tell us when he went missing.

[sabray]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Did that look like a whole 14 month long beard to you? Why, I could grow that in a week.

Most nfl players could grow 5 beards to my one without suspicion. Cause it's okay that they have 5 times the norm testosterone. Why are you messing with our hero diet coke add dude .

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

Did I miss something in the reporting and prior 152 entries on this thread?

I have seen no reports that anyone in Mexico where he and his young friend started ever contacted authorities about two missing fisherman.

Why has there been no mention of the authorities in Mexico looking for him or even the local fisherman reporting him missing.

When did his employer, Camoronera Dela Costa, report him or the panga missing?

That information would certainly tell us when he went missing.

I presume you've done a search of all Mexican local news reports for Dec 2012 and Jan 2013 on the W coast... that must have been hard work

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

Did I miss something in the reporting and prior 152 entries on this thread?

I have seen no reports that anyone in Mexico where he and his young friend started ever contacted authorities about two missing fisherman.

Why has there been no mention of the authorities in Mexico looking for him or even the local fisherman reporting him missing.

When did his employer, Camoronera Dela Costa, report him or the panga missing?

That information would certainly tell us when he went missing.

Alvarenga is from Garita Palmera in El Salvador, where CNN caught up with some members of his family. They hadn't heard from him in ages and thought he might be dead. He has a 12-year-old daughter there who doesn't remember her father.

"My heart would tell me that my son was not dead, but I wondered about it so often that I had started to lose faith," said Julia Alvarenga, his mother.

"God willing, my son is not dead. God willing, my son is alive. And we're going to see him again one day. I'm very happy after learning that he's alive and that we will have him back home soon," his father, Ricardo, said.

Castaway claims he drifted 13 months in Pacific - CNN.com

[Pelagic]

.
Great links Cotemar.
Have been sailing those waters since 1979 and you are often slipping into Equatorial and counter Equatorial currents.

"...Jones said the currents between Mexico and the Marshall Islands would have carried a boat about 27 miles (42 kilometers) a day. That would mean the journey would take about 208 days if the boat stayed in the current. But Jones said a meandering journey in and out of the currents was most likely, making a 13-month journey believable."

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[lancer361981]

A goofy friend of mine is "beard farming" right now and looks about as long and thick as his and my buddy has been doing the growing for 6-7 months now. So maybe there is a language issue. However at a drift rate of 1 knt an hour it wouldn't be that unreasonable.

Brad
Lancer 36

[TacomaSailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I presume you've done a search of all Mexican local news reports for Dec 2012 and Jan 2013 on the W coast... that must have been hard work

Why so condescending?

I am pretty sure I did not say anything about trying to find the information. I just said I had not seen any such reports.

I ASKED if anyone had seen any reports from his employer or other fisherman.

[SaltyMonkey]

"Alvarenga is said to have set off from the Mexican town of Costa Azul, according to Reynaldo Aguilar Martinez, undersecretary for the state of Chiapas. "

Castaway claims he drifted 13 months in Pacific - CNN.com

[MarkJ]

There are no reports because the whole story os a load of horse poop

W often get threads where people sate they are law enforcement people. Well, where are a few of them to give their professional opinion as to the likelihood of this story being true? And holding up in court!

[SaltyMonkey]

And then we get this

"The Mexican government issued a statement Monday confirming Alvarenga's identity and saying he was an El Salvador national who was living in Tonala in Chiapas state."

and this

"A mysterious castaway claiming to have been lost at sea for 13 months."

down from 16 and 14

and this

"If Alvarenga's story proves true, the trip across the Pacific would have taken him across roughly 6,700 miles"

down from 8,000

but verification here at possibility:
Surviving More Than a Year Adrift at Sea Is Possible, With a Little Luck

Theres no story to verify because it keeps changing.

Its not April 1st is it?

It's a fun rat hole just the same. =)

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

And then we get this

"The Mexican government issued a statement Monday confirming Alvarenga's identity and saying he was an El Salvador national who was living in Tonala in Chiapas state."

and this

"A mysterious castaway claiming to have been lost at sea for 13 months."

down from 16 and 14

and this

"If Alvarenga's story proves true, the trip across the Pacific would have taken him across roughly 6,700 miles"

down from 8,000

but verification here at possibility:
Surviving More Than a Year Adrift at Sea Is Possible, With a Little Luck

Theres no story to verify because it keeps changing.

Its not April 1st is it?

It's a fun rat hole just the same. =)

Something tastes fishy here! ..I mean smells fishy,yea thats what I meant..yea

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

Why so condescending?

I am pretty sure I did not say anything about trying to find the information. I just said I had not seen any such reports.

I ASKED if anyone had seen any reports from his employer or other fisherman.

Why would reports of a Mexican shark fisherman or two going missing.. yesterday or 12 mths back... even ripple CF's surface... probably did not ripple much in Mexico either.. or any where else..
One would likely have to search hard for it..
Mind.. being found is causing a few ripples.. way its going he'll get more posts than Alpha 42...
Its a survival story.. not an abandonment story.. good on him.

[Yowieboy]

I think the likelihood for this to turn out to be a real survival story (give or take a few months) rather than a hoax is much greater. The Diet coke joke is funny, but what would one actually gain from perpetrating such a hoax, which would be quite difficult to pull off, given the remote location where he was picked up? And if it were a hoax, why would he mention a companion who died, which is bound to result in an inquiry and probably uncomfortable suspicion of possible cannibalism?
Just the fact that he hasn't come up with an exact logbook of his journey, and that initial reports mentioned various dates doesn't necessarily mean that it's all fake. He does indeed look surprisingly well fed, but looks can be deceiving and beards can stop growing, you know.
Of course, before signing him up for the next Hollywood survival blockbuster, some scepticism and background checking is probably in order, but I for one tend to think it will turn out to be real, and may go into the record books of survival against very long odds.