HI->Tahiti Dingbats found after 5 months

[nautitrix]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

Wow, girls power!!!
They have technically two left hands and five thumbs on each, but cooking and provisioning is one of their main capabilities - enough to survive the elements.
At least they had enough food an water and know how to use it.
I guess their life insurance thoughts were: there are always cute strong hungry sailors around, if something goes wrong. You only need a VHF, a bikini and a nice smile, if in trouble - and a steak / some pasta to offer....

[QUOTE=CatNewBee;2508407]Well, some of us can not differentiate between a statement and a joke....

You are very correct but it is not I who failed in the differentiation. Misogyny is rampant in many cultures.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I doubt we have any right to assume they were clueless. The press clearly states one of them had adequate experience. Also, the boat looks well prepared and THEY DID MAKE 5 months at sea - mind many an ARC crew pressed all the right red buttons, at times only a week into their crossings ...

So, who's clueless.

...

Sailing in a team of two is a team work. Skills may overlap or less so, the point is to have complementary skills so that the crew, as a whole, works out the existing challenges.

These two sailors (plus their dogs) had challenges but they came out on top. The top priority is safety of the crew. Then only comes getting the ship from A to B. They are alive and may take another chance. Lessons learned and boats are just perishable goods, like cars.

Or should be bash as clueless every driver who had an accident and wrote off their car???

So, who is clueless.

Off course, this is one odd sailing story. Funny a bit too and tempting for anecdotes. But that's another thing. This is what makes it a good story. Eh?

Cheers,
b.

Well, you are right. There is a team of 4 sailors - 2 girls and 2 dogs.
And each of them has complementary skills, that the other does not have.

I assume, one of the dogs is a pretty good navigator and the one with sailing experience on board, the other one was in charge for barking at the sharks and alarming the pack, one of the girls was cooking and knitting and the other was the story teller on board, reading horror books about sea monsters, devil seas - where sailors get in but never come back, the Bermuda triangle and aliens eating the brain, also about strong currents and hurricanes and broken spreaders.

Given they really have to fight a current of ten knots - what I doubt, they just need to cross this region in a right angle, drifting some 50 miles east and then sail with the Passat winds and current easy peasy to the west.
They must have been sailing very far north to hit a current in the opposite direction - what is not unlikely providing they pop up near Japan and have no clue about navigation.

I guess they even cannot distinguish between east and west, nor south and north. Probably the dog's fault. He is using his nose and the moon for navigation and not the compass.

My impression is, they arrived too early in Kiribati for a good story and had a lot of food left, so they decided to drift a while and make it up a little more adventurous and then got lost. Or it was not Kiribati at all where they pop up - who knows. I wonder if there is a log of the journey in their GPS plotter where they have been all the time...

Also to start your journey in a force 11 storm forecast-ed (I mean, all radio and TV stations would warn everybody near the coast to search shelter if such thing is nearby, and in one day they probably they could sail only 50-60nm away). This is really unbelievable.

I guess, the story is made-up to make some noise and marketing a book or a movie to be created...

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Minggat

Having been in the news myself, I can tell you that the spin put on the story by inaccurate reporting was very annoying. News people who have no idea of the real picture got their story in. Done deal for them.

yes, and ( dare I say ) idiots seem to believe it and base their own ( oft entrenched with their own prejudices ) opinions on it rather than carefully consider all the facts.

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Wayfarer1008

Face it , they were not the sharpest tools in the shed!
First they left heading to Tahiti without checking the weather in that storm the damaged a spreader "Bent Bolt"
Second They decided instead of motoring back and fixing the boat to continue on under power to a small Island on the way and fix it there. There they found that the boat was too big to fit into the bay so they decided to keep going.
Third in a squall the motor gets knocked out and was "Not repairable".
So they drifted for 5 months.
Being a person who has lost a spreader while racing off shore I can tell you that its an O-oh moment but if the stick stays up its an easy fix to drop the main and use the halyard as a make shift shroud. You need to reduce sail but its not the end of the world. With the motor as long as you have not water hammered the motor there is no excuse not to having it running.
Put it up to experience but this case these girls did not belong out there.

it would appear that flood damage knocked out the ignition on the dash board disabling the start switch, now I would imagine some hot wiring and jump the starter motor might get the engine started so long as no other power is required and fed throo the now inoperative ignition switch, how many " cruisers " or even posters on here are / would be competent to suss all that out and effect repairs ,, I seem to recal in the onboard interview that they had no charts for the Kiribati area where they tried to enter and knowing that it as reef strewn they wisely decided to stay well clear, for me what seems strange is setting off into a gale and not returning to repair any subsequent damage and also not being able to jury rig the damaged shroud ( bent bolt ) . good on the girls for at least being adequately provisioned for the journey if not properly prepared in other ways... lets not forget the euphoria which they would have been experiencing upon rescue which may well have contributed to some perhaps inaccuracies in their recall.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by Cherod

yes, and ( dare I say ) idiots seem to believe it and base their own ( oft entrenched with their own prejudices ) opinions on it rather than carefully consider all the facts.

I would agree, but I have heard the whole press conference - and no this time it is not the media to be blamed. This girl made this unbelievable story up herself.

- First night at sea and force 11 Storm for 3 days and two nights
- being confident to fight all odds after surviving the storm
- being to big to go to enter Kiribati
- then deciding to go for the cooks islands
- strong current with 10 kn from west
- the danger to enter the devils sea, where sailors go in and boats return without the crew
- using VHF to call nearby fishing vessels with no success
- firing MAYDAY flairs
- Killer tiger sharks lurking around there, investigating and attacking two times the boat
- teaching their offspring how to attack a boat
- battle dolphins with cousins protecting the boat
- so deciding to sail north and return to Hawaii
- having a Geiger counter on board and measuring daily the radiation on the ocean because of Fukushima disaster (I guess they would measure -if any- the radiation on the bikini atoll's nuclear tests instead of the Fukushima fallout) providing their journey's path and the west currents in this region) to make a story about radioactive pollution of the ocean.
- having food for a year on board
- drifting to Japan with no clue

This all was told by the blonde... No media bullsh*t.

I guess either they are really very "bright" or they are some sort of self-empowered green activists caught by the US Navy crossing a forbidden area and made up an excuse story why they were there.

If you look at the rig - nothing wrong there. The mast is up, the spreaders are where they are supposed to be, the sails are not damaged, the vessel floats and has a rudder, there is fuel on board...

[mcdermitt]

did they or did they not have a inreach or spot to use on a long trip if they did why did no one hear it or respond.

[Pelagic]

Hi Cherod,
FYI, Mods are volunteers who are members first and do a great job from turning this site into anarchy.

They have a right to voice their individual opinions and Ann's is highly regarded by the majority.

Before they pull one of your posts, it is a collective decision, not just by the one who communicated with you.

I have had a number of my own pulled and in reflection...it was the right call and I apologized

The majority of the sailing sites do not think this event passes the smell test and what bothers most of us is if someone does this as a publicity stunt and cries wolf, how does that affect the person that really deserves our help and compassion?

[sailorcherry]

Lmao!!!! You must be drinking the same koolaid those gals were downing. You pretty much just tried to call out the kindest, most open minded, reasonable and lastly, seasoned female sailor on CF. It's nice how you are going to bat for your friends but what you just did absolutely discounts your posts.

Good on you for trying to have their backs and give them a voice. However, at the end of the day these ladies had no business being out there at their experience level without xyz equipment that everyone has suggested so they could have properly called for help cuz they don't how to sail or navigate or simply jury rig something fairly minor so they could sail faster than the current. It just all sounds like they are out to get a movie or book deal or whatever. The blond gal, her name comes up on IMDB as an actress....

Originally Posted by Cherod

do you appreciate that what you are doing is slander, what right do you have to publically make such assertions,, as a moderator of this forum I would have thot that at least you would have taken umbrage on the original thread title far less compound on it,,,,, ( in your role as a moderator you have pulled posts of mine for far far less offensive comments.. ).

[moetai]

Un requin a frappé de sa queue mon safran mais c'etait plus pour se deplacer qu'autre chose ,et pourtant un voilier de 6 metres.
Si le gouvernail de ces filles etait cassé ,elles pouvaient quand meme se diriger un peu.
C'est vrai on ne sait pas tout de cette histoire.........

[Tetepare]

Let's get something straight here. Their vessel is not too big to enter "Kiribati". There is not a warship or sailing ship that is too big to enter Kiribati.




Maybe they meant Kiritimati. Noonsite mentions that the entrance to the lagoon can "get silted up" thus perhaps isn't passable, but boats can anchor outside the reef. Christmas Island/Kiritimati —



Now, about winding up near Japan. If the made Kiribati, ocean currents wouldn't take them to Japan.

[alansmith]

Ann, thanks for saying what u did. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. On my way to the boatyard in Napa CBS news stated that the boat had been dismasted. Swear to heavens that is what was touted. Having followed the story... and watching the bizarre the interview from the two women... I just was amused at how off kilter this story has become.

It was strange that the blonde woman kept putting her hand on the dark haired lady's shoulder during the interview. As if to control?

But more important things are occurring here in USA. Like the best World Series game of all time last night. Paul Manafort indicted and surrendered to FBI for conspiracy, money laundering, and false reporting of taxes. He was President Trumps campaign manager. Will this be another Watergate?

So, these two women... happy they survived... perhaps one of the strangest stories in a long long time.

Cherod u have been here long enough to know who are level headed and intelligent. I value the Cate's experience and intelligence ... and Fairness. Ann just said what all of us highly suspect... 'a fishy tale'.

[Cherod]

certainly there are issues which need clarification, but I seem to recall from the on deck interviews that they,, 1 , did not have charts of the Karibati areas so decided due to abundance of reefs not to attempt landfall,,,2 , there was never any mention of the mast falling over or breaking, there was a " bent bolt " in a shroud ( or stay ) which was getting worse and with the mast moving around was decided not to set sails for fear of bringing the whole lot down .

[sandymwp]

now this is funny! I am somewhat skeptical about this whole thing!!!

[sandymwp]

Must have been remembering "Jaws", lol.

[sandymwp]

Must have been remembering "Jaws", lol. Too funny. If they were measuring and counting the sharks....at night.....they weren't too worried about the sharks smelling them, lol. Sailing the Pacific....shouldn't be surprised at the fact that there are sharks out there, lol.