HI->Tahiti Dingbats found after 5 months

[longboatman]

At least they were lost on their boat and not on their couch!!

[Custom30]

More like:

Hid safely in a cove for several months of "missing" time.

Drifted and motored for a while to gain proper distance.

Called for rescue, 15 minutes of infamy, then their shot on "Ellen" during the big book tour.

[UAEguy]

Originally Posted by longboatman

At least they were lost on their boat and not on their couch!!

Most likely they spent most of the 5 months on a couch on their boat...so no real difference besides the level of stupidity.

[Steadman Uhlich]

About the "shark attacked my boat" Issue:

The boat had significant growth on it. It was likely just drifting with the current. Objects drifting at the surface like that attract fish, both small fish and then larger predators. Some objects will have a large number of small fish and predatory fish hanging about below or attracted to it.

When Steven Callahan was adrift for a few months, in the Atlantic, his liferaft was often bumped many times by Dorados and even by sharks.

I have read other accounts of lifeboats and life rafts being bumped ("attacked") by sharks.

So, it is not unlikely or far fetched that a Dorado or even a shark would bump "attack" a drifting boat, especially while pursuing smaller fish hiding below it.

[dwedeking2]

Not doubting that sharks bumped the boat. While this happening in a rubber lifeboat would be traumatic, I'm not worried in a fiberglass larger boat. I'm also not worried about them hearing my breathing or smelling me either lol

Joking aside the reaction shows the detachment to real world and led me to the Hawai'i kook comment.

[Suijin]

Seems like there is way too little solid information to render an opinion about what they should or should not have done. Not going to comment on that part of the story until more real facts emerge, if they ever do.

However I find this sort of odd:

"We had survived two different shark attacks and with both of them we thought it was lights out, and they were horrific," said Ms Appel, claiming that a group of seven 30ft-long sharks slapped their tails on the hull of the ship one night.

It seems strange that if you believes your boat was going to be sunk by a school of sharks at night that you would venture up on deck and spend the time counting them and measuring their length. A thirty foot shark would be extraordinary, among the largest ever caught. Seven of them. Heavens.

[SouthernPride]

The book is probably already written. Next they will be looking for a movie contract.
It's a setup for the book and/or movie.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Suijin

Seems like there is way too little solid information to render an opinion about what they should or should not have done. Not going to comment on that part of the story until more real facts emerge, if they ever do.

However I find this sort of odd:

"We had survived two different shark attacks and with both of them we thought it was lights out, and they were horrific," said Ms Appel, claiming that a group of seven 30ft-long sharks slapped their tails on the hull of the ship one night.

It seems strange that if you believes your boat was going to be sunk by a school of sharks at night that you would venture up on deck and spend the time counting them and measuring their length. A thirty foot shark would be extraordinary, among the largest ever caught. Seven of them. Heavens.

I suspect this is a case of mistaken identity.

It was at night. I suspect those could have been Pilot Whales or similar species that have a dorsal fin at the surface, are sometimes about that size, and can come up to very close to a drifting boat. A pod of curious whales came up to about 15 feet of the boat I was on when we were becalmed after leaving Hawaii. You could see their eyes looking at our boat.

At night, smaller Whales like these may have been mistaken as very large sharks.

And other sailors have written that their boats have been tail slapped, presumably by whales, at night.

[Dave22q]

I think I have to join the scam interpretation. Cowering from sharks in a fiberglass boat but willing to cross the Pacific. Really? How many tons of food and fuel (to run the watermaker) did they pack? But it makes a fun 30 seconds on TV.

[alaskaflyfish]

Originally Posted by mindsofman

Personally,,
I think they were going for the "lost at sea "
Record,,,nobody , nobody nobody could possibly
Be that stupid...NOBODY.
Ooops , forgot about Trump...

Please seek out medical help for your Trump Derangement Syndrome. It will help you be a happier, more intelligent person. Cheers

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by danielamartindm

I don't "get" this story at all....I mean, they weren't dismasted, they wren't hulled, they had sails...five months drifting? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

No...Charlie Foxtrot.

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Ney.

Nothing fishy about 5 months' supplies. Supplies to get you to Tahiti (what - a month's trip?) and back, some cruising. Or maybe onward travel - there is no shopping beyond Tahiti and Tahiti can be bloody dear too.

What is odd is the boat not getting there. I bet they got some kind of rudder steering issue or something similar that rendered them control-less.

Or maybe they did not know how to navigate or how to sail it but this would be odd, not fishy.

Cheers,
b.

What is the distinction you seem to be drawing between odd and fishy?

[Ishmael]

Another thing I find strange is that - at least one article said - they didn't start making "distress calls" until nearly two months after they first left Hawaii (May 3). Their trouble apparently began about one month after they left (May 30). They should have been able to reach Tahiti within a month, but didn't - AND they had a dead engine and no ability to sail, and yet they waited another month before STARTING to make their distress calls over the VHF?

[jrau18]

Originally Posted by Ishmael

What is the distinction you seem to be drawing between odd and fishy?

I suspect he is trying to make a distinction between some sort of scam or falsehood for personal gain (fishy) versus just an unusual but innocent story due to very unfortunate circumstances, stupidity, or both.

I'll refrain from judging the two women in this particular case, though, because I can think of some highly-unlikely-but-possible circumstances that could have made the boat pictured impossible to sail to safety in 5 months.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by UAEguy

They claimed a "Group" of tiger sharks attacked their boat!

The tiger shark is a solitary, mostly nocturnal hunter...and typically does not eat 45ft sailboats.

I encountered two tigers and three Galapagos attack a baitball off Lanai during the day. A slow moving boat acts as a FAD, I would be surprised if after FIVE MONTHS! it hadn't created a FAD ecosystem, inclusive of several tigers.

What I think we have here are two special snowflakes who went in search of rainbows and unicorns.