Forty Years After the Rescue

[LittleWing77]

When Steven Callahan left Maine in January 1981 on Napoleon Solo, his 6.5-meter sloop, for a solo sail to the Canary Islands and back to America, he was planning to fulfill a childhood dream and thought he had prepared for all contingencies.

Callahan was 29 when he started what he later described as an “exhilarating crossing” of the Atlantic and made it safely across the sea. On January 29, 1982, Callahan left the Canaries for the sail back to America. The first week of the return journey, Callahan said, “was smooth trade-wind sailing, and when a gale started, I wasn’t too concerned. I knew the boat, and I’d been through much worse.”

Later, on the night of February 4, 1982, something—”probably a whale or a large shark,” Callahan recalled—smashed into Napoleon Solo with a deafening bang and opened a hole in the hull. Callahan was forced to evacuate to a life raft and spent the next 76 days lost at sea, an ordeal he described in greater detail in his book Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea.

Callahan’s life since being adrift at sea has been a mix of highs and even more life-threatening challenges. “While I was stranded at sea, I had a lot of time to think,” Callahan recalled recently from his home in Maine. “I regretted every mistake I’d ever made. I was divorced and felt I had failed at human relations in general, at business, and even at sailing. I vowed that if I was found at sea, I would do a better job with my life.”

To continue reading full report...
Adrift 40 Years Later
https://www.cruisingworld.com/story/...0-years-later/

Scuttlebutt Sailing News
https://email.sailingscuttlebutt.com...FD2F38AC4859C/

[ggray]

Thanks; I'll look at your links.

His book, Adrift, is a great read.

Recently, someone either here or on another forum was debating about getting a liferaft just big enough for him and his crew (maybe slightly bigger).

I started to reply of what Callahan said about his reasoning to have a six man (I think) for just himself, and that he was so happy he did. Ofcourse EPIRBs make for a different situation now. We hope.

Never replied to that thread, but should have.

[LittleWing77]

I just found it fascinating to hear how his life went after the whole ordeal.

It also made me wonder about an acquaintance whose story I recently recounted in the Grab Bags thread (Post #17): https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ms-250528.html

Wonder what she's up to these days...

LittleWing

[Creedence]

That was my first “sailing” book. I’ve bought it a few times over the years- an amazing story of perseverance.

Thanks for posting the links; it’s great to know he’s still out there, and it seems he continues to be an inspiration.

[Valmika]

Does anyone remember another book about an English guy who fixed up an old boat that subsequently started delaminatng on him on a crossing and he ended up getting rescued and scuttled the boat?

[ggray]

Perhaps the story about an American on the return sail from England on an old wooden keelboat that a previous owner had glued a synthetic fabric outside the hull to stem leaky planks? Fabric started peeling off mid ocean, and he had to be rescued.

Boat's name was Toad or something like that.

I enjoyed the book; the author really bared his soul. My books are in boxes so can't find the name at the moment.

[Yellowtulip]

Originally Posted by Valmika

Does anyone remember another book about an English guy who fixed up an old boat that subsequently started delaminatng on him on a crossing and he ended up getting rescued and scuttled the boat?

Sea Change?

https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Change-Ac.../dp/1574092928

If I remember correctly, the boat had Cascover sheathing which came away allowing all the seams to open up.

[Yellowtulip]

Originally Posted by ggray

Perhaps the story about an American on the return sail from England on an old wooden keelboat that a previous owner had glued a synthetic fabric outside the hull to stem leaky planks? Fabric started peeling off mid ocean, and he had to be rescued.



Boat's name was Toad or something like that.



I enjoyed the book; the author really bared his soul. My books are in boxes so can't find the name at the moment.

See my reply toValmika above.

[ggray]

Originally Posted by Yellowtulip

Sea Change?

https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Change-Ac.../dp/1574092928

If I remember correctly, the boat had Cascover sheathing which came away allowing all the seams to open up.

Yes! That's it.

I would never have remembered that title.

[Yellowtulip]

Originally Posted by ggray

Yes! That's it.



I would never have remembered that title.

An interesting read.

[Valmika]

Originally Posted by Yellowtulip

Sea Change?

https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Change-Ac.../dp/1574092928

If I remember correctly, the boat had Cascover sheathing which came away allowing all the seams to open up.

Thank You! it was one of those things that was going to make me crazy trying to remember. If i remember correctly he seemed a bit full of himself.

[Yellowtulip]

Originally Posted by Valmika

Thank You! it was one of those things that was going to make me crazy trying to remember. If i remember correctly he seemed a bit full of himself.

I found him a little self-absorbed, too, but still an interesting read.