Rescued After Fifty Days Lost at Sea !

[zeehag]

is still a true lil miracle the fishers found them , as they were not in the usual area they fish.....what they were "up to" is moot at present-they paid a price for their acts--whatever those were..

[Aussiesuede]

Now this makes sense. Teenage boys chasing the punani.

Three lovesick teenage boys disappeared from Tokelau's Atafu Island on October 5 when they sailed off to a neighbouring atoll looking for love. A girl had caught their eye at an island sports event that day.

Asports competition was hosted by the boys' atoll, Atafu, in October. Among the visitors was a girl from neighbouring atoll Fakaofo, who captured the eye of one of the boys. She sailed home after the tournament, and after midnight, emboldened by alcohol, they decided to take the island's newest small boat and visit her 200km to the south.

They had a couple of sacks of coconuts, some beer and a fuel tank.

Boozy teens' midnight trip goes 1300km astray | Stuff.co.nz

[boatman61]

Ahhh... the elusive '********'......

[Cormorant]

When this story broke, I was a bit skeptical -- surviving on one seagull, etc. I figured we were missing some crucial facts, like either they had other food sources, or they had spent part of their 50 days out on a lark somewhere, and only went adrift on their way home or something.

But I must admit that the facts as they've come out so far are damned impressive. They really were adrift for over 50 days. And their only additional food sources were some coconuts and flying fish -- which doesn't add up to much. From all the accounts I've ever read, you're lucky to get an average of one flying fish a day, probably less. That's not much split between three growing boys. No hooks or spears to get the bigger hunks of protein. I'm a little mystified why 20 coconuts only lasted 2 days . . . but aside from that the story all has settled down. Very few people have ever survived so long on so little.

(And the part about leaving drunk in the middle of the night in a small boat to go 100 miles over the sea for a girl -- priceless.)

[imagine2frolic]

Thinking with the little head sure does get one into trouble..........i2f