Rescued After Fifty Days Lost at Sea !

[Rangiroo]

Amazing story!!

Missing teenagers found after 50 days at sea - World - NZ Herald News

[ozskipper]

Great news. The Kiwis could do with some cheering up atm.

Cheers
Oz

[Cormorant]

Pretty amazing, but this part of the story surely got garbled in the telling:

"survived by eating a solitary seagull which landed on their small craft"

If you read the accounts of Steven Callahan and Dougal Robertson, they need not only fresh water but also dorados/triggerfish/flying fish/turtles in pretty large quantities to make it. I'm guessing these kids were able to get fish, too. Wonder if they had hooks or spears onboard.

[Cormorant]

Here's a story with a little more detail:

Three New Zealand boys rescued after 50 days lost at sea with no food or water

"According to Fredricsen, the boys were able to survive because they had several coconuts on board and later were able to capture a seagull who had landed on their boat."

But somehow it seems they must have found other food items to survive 50 days. I look forward to hearing more details soon.

[TaoJones]

Another account: Teens adrift in Pacific in tiny tinnie for 50 days - with only raw seagull to eat | Herald Sun.

TaoJones

[imagine2frolic]

Sounds more like sensationalism than true reporting of the facts. Taking a shortcut is rather humorous. Obviously they were eating, and taking in fresh water until the last couple of days. They are lucky a boat came along after only a couple of days of drinking salt water.........i2f

[Cormorant]

Here's a link with a picture of the boys, post-rescue:
Tokelau teens adrift for 50 days | Stuff.co.nz

I wonder if they aren't hiding a part of the story. Perhaps it started out as a run-away-from home adventure and they island-hopped for a while. Then only in the last couple of weeks they went adrift. That's how I imagine it would have unfolded in my teenage years. Get in trouble, then lie like hell in the face of all evidence to the contrary. . . .

[DWT]

The true meaning of "Being out there in the middle of nowhere!"

Three lucky kids.

David

[Ben M-P]

Glad they were rescued.

I wonder how many coconuts they had.

[Cormorant]

Here's a slightly updated AP story, which mentions catching fish as well.

After 50 days adrift, 3 teens rescued in S Pacific

As for how they got started, it says: "The boys . . . disappeared while attempting to row between two islands in the New Zealand territory of Tokelau"

Also this: "Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo, picture-perfect South Pacific islets, lie 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Samoa, surrounded by 128 mostly uninhabited coconut palm-covered islets"

So it's possible they made landfall a few times to stock up on coconuts and set out again.

I think all sailors must have a curiosity burning in the back of our minds about survival situations like this. What is it that allows some people to last for weeks and months, while others don't? I look forwarding to learning more about these guys.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

I think all sailors must have a curiosity burning in the back of our minds about survival situations like this. What is it that allows some people to last for weeks and months, while others don't? I look forwarding to learning more about these guys.

Refusal to despair... ingenuity... the ability to improvise

[Cormorant]

I agree it's usually a combination of attitude, smarts . . . and some weird combination of gear.

Callahan ("Adrift") was a great improviser, but without his two solar stills, he would have died of thirst in the first few weeks (not enough rain in the mid-Atlantic). He also would have had a very hard time catching fish if he hadn't stowed a speargun in his ditch bag. After over a month of drifting he entered the outskirts of the Sargasso Sea and could haul in patches of seaweed that had baby crabs and shrimp, which augmented his diet. He drifted 76 days all the way to Guadeloupe.

The Robertsons ("Survive the Savage Sea") might have survived 37 days without their gaff hook, as they did catch turtles by hand, but the gaff allowed them to "spear" dorado with an upward motion. I recall some of those dorado held them over in times of no turtles.

I think in both cases the dorado were way too strong for any fish hook and line that had been on board the raft. For stocking your raft you should include wire leaders and 100-lb line and some big hooks.

Of course now in the day of satellites communications and EPIRBs, the odds are less that anyone will be in this situation, but you never know.

It sounds like these boys had very little gear, if any. So I'm especially curious to hear their story.

[Cormorant]

Just following this story a little more. Seems some other people might have questions about the 50 days these boys have been missing:

Rescued teens on way home - south-pacific - world | Stuff.co.nz

While the rescue has prompted international headlines around the world, there is an intense local story which Nasau conceded was raising questions.



Nasau said there were rumours about what the boys had really been up to.



"I was concentrating on their safety and there will be time for investigation later."



“There are always rumours, I am not sure if it was true. They will have to answer some questions when they get back.”

[mbianka]

I Love happy endings especially when they happen at sea. Seems three lads survived 50 days in a 14 foot aluminum boat in the South Pacific. I think living on an atoll allowed them to have those survival skills. I doubt they spent much time playing video games as kids in other countries do. Impressive stuff for fourteen year olds!
BBC News - Three teenagers arrive in Fiji after Pacific ordeal

[boatman61]

Just seen footage of these lads arriving home.... for you 'cynics' out there... dunno what you think they were up to... if anything other than what they say..
But they've obviously gone to extraordinary lengths to look emaciated and weak to back up their tale...