NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Survival At Sea
From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 2002 Sep 25, 23:07 -0500
From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 2002 Sep 25, 23:07 -0500
At 06:23 PM 9/25/02, you wrote: >... the news story on the Los Angeles sailor in his >26' boat who went for a short sail and 3 months later was found adrift but in >fine form off the coast of Costa Rica. This morning on 2 channels heard the >same story, accompanied by pictures and film of interview with Mr Van Pham, >on Sydney TV. Maybe its a slow news day but in any case its a great story. >When he was rescued he had up a jury-rigged sail, meals for the future were >perched, still alive and waiting (sea-birds) on his improvised bowsprit, his >only problem for the medium term seemed to be running out of wooden bits of >his boat to burn for fuel! Have to wonder whether he wasn't better off out >there than back in LA with no boat and no family or friends (apparently). The crew that resued him from his extended day trip to Catalina Island, were so taken with his survival spirit, they took up a collection of a few hundred bucks to help him with his next transition. They said his first impulse was to ask for help in fixing up his vessel so he could sail back himself. They talked him into scuttling the craft. (NPR radio report) Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!