Boaters Rescued After Five Months at Sea

[KD5NRH]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/28/rescued-women-sailors-not-properly-prepared-hawaii-tahiti

Appel, who has been sailing the Hawaiian islands for a decade, said she had planned the voyage, which should take three weeks, for more than two years but that the pair were perhaps not as prepared as they should have been.

Yup; island hopper who had never needed more navigation than could be done with binoculars and a compass.  Accompanied by someone who had never sailed at all.

Still, that's pretty pathetically unprepared for someone who planned "for more than two years."

I mean, really; I packed a spare chain, three tubes and a tire, plus a moderate set of tools, spare phone batteries and extra phone with no service but an offline nav app for a ~70 mile ride on familiar roads.  I can't imagine going out in the Pacific without at least three completely independent nav methods accurate enough to hit an 80 mile wide island, (Boat's GPS, plus a handheld with spare alkaline batteries, plus a low-end-but-reliable-and-accurate sextant like a Davis Mk 25 and all necessary charts, though even a $50 Mk 3 should be able to get you to Fiji easily - if someone on board knows how to use it.  Now that I think about it, hopping Hawaii, she might not have even had a clue how to do basic course plotting.) plus at least two completely independent medium-to-long-range communication methods.  (And I wouldn't really count an EPIRB as a "communication method" since it's purely one-way, but I'd certainly carry one.  I'm thinking at least the boat's regular transceiver, plus one of the portable HF rigs with self-contained power and a wire antenna stowed in a waterproof, floating case until needed.)

And shark attacks?  With nothing better to do and really nothing to lose, improvise a harpoon.  At least injuring one shark will give the others something else to attack, and you just might get yourself a week's worth of meat.

[Ben]

I'm still not sure how accurately this is being reported.

Given the Guardian link though, the broken mast would explain the great course drift. I continue to be perplexed regarding preps. They consulted with veteran sailors who told them to stock up on food, but again, nobody mentioned any kind of comms, not even just a personal EPIRB? I'm not a veteran sailor, but EPIRBs, sat phones, etc. seem like one of those "common knowledge" things at this point in time, let alone knowledge for anyone who travels out of sight of land. I think USCG even has that kind of stuff in their boating primers. I'd be curious to know if the more experienced of the two had ever taken a USCG boating course.

They are again using the term "water purifier", only this article says that it "broke". I am curious for how long and how much bottled water they had with them. Maybe they were catching rainwater. Given other stuff that happened, I question their ability to repair a desalinator. Perhaps broken wasn't broken (PEBDAS*). Also, "food ran low"? I thought they had enough for a year? Even after the dog food ran out, they should have still had several months at time of rescue.

At any rate, I continue to be interested in new and hopefully more accurate information that comes out on the incident.

*Problem Exists Between Desalinator And Sailor

[RoadKingLarry]

Too many unanswered questions to form a worthwhile opinion.

[Hawkmoon]

The available images don't show a broken mast. The boat is (was?) a sloop, and the mast is still there and upright. They may have broken a shroud -- those are typically at least doubled, or tripled, on a boat that size. If they had lost either forestay or the aft stay the mast probably would not still be up. So I don't understand why they couldn't have hoisted at least the mainsail to a reefed or double-reefed position and had at least steerage way.



I also can't imagine heading off on a voyage like that without a storm jib (very small) and a storm trisail (a small mainsail). When I was in high school I crewed on a 42-foot yawl that mostly just cruised around Long Island Sound and as far north and east as Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and we had a storm jib and a storm trisail in the forward sail locker. They were never used while I was on the boat, but they were there.

[RoadKingLarry]

My assessment of these two intrepid voyagers is still  "clueless".
Still haven't heard a decent accounting of events and probably won't till the rescuees return home.
I wonder how much they'll score off the book and film rights?

[Firethorn]

Lat/long. Tons of apps, including free, so there would be no excuse for them not to have something on their phones. I used to keep the Navionics West Coast charting app on my phone at work so I wouldn't have to bug the boat driver all the time when I was working in the aft lab on one our smaller boats that didn't have mirrored nav monitors in the back. It gave much of the same info he had up front, so he didn't have to listen to me ask, "Are we there yet?" every five minutes. 

Not all phone GPS systems will work outside of cellular coverage because they offload a chunk of the processing to the tower to do.

But yeah, in this day and age NOT having a long range radio and backup for it seems odd.  Even the systems intended for hikers who get into trouble will get a sea rescue into the proper spot easily, and aren't that expensive.

[Hawkmoon]

But yeah, in this day and age NOT having a long range radio and backup for it seems odd.  Even the systems intended for hikers who get into trouble will get a sea rescue into the proper spot easily, and aren't that expensive.

What's the acronym for those hiker-oriented systems? IIRC, technically EPIRB refers to the ones that are intended for use on watercraft and life jackets.

[Edit] Never mind, I found it: PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/personal-locator-beacons.html

[dogmush]

FWIW, EPIRBS are pretty affordable.  Your basic 406Mhz EPIRB w/ Hydrostatic release goes for about $400-$600.  You want the 406 Cat II versions because they have built in GPS and transmit your Lat/Lon as well as the ID signal, and have a 121.5 DF'ing beacon for airplanes to find you.  (121.5 is the aviation ELT freq.)  So there's no real reason NOT to have one if you are doing any kind of medium to long crossing. (2000NM of pacific counts as long)

Reliable SATCOM systems on the other hand can get cost prohibitive pretty quickly.  Satphones are still over a grand with expensive airtime that expires.  On a boat, you'd want an INMARSAT C system, which will run you a couple grand in hardware plus recurring account fees.  It can get cost prohibitive for small boaters in a hurry.

MF/HF radios (of which SSB is a subset) are cheaper, in that there aren't monthly fees and the equipment is a little cheaper, but it can be tricky to get signals to the folks you are trying to get.  You've got to do an atmosphere bounce, and likely will need a pretty decent amp.  I don't use ours very often, but when I do I need to pull out my book to remind me which freqs are likely to work for prevailing atmospherics, and what level of signal strength I need.  I have a 1000W amp on our boat as well.  With all that, and calling someone on a sat phone to tell them to listen, I get useful communication about 75% of the time when calling over 500nm.  It's easy to imagine someone that hadn't tried it much would have a hard time getting help. Newer MF/HF equipment pulls your lat/long from your GPS and has a big red "distress" button on the front, and will automate at least some of that by broadcasting automated distress messages on all the distress freqs.  It still requires someone to hear it, and either respond or relay it.

TL/DR:  There are actually a ton of smaller boats that cruise around out there without really solid coms back to land.  Really reliable coms from the middle of the ocean is still pretty expensive.

[Ben]

Reliable SATCOM systems on the other hand can get cost prohibitive pretty quickly.  Satphones are still over a grand with expensive airtime that expires.  On a boat, you'd want an INMARSAT C system, which will run you a couple grand in hardware plus recurring account fees.  It can get cost prohibitive for small boaters in a hurry.

I recall we rented them from time to time when ours went on the fritz. It wasn't really cheap either, but a viable option for someone who couldn't afford to buy a system. Not that either of these people would have known about that.

[Ben]

Not all phone GPS systems will work outside of cellular coverage because they offload a chunk of the processing to the tower to do.

Mine works fine in the middle of the Sierras and the desert with zero cell signal. The only thing I've ever noticed, watching the GPS status app, is a longer time to lock onto sats.

[Ben]

FWIW, EPIRBS are pretty affordable.  Your basic 406Mhz EPIRB w/ Hydrostatic release goes for about $400-$600.  You want the 406 Cat II versions because they have built in GPS and transmit your Lat/Lon as well as the ID signal, and have a 121.5 DF'ing beacon for airplanes to find you.  (121.5 is the aviation ELT freq.)  So there's no real reason NOT to have one if you are doing any kind of medium to long crossing. (2000NM of pacific counts as long)

IMO, even after, or if, all the information and backstory on this comes out, the EPIRB will be the "lowest common denominator" mistake.  Of all the things they could have bought, or saved money on, or reallocated fiscal resources for, not having the EPIRB will be the major mistake.

Even for nearshore, I'll say they're vital. Back in 2000, we had a 56 footer capsize while pulling a sidescan fish <1/2 mile off Vandenberg AFB. It was a weekend and we would have not known for likely half a day that they capsized had it not been for the EPIRB. Boat flipped and filled with water immediately. the crew barely made it out alive.


Edit: less than, not more than.

[KD5NRH]

But yeah, in this day and age NOT having a long range radio and backup for it seems odd.  Even the systems intended for hikers who get into trouble will get a sea rescue into the proper spot easily, and aren't that expensive.

My tolerance for "it's too expensive" gets lower every time I run across another story excoriating Best Buy for charging an extra $100 for preorders on the $1100 newest iPhone.  $15 for a ham license fee, pass Tech and General at the same sitting (or pay another $15 for another session) then anywhere from $200 for a used single-band 40m, or dual 20/40m if you're lucky, to $2000 for a high-end brand new all-band HF rig.  Maybe it's not guaranteed reliable 24x7, but 40m is solid enough even with a simple wire antenna that you're not going to be drifting around for 99 days trying to get a response.  And of course, your response may be from some random guy in Iceland, but anybody with a phone can relay a message for you.  Heck, there have been a lot of very successful DXpeditions to Tristan da Cunha running only on 20m, and it doesn't get any more middle of nowhere than that.

[RoadKingLarry]

Are you contractually obligated to never go more than 1 week without making a post of detailed BS about a subject you have no knowledge of?

[Northwoods]

Reliable SATCOM systems on the other hand can get cost prohibitive pretty quickly.  Satphones are still over a grand with expensive airtime that expires.  On a boat, you'd want an INMARSAT C system, which will run you a couple grand in hardware plus recurring account fees.  It can get cost prohibitive for small boaters in a hurry.

What about the Garmin InReach (formerly from Delorme)?  It's text messaging rather than voice, but it is 2 way comms, and uses the Iridium network of satellites.

Under $500 new, and around $12-100/month depending on if you get the annual contract or go month to month, and the level of messaging included.

[RoadKingLarry]

Here is one of the intrepid mariners
http://hawaiifilmindustry.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=0t4bwknjr36la&xg_source=activity

Also seeing reports that they had an emergency locater of some sort that they never activated.

Book deal and movie rights in 5...4...3...

[Hawkmoon]

What about the Garmin InReach (formerly from Delorme)?  It's text messaging rather than voice, but it is 2 way comms, and uses the Iridium network of satellites.

Under $500 new, and around $12-100/month depending on if you get the annual contract or go month to month, and the level of messaging included.

More expensive than a PLB or entry-level EPIRB, and is NOT monitored by NOAA, the Air Force, or any search & rescue groups. What it does is allow you to send a text message. Then -- if the person receives the message -- they have to contact someone to get an official report entered and start the search process. If you don't know where you are ... that's a problem. By contrast, both the EPIRB and the GPS-enabled PLB sends on a frequency monitored by NOAA, the Air Force, and (I think) the militaries of a number of other nations. I would much prefer the EPIRB or PLB rather than the satellite message unit.

[KD5NRH]

Ah the old "let me pull some weird *expletive deleted*it out of my butt and post is as if it's a great idea"....

Well, if you must.  Done yet?

Oh look; new info:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/women-rescued-voyage-bad-worse-50753606

They also had a new VHF radio, a ham radio, a weather satellite and a radio telephone. She says none worked, and they apparently had a communications failure with their new antenna.
They even carried a satellite phone that she said never seemed to connect.
She says they had six ways to communicate with multiple backups, and none of them worked. That, she said, "exceeds Murphy's Law."

Yeah, way past Murphy's Law, unless they all got soaked in saltwater, (and anything handheld should either be waterproof or kept in a waterproof case or at least a dry bag when not in use, but I guess her (former) cell phone is proof that concept is alien to her) but well within the realm of "maybe you should learn to use the stuff before you need it."  At any rate, there aren't any licenses issued (current or expired) for anyone named Fuiava, and the only Appel listed in Hawaii is a 60-something guy with a Santa Claus beard on Kauai, (and no Jennifer Appel anywhere, so it's not just a matter of failing to update the address) so safe bet neither of them have any actual practice with whatever ham radio they took.  (And I'd give pretty good odds it was a cheap VHF and/or UHF handheld or mobile with no better range than the marine VHF.  Can't count the number of people who have come to me or my old roommate to show them how to use the converted business band radio they picked up for $50 at the flea market or the Baofeng handheld off Amazon for $35 "for emergencies" without a license or a clue as to what emergency communications will be like if there's ever a situation that takes out the cell towers.  It's right up there with the people who buy a $600+ field hospital kit for the bugout pile but never find the time to take even a basic first aid class.)

More expensive than a PLB or entry-level EPIRB, and is NOT monitored by NOAA, the Air Force, or any search & rescue groups. What it does is allow you to send a text message. Then -- if the person receives the message -- they have to contact someone to get an official report entered and start the search process. If you don't know where you are ... that's a problem. By contrast, both the EPIRB and the GPS-enabled PLB sends on a frequency monitored by NOAA, the Air Force, and (I think) the militaries of a number of other nations. I would much prefer the EPIRB or PLB rather than the satellite message unit.

Yeah; definitely not the time to be stuck with something proprietary.  USCG is good about acting on any even remotely usable information, (and impressive at getting it relayed to the right places if they have enough information to determine where that is) but if you're days from your last reliably known position, all the recipient will be able to tell them is "somewhere on the blue part of the globe."

[Northwoods]

More expensive than a PLB or entry-level EPIRB, and is NOT monitored by NOAA, the Air Force, or any search & rescue groups. What it does is allow you to send a text message. Then -- if the person receives the message -- they have to contact someone to get an official report entered and start the search process. If you don't know where you are ... that's a problem. By contrast, both the EPIRB and the GPS-enabled PLB sends on a frequency monitored by NOAA, the Air Force, and (I think) the militaries of a number of other nations. I would much prefer the EPIRB or PLB rather than the satellite message unit.

Not correct.  The Garmin InReach has an "I've fallen and can't get up" button.  It will also send your GPS coordinates just like a SPOT PLB, or EPIRB.  With every text message.

If you hit the SOS button, you get 2-way text communication with a person at GEOS, the same org that processes signals form SPOT and EPIRBs.  But, with SPOT and EPIRBs you have no way of knowing if the message was received until rescuers actually show up.  The InReach will give you confirmation and the person on the end will also let them give advice and allow you to advise on medical issues so the rescue folks are better prepared to help you.  It will also continually update your position (as long as the unit is able to transmit) until the rescuers arrive.  So even if you're drifting quickly (like in the OP), and it takes a while for the USCG to get to you they'll be able to know where you are (or were in the last 2-10 minutes).

[Hawkmoon]

If you hit the SOS button, you get 2-way text communication with a person at GEOS, the same org that processes signals form SPOT and EPIRBs.  But, with SPOT and EPIRBs you have no way of knowing if the message was received until rescuers actually show up.  The InReach will give you confirmation and the person on the end will also let them give advice and allow you to advise on medical issues so the rescue folks are better prepared to help you.  It will also continually update your position (as long as the unit is able to transmit) until the rescuers arrive.  So even if you're drifting quickly (like in the OP), and it takes a while for the USCG to get to you they'll be able to know where you are (or were in the last 2-10 minutes).

Aha. I sit corrected. Thanks.

[RoadKingLarry]

Don't pass the smell test, getting fishier by the day...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sailors-rescued-after-months-sea-didn-t-activate-emergency-beacon-n815876

[MillCreek]

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/apnewsbreak-lost-sailors-did-not-activate-emergency-beacon/

[Fly320s]

Idiots being idiotic.

The blond woman has crazy in her blood.

[wmenorr67]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/31/sailors-lost-at-sea-for-5-months-never-activated-emergency-beacon.html

“We asked why during this course of time did they not activate the EPIRB. She had stated they never felt like they were truly in distress, like in a 24-hour period they were going to die,” said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara Molle, who was on the call to the AP with Carr.

[Ben]

And more:

Carr also said the Coast Guard made radio contact with a vessel that identified itself as the Sea Nymph in June near Tahiti, and the captain said they were not in distress and expected to make land the next morning. That was after the women reportedly lost their engines and sustained damage to their rigging and mast.

Looks like RKL called it on the book deal.

[RoadKingLarry]

Starting to sound like their story is gonna unravel faster than cheap Chinese sweater.

Sad thing is, a couple of women sailing to Tahiti and knocking about the South Pacific in a sailboat could probably be made into a decent book/movie without the BS lies. Now I suspect that if they did fake any of it they will be shamed in the sailor world and have to fall back on blaming Trump for all their misfortune.