NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Survival At Sea
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2002 Sep 27, 09:13 +1000
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2002 Sep 27, 09:13 +1000
Later in the day I heard that he had been living on his boat in LA. At 62, his chances of getting another boat (= life, in his case, maybe) would seem minimal, which is why he may have been better off with a little practical help, as he requested, rather than having his boat scuttled. Brian Whatcott wrote: > 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!