NavList:

Before we pile on in yet another rush to judgement, be careful that you're not just joining a feeding frenzy. What is the source of the information? Is the track in the Daily Mail article legitimate? Or is it an artist's rendition, intentionally designed to feed the notion of fraud?

As far as I can see, this got out-of-hand for the two women when the USN showed up. They did not call for the "big guns" of sea rescue, and clearly they were in no immediate jeopardy, despite some exaggeration in media interviews (which may be influenced by leading questions and most especially by editing after the interviews). Also, didn't they do the right thing by not activating the EPIRB? Haven't we heard stories where sailors called in rescue by lighting up the EPIRB just because the weather was scary? The EPIRB is supposed to be reserved for immediate peril, right??

As for Bob's suggestion that they were running from criminals or police, sure that's possible! But there are lots of reasons to run away that aren't so nefarious. Maybe they were running away from unpleasant family or romantic relationships. Maybe they were running away from bad debts and planning to sell a book about their adventures as part of the plan to get out of debt. Maybe they were running away from horrible jobs and horrible bosses. Maybe they were just sailing out into the great ocean for the adventure and got a little more adventure than they planned on, and they're covering up for natural embarrassment. And then we can go in the yet-more-nefarious direction... Maybe one of the women wanted power over the other and convinced her that they were "lost at sea" in some stalker snare? Now there's a good movie script. Do it right, and you'll make some cash! In any case, we're still just speculating when it comes to motivations. Myself, I'm not at all surprised that this was a less harrowing tale than the early reports suggested. Those early stories were driven by the expectations and needs of the reporters (and their readers!). The dust will settle, and in a few months the picture should be clearer. And I agree with Brad Morris and a couple of others who pointed out right away that there was no evidence at all that they had a navigation (position-finding) problem. 

Frank Reed