Shipwrecked Sailor on WCVI - True?

Status
Not open for further replies.
sailingdog

sailingdog

.
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Not to mention the sheer stupidity of much of what he did. He left the big boat for an inflatable without "stepping up into the liferaft". Then he abandons the liferaft and most of his survival gear to try and set off across what is basically 20 km of untamed temperate rainforest without securing the liferaft... and if he hadn't returned to the beach in time for the helicopter to spot him, he'd likely be DEAD. He nearly earned a Darwin.
 
Ross

Ross

.
Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
No one should go hungry on a shore line. Did he not have a fire starter? He seems to be lacking in wood craft.
 
sailingdog

sailingdog

.
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
He's not lacking in wood craft...he's lacking in basic common sense.

He doesn't send out a Mayday call before abandoning ship for a life raft.

He doesn't step UP into the liferaft from a boat that isn't sinking AFAICT.

He doesn't secure said liferaft to the beach.

He doesn't grab the survival gear from the liferaft before setting off on an overland adventure.

He tries to cross 20 km of untamed Pacific Temperate Rainforest without any clue as to what the terrain is like between him and his destination.

He's just lucky that he decided to give up on his 20 km hike and went back to the beach in time to be spotted by the helicopter.

Ross said:
No one should go hungry on a shore line. Did he not have a fire starter? He seems to be lacking in wood craft.
Click to expand
 
Jalepeno

Jalepeno

.
Mar 2, 2008
406
Cal 25 mk II T-Bird Marina, West Vancouver
The reports/stories just don't make sense. I suspect they may be drug runners that ran into problems and had to sink thier boat.
 
sailingdog

sailingdog

.
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
True, the weather reports don't mesh with what he is reporting... Max reported winds from a weather buoy nearby were only 29 knots...or good sailing conditions for a well found cruising sized boat.

Jalepeno said:
The reports/stories just don't make sense. I suspect they may be drug runners that ran into problems and had to sink thier boat.
Click to expand
 
druid

druid

.
Apr 22, 2009
837
Ontario 32 Pender Harbour
Yeah, the weather thing's what really doesn't add up. It's often blowing hurricane-force (60+ knots) at The Pope's Nose, but NOT at the time he was out. And if you're heading down Wash/Oregon coast in Feb, you better be prepared for a LOT of upwind slogging, which he clearly wasn't.

AND, one does not buy a boat and head out the next day for a 1000-mile offshore trip (especially in a ferro-cement boat!). Did he even have it surveyed?

And yeah, Basic Survival Skills - matches, lighter, start a fire... and lichens? Why not the more than ample bounty of the sea? Kelp, mussels, crabs... I bet I could make up a right nice chowder with the things I found within 10 ft of his beach (given a knife, a fire and a pot)

Might have been drugs, but I suspect stupidity (My motto: "never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity")

druid
 
J

John Howitt

.
Jul 1, 2007
169
hunter 29.5 Nanaimo BC
Definetly drug runners, or other illegal activity.
There were no storms of the magnitude required to cause what he said happened.
they still had him in custody as of Friday.
The west coast of BC is rough and cold and wet, but food shouldn't be an issue
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top Bottom