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Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Mexican man adrift for 16 months floats into Marshall Islands atoll
Not sure if he was from Baja, but: What an incredible survival story.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/234846/m...
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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woody with a view
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Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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crazy. propellor less ENGINES???
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chuckie
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Not so hard to believe, A good friend of mine lost his prop near Il Defonso. He didnt put the cotter key in, and when he reversed the engine, prop
fell off....he made it to Il Defonso from Mulege ,20+ miles.....Towed him back....Pacifico bill was high...
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Cypress
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Sixteen months adrift? That ought to be a record. Had an inboard-outboard once that had some sort of alignment problem, would strip the gears on the
shaft or spin the prop off. Never did get to the root of the problem.
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monoloco
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Location: Pescadero BCS
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It doesn't make sense that he would be missing more than one prop.
"The future ain't what it used to be"
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Skipjack Joe
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He survived on turtle blood when there was no rain? That's amazing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepac...
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Skipjack Joe
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And this .....
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At sea: As the Ancient Mariner told us in high school, the ocean is the great thirst paradox: “Water, water, everywhere / Nor any drop to drink.” Try
drinking the salt water and you will become violently ill. Instead, try to catch a fish. A huge percentage of a fish’s body is fresh water—just cut
into bite-size pieces and chew ’em like gum, then use the chewed-up bits to attract seabirds. Drinking the blood of one of these, though unspeakably
gross, can keep you alive until the rescue boat comes.
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Ateo
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One would imagine a sense of triumph after finally arriving alive after 16 month. But it's gotta be mixed with sadness for his lost friend. The
family of this man must be stoked. Hopefully the wife hasn't re-married!
 
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Geo_Skip
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Location: Alta California and......../
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This story does not pass the stink test.
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BajaBlanca
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Location: La Bocana, BCS
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What a story to tell your grandkids. Imagine his loneliness after his amigo died. I hope they cover his homecoming, that wd be a sight to see!
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Kgryfon
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It's being reported in other news sources as well:
http://news.yahoo.com/man-washes-marshall-islands-39-16-mont...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/washed-asho...
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bajatravelergeorge
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I'm really hoping he didn't have to eat his buddy.
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BajaNomad
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Some other "fishermen" (out of San Blas) adrift for months in 2006:
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=18773
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
We know we must go back if we live, and we don`t know why.
– John Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
https://www.regionalinternet.com
Affordable Domain Name Registration/Management & cPanel Web Hosting - since 1999 |
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Skipjack Joe
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He's not out of the woods yet. They need to get him off that island and into a hospital. Drinking turtle blood and starvation can be really hard on
some of the organs, from what I've read (liver and kidney). Perhaps EnsenadaDr can provide some information about that.
During the '89 earthquake in SF a highway collapsed, trapping one guy in his car. It tooke them 3 days to find him and extract him. Everyone
celebrated and he appeared to be fine but died a few days later in the hospital of kidney failure I believe. The kidneys were damaged by the absence
of water for 3 days.
I used to just love these sea sagas when I was a kid. Never missed an opportunity to read a book or see a movie on this theme. The last being
Redford's film last month.
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Kgryfon
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So, Skipjack, are you doubting his story? Just curious.
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Skipjack Joe
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No, it probably happened. But there are likely parts of the story that were left out. How his friend died and what happened to his body.
He could not have survived on turtle blood. He must have drunk water that collected on the bottom of the panga. I've been in the tropics when there
was a downpour every single day. He must have floated near the equator. A panga has a fairly large surface area. Bligh and his men got their water by
stretching canvas and catching the runoff in those same tropics (1500 mile journey). I read about a guy that got shipwrecked around the canary islands
and ended up near Venezuela. He would not have survived without the water from those stills. So I think if you're going to be shipwrecked there is no
better place than the tropics. But you have to wonder how much water you need when there is no place to hide from that sun. In addition, he must have
picked up all kinds of parasites by drinking from the bottom of the boat. Parts of fishes and turtle must have worked their way to the bottom. You
can't keep the boat clean because you introduce salt. Yes, his insides are probably in pretty bad shape now.
You have to wonder about the other guy. Any sea survival story when not everyone survives always makes you wonder what really happened. That's why
it's being reported. It's suggestive information.
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Skipjack Joe
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaBlanca
Imagine his loneliness after his amigo died.
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Maybe he had Wilson along.
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Bob and Susan
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i kinda wonder what happened to the tiger and the monkey and the donkey
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Skipjack Joe
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Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Rainfall at Marshall Islands.
GE shows them to be just north of the equator. He must have caught the trade winds. Probably drifted south near the coast and then west into that
great expanse of water.
PS. Just looked up Kon Tiki, who did their trip in 4 months. So I wondered why it took this guy 3 times as long. Well, turns out the (a) Marshalls are
twice as far as French Polynesia, (b) Kon Tiki started out closer to the equator, (c) Kon Tiki raft had runners below the raft which, as I recall,
helped it drift faster?, (d) they had a sail.
[Edited on 2-1-2014 by Skipjack Joe]
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woody with a view
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Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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| Quote: | Originally posted by monoloco
It doesn't make sense that he would be missing more than one prop. |
eggsackly!
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