Posted on 05/28/2006 6:10:43 PM PDT by Pokey78
The headline writer.
I am too old to climb Everest and always fell off of sail boards. The one that it was done on was about 20 feet long and had a small hatch were the guy could go down and sleep when he wanted to rest. He also had an escort that stayed with him all the time. The trip is actually very easy. There is plenty of rain water and fish. The trip has also been done twice in rubber rafts, once on purpose and once by a guy who abandoned his sail boat. However the sailboat didn't sink and beat him to the other side by about a week.
Another reason not to go into the used yacht business in Barbados.
There were 50 people on a 20-foot yacht?
Cue the Theremin.
According to the story: The story of the 11 dead and some 40 other would-be immigrants . . .The yacht drifted into the stormy Atlantic and, it is assumed, people were tossed or washed overboard as they died.
"French design?"
Given that the boat is in remarkably good condition, I'd say that was a bit of a compliment.
These are also known as phantom ships. In days of old, many men died plying the seas, but their ships just kept sailing (or drifting) the blue until they were discovered.
Remember the dog that spent several months at sea on a deserted ship? I saw something about it on Animal planet the other day.
Poor survival skills.
There had to have been something aboard they could have rigged a still out of for water and they could have fished.
You can make a still out of 2 empty 2 liter jugs if you need to.
If the "impoverished" of the world would work half as hard to fix their own countries as they do to take the "easy" way out we would ALL be so much better off!
Might be hard on the dictators and corrupt looter Gov. Org's of the world, but that would be just fine with me.
Maybe if we deport 3/4 of the invaders who have experienced life in the U.S. they can begin the necessary revolutions.
Or is that what the one worlders and open border lobby really fears?
These "immigrants" keep pleading abject poverty and hardship, but come up with thousands of dollars to pay smugglers.
Maybe they should pool their resources at home instead?
Rant off.
What about that guy who wrote the book "Adrift?" He abandoned his sailboat as well, but I don't remember hearing that the thing didn't sink. IIRC, he also floated up to Barbados, skinny and sick, but alive.
I wanted to do that trip in a sailboat too, but don't think I'll find time, or at least there are other priorities.
When does it go to auction on eBay?
Sell for more, or less, with it's grisly history?
There are good boats built in France, weirdly. According to Patrick O'Brian, author of Master and Commander, etc., that has been the case in the past as well.
That is the incident I am talking about. Nope the boat made it across without sinking. When he got in is raft, the tow line broke. This is why he didn't get all of his supplies from the boat.
If you ever do go off shore, if you are smart, you will carry your life rafts below deck. They usually get torn off if you carry them on the deck.
Make the trip and carry a lot of cameras. Some times you can sign on with other people. I met several people taking two or three years out of their lives. You will never regret it. The hardest part will be coming back to the world.
What did the dog eat for several months while at sea on the deserted ship?
When I was at DLI, I used to sail a Rhodes 19 all over Monteray Bay. I always went point to point out of sight of land.
I once read a book by two Brits who had a boat simular to the Rhodes 19. They sailed it all over the world and did not write their book until books started coming out about sailing. They saw no big deal with it. They ran a 2 X 4 down the open cockpit and stretched a canvas across it.
It appears to be a hard chined, steel boat. They are quite popular in Europe.
There would have been enough flying fish on board to keep the dog alive every morning if they were in the right place plus it rains enough to keep you going.
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