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Saved after 31/2 months adrift
signonsandiego.com ^ | September 24, 2002 | James W. Crawley

Posted on 09/24/2002 11:57:46 AM PDT by Sweet_Sunflower29

Adrift in his damaged sailboat for 31/2 months, a Long Beach man was found alive by a San Diego-based warship off the coast of Costa Rica – more than 2,500 miles from his home port.

Richard Van Pham, 62, was rescued a week ago by the frigate McClusky and turned over to U.S. officials in Guatemala on Sunday, Navy officials said yesterday.

He survived by catching fish, seabirds and turtles for food and collecting rainwater, said Navy crewmen who found him Sept. 17. Despite losing about 40 pounds and being heavily suntanned, Van Pham was in good condition when found, they reported.

"He's a tough old bird," said Cmdr. Gary Parriott, the McClusky's skipper, in a satellite phone interview yesterday. "I'm not sure I would have fared as well as he did."

Van Pham was dropped off in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, on Sunday when the frigate stopped for a port visit. Efforts to locate him in Guatemala City were unsuccessful last night.

The McClusky's crew collected about $800 to pay the hapless mariner's air fare home.

The incredible story of bad luck and survival began as a short cruise from Long Beach to Catalina in Van Pham's 26-foot sailboat Sea Breeze. A storm broke his mast. His outboard motor and two-way radio also failed.

For unknown reasons, Van Pham was not reported missing by friends, and he told officials he has no family. No search was conducted because no missing persons report was filed, Coast Guard officials said.

Van Pham was spotted 275 miles southwest of Costa Rica when a U.S. Customs Service P-3 drug-hunting plane saw his derelict vessel and asked the McClusky to check it out.

When the warship's boat neared, they saw a man cooking a sea gull on a makeshift grill – the ship's wooden trim supplying the fuel. A jury-rigged sail flapped from a splintered mast.

Hailing the boat in Spanish, Petty Officer 3rd Class Elias Nunez said he was surprised when Van Pham answered, "I don't speak Spanish. I speak English."

Van Pham was equally surprised when the sailors told him what month and day it was and where he was, Nunez said.

The ship's corpsman, Petty Officer 1st Class A.J. Davis said Van Pham was in exceptional health.

Davis spent hours talking to Van Pham, who described bashing sea turtles with a bat as they swam near the boat, hauling the carcasses aboard and then cooking part of the meat while using the remainder as bait for seabirds that would roost on the broken mast.

"This is an amazing story of survival," Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Lance Jones said yesterday. "But it also shows the importance of filing a float plan with friends or family."

If the Coast Guard had known he was missing, a search might have found him much earlier, said Jones.

The most poignant moment came when Van Pham left the Sea Breeze.

"He waved goodbye to his sailboat," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Slaight. "He was upset (that it would be scuttled) and said he was going to miss it."

Unable to fix the sailboat, Van Pham approved its sinking. Crew members torched the Sea Breeze, sinking it in 8,700 feet of water.

"We did it while he was below decks to lessen the blow," Parriott said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
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To: Aquamarine
"They found us."

Yeah, and just when we were getting acquainted!!
Shucks!!

21 posted on 09/24/2002 8:57:41 PM PDT by COB1
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To: Sweet_Sunflower29
USS McClusky (FFG-41)

22 posted on 09/24/2002 9:11:17 PM PDT by Consort
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To: maica
Right on both counts!

Maybe he will write a book called "100 Great Seabird Recipes" and it will be a best seller in the Asian American community.

23 posted on 09/24/2002 9:12:36 PM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: RadioAstronomer; longshadow; PatrickHenry
A little upbeat news for a change...
24 posted on 09/24/2002 9:15:01 PM PDT by Aracelis
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To: Travis McGee
Your 43 days has got my "slighty less" time on a Bermuda 1-2 beat.

I think after the first couple of days it becomes a routine.

Trying to sleep singlehanded under sail is the hardest thing to accomplish. Sleep being a subjective term.

25 posted on 09/24/2002 9:16:15 PM PDT by nunya bidness
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To: patton
Hey, you can drown in a wading pool.

But boats just float, that's what they do, and they don't care if they're tied to a dock or mid Pacific.

Actually, more boats sink unmaintained and unwatched at the dock when a hose connection slowly corrodes apart.

Mid ocean, upkeep of the parts which keep out the ocean is VERY high on your "to do all the time" list.

26 posted on 09/24/2002 9:17:09 PM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: nunya bidness
I talked to God a lot, mostly asking for a chance to sleep. That and praying that the wind vane self steerer wouldn't break unrepairably. (It never did. Sailomat: great gear.)
27 posted on 09/24/2002 9:19:22 PM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: wardaddy
That was Steve Callahan's excellent book "ADRIFT", which is about 20 years old. Another highly spiritual survival story.
28 posted on 09/24/2002 9:21:46 PM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: Sweet_Sunflower29
Yep...he is one tough, self-reliant old coot. No whining that his ordeal was somebody else's fault either.

Melon Labe!

29 posted on 09/24/2002 9:44:38 PM PDT by cake_crumb
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To: Travis McGee; wardaddy; patton
Wonder if Doug Ritter has this story yet on Equipped.org ? He'd be the one I'd like to see debrief the old survivor..........:o)

Stay Safe !

30 posted on 09/24/2002 10:19:06 PM PDT by Squantos
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To: Ramius; Travis McGee
Years ago I got very sick sailing west from the Galapagos. One of the most dispiriting facts about it - wondering if we would make it to land - was the knowledge of the emptiness of that part of the world. Not exactly where the Coast Guard will send out a boat or a helicopter!

(We made landfall in the Marquesas, where they were quite accustomed to greeting yachties in need of medical assistance. they treated me very well.)
31 posted on 09/25/2002 3:53:32 AM PDT by maica
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To: Aquamarine
I guess so!
32 posted on 09/25/2002 4:06:55 AM PDT by Pippin
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To: Travis McGee
MMMMMMMMMMM.....tastes just like chicken.
33 posted on 09/25/2002 4:51:03 AM PDT by MomwithHope
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To: Travis McGee
Will someone please tell me, and pardon my ignorance, how he ended up in Costa Rica when he set sail in the Pacific?? He couldn't have gone through the Panama Canal, so does that mean he went around South America???
34 posted on 09/25/2002 4:53:07 AM PDT by MomwithHope
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To: Pippin; Aquamarine; COB1
Seriously doubt the story as I can't imagine anyone without communication equipment, standard on everything except small open boats one would pull behind or on top of a vehicle.

Several clicks off Belem at mouth of Amazon we had an engine die and refuse to start due to bad fuel on a previous trip, but thanks to the normal help offered by almost all fellow ships at sea we were not alone very long.

35 posted on 09/25/2002 5:05:18 AM PDT by ofMagog
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To: Travis McGee; Poohbah
Weren't there longer tales of survival adrift during World War II?
36 posted on 09/25/2002 5:30:06 AM PDT by hchutch
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To: Sweet_Sunflower29
He survived by catching fish, seabirds and turtles for food and collecting rainwater

Good thing he isn't a vegetarian . Just wait until PETA hears about this.

37 posted on 09/25/2002 6:51:26 AM PDT by NYer
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To: MomwithHope
Costa Rica is in the chain of countries that make up Central America. Just below Nicaragua and just above Panama. It has a Carribean and Pacific coast.
38 posted on 09/25/2002 7:10:12 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: MomwithHope
Costa Rica has several Pacific ports....Punta Arenas and Golfito. I think the current does indeed travel north to south along that coast.
39 posted on 09/25/2002 8:47:54 AM PDT by wardaddy
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To: Hildy
You are not the only suspicious one. 3 1/2 months sailing the Pacific along the coast of CA, Mexico and Central America, and no other vessel comes in contact with him? I just have a feeling that shortly we will be reading that his story is a hoax.
40 posted on 09/25/2002 8:53:42 AM PDT by CdMGuy
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