Disabled for 5 months at sea - yikes

That is my question as well, why?

They also said that they went to Christmas Island. They said it was uninhabitable, which isn't true. Even if it was, wouldn't it be prudent to anchor off the leeward side of the island to avoid any potential weather until help arrives? If I had limited propulsion, that's what I would do.
 
There's more to this story... A brand new relationship between these two, one has never sailed and the other is telling her that they are lost at sea and no help available. It sounds almost more like a kidnapping.
 
As soon as I saw this piece on the news, my bull-shit meter went off the charts. Unused EPIRB!? Wow, I hadn't heard about that.
 
I own a PLB and my understanding is (like an EPIRB) there are severe penalties for using it in a non life threatening emergency.......these people looked to be in pretty good shape, not sure they were in life threatening danger? They seemed well provisioned, even the dog looked healthy......Just seems they weren't very good sailors....
 
I own a PLB and my understanding is (like an EPIRB) there are severe penalties for using it in a non life threatening emergency.......these people looked to be in pretty good shape, not sure they were in life threatening danger? They seemed well provisioned, even the dog looked healthy......Just seems they weren't very good sailors....

The woman interviewed felt strongly that the boat wasn't going to make it another 24 hours - not sure why. Also they had gone through 90% of there food. I'm certain if I was powerless and 900 miles from land I would have been breaking out my EPIRB - penalty or not. You are right in that they (including dogs) looked quite healthy for being out 5 months.
 
You're not kidding. As soon as that boat wasn't able to navigate the waters I would have set it off. Did they think they were going to float to Tahiti?
 
Not sure I'd want to spend much time on Christmas Island or Johnston Island either. They were both extensively contaminated by US and British thermonuclear tests in the 50's and 60's. Johnston had a few Thor boosters blow up in the pad with live nukes on top during the Starfish series of nuke tests and that spread Plutonium contamination over a wide area of the island. Not sure how much was removed and how much remains.

 
What some people will do for 5 mins of Fame! I’m calling BS. They should at least be held to pay for the cost of their rescue.
 
A sailor with a blog pointed out that aside from no record of storms, their dodger (canopy) and sails were all intact. The mainsail wasn't even covered. Both sails and the dodger would've been shredded to pieces in the kind of winds they claimed to have endured. The whole shark attack story was embarrassing.

Someone also noted that the boat doesn't look like a 50 footer. I agree. She has a 37 footer documented under the same name as the boat in question...

This could be an interesting movie: a story about a pathological liar and her hoax to get attention.
 
This could be an interesting movie: a story about a pathological liar and her hoax to get attention.
Or:
...a story about a pathological liar and her hoax to get some strange.[/QUOTE]
 
Definitely fishy. Appel has stated they didn't activate the beacon because the boat had remained seaworthy and she never felt they were in imminent danger....until after they'd been towed by the Taiwanese fishing boat, at which point she felt they would have been dead within 24 hours if not located by the US Navy and sent a mayday call.

Wonder if this will just fade away or if the media will keep digging?
 
WTH, adrift for months not in danger?! Then to say they'd have been dead in 24 hours if not found by US Navy!? How is that not in danger? This situation sounds like a hoax all the way around.
 

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