Three boys adrift in Pacific for 50 days found alive

[Harborless]

Just ran across this story and felt like it was worth putting up here.

BBC News - Three boys adrift in Pacific for 50 days found alive

[Sixpoint]

Wow. Seems that if one looks around, one can often find people doing the "impossible."

Good on them for not giving up.

[chall03]

I bet they never wanna see another coconut ever again

[sailingdog]

Of course, if they had been in a sailboat, they would have had other options than just drifting when the engine gave out.

[seabreeze_97]

Yeah but if a sailboat, then the courts get involved, the parents are accused of neglect. Can't have that can we?

[Harborless]

I was reminded of this story this morning when I caught the last part of a National Geographic show, I think it was called something along the lines of 'Lost at Sea.'
Basically, some Aussie decided it would be a good idea to attempt a crossing from New Zealand to Tasmania via the Tasman Sea (Really the Southern Ocean since it is below 40 lat) in a sea Kayak. The Aussie was not as lucky as the boys. He was capsized by a wave 30 km from the shore and a bubble of some sort that had been constructed to keep him afloat in case of damage to the Kayak acted as a keel when the kayak was flipped over making it impossible to right.
It was sad to hear his last message.. He was calling for a rescue saying he was going down. They found the Kayak flipped upside down and never recovered the Aussies body.

Sometimes we make it, and sometimes we get burned.

[seabreeze_97]

That's interesting you would mention that story after I made a tongue-in-cheek jab at the morales of allowing teens to sail on their own. I remember the story of the Aussie and I gotta say I thought it was pretty selfish of him to take such a risk. He left behind a wife and an infant son. Then I thought, well, it was his life, who am I to judge? He could've dropped from an embolism or been hit by a truck the next day. I guess it's better to die in pursuit of a dream than to die in safe mediocrity.

[Fstbttms]

Maybe it's just me, but something smells fishy to me here, no pun intended. I ain't buyin' it.

[jrd22]

50 days is a long time to survive on some coconuts and one sea bird.
The mother of one of them said:

"She said she thought the boys might have been trying to SAIL to Australia or the US."

But in the article it said they were in a small aluminum boat. Strange.

[Harborless]

Originally Posted by seabreeze_97

That's interesting you would mention that story after I made a tongue-in-cheek jab at the morales of allowing teens to sail on their own. I remember the story of the Aussie and I gotta say I thought it was pretty selfish of him to take such a risk. He left behind a wife and an infant son. Then I thought, well, it was his life, who am I to judge? He could've dropped from an embolism or been hit by a truck the next day. I guess it's better to die in pursuit of a dream than to die in safe mediocrity.

I agree with the pursuit of dream argument, but I feel he was asking for death. He was not intelligent in his pursuit. I will never knock someone for trying to climb Mt. Everest because it is there dream, but if they tell me they plan on doing it without oxygen tanks... You get the idea. Crossing a portion of the southern ocean in a Sea Kayak is less-than-responsible. This rings especially true when you have a family.

I am an adventurer at heart. I want to sail the Horn one day, I want to climb to the Tibetan plateau and I hope to be able to spend a few weeks in the bush of the Yukon. I will not try to sail the horn in a dingy, or climb the plateau in a pair of sweats, or attempt to survive alone in the bush with no radio. I feel sorry for the Aussies family, but I can't lie about my feeling; he was asking for it.