I can’t wait.
Month: November 2017
Zeus and Valentine, Hawaii Sailors’ dogs, are back in the USA by Linus Wilson
The most popular members of the Sea Nymph crew, the dogs Zeus and Valentine, are back in the USA after their long boat ride and Navy rescue. Jennifer Appel, the owner of the abandoned SV Sea Nymph told Slow Boat Sailing on the bonus episode to Episode 42 of the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast that they were staying in Long Island, New York. The crew of Zues, Valentine, Ms. Appel and Tasha Fuiva were rescued by the US Navy’s USS Ashland approximately 900 miles from Japan. The two women and two dogs were dropped off in Okinawa, Japan on October 30. The women appeared on the Today Show in New York City on November 8, and the dogs have been in the USA ever since.
Public Domain US Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan R. Clay: Tasha Fuiava, right, and Jennifer Appel, both from Honolulu, with their dogs Valentine, left, and Zeus, answer questions during a media call next to USS Ashland (LSD 48) Commanding Officer Cmdr. Steven Wasson in the captain’s cabin.
“They are with us.” said Ms. Appel. Ms. Appel spoke to Slow Boat Sailing on October 25, 2017, on Skype from Long Island, New York. “I stayed with them in quarantine in Japan,” she continued.
“We cannot get back into Hawaii until they have gone through two rounds of rabies shots and their titers,” said Appel. She continued, “We did not leave them. If you leave, you abandon a dog there [Japan], they euthanize it.”
The dog’s cannot return to Hawaii until at least 60 days from landing in Japan. Nevertheless, depending on when the rabies shots were began, and whether their 5 months at sea is classified as a “short” or “long” trip the necessary waiting period shots and tests could take four to six months according to a FAQ from the Maui humane society.
Ms. Appel had nothing good to say on the podcast about New York except, “It’s New York.” I guess she won’t be buying one of the heart symbol t-shirts while she is waiting to return to Oahu, Hawaii.
Ep. 42: Rescued Hawaii Sailor Jennifer Appel Talks About Cruising in Her Two Doomed Boats with Linus Wilson on the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast
Jennifer Appel talks about her ten years of sailing prior to her rescue by the USS Ashland on October 25, 2017, about 900 miles from Japan. She confirms that her boat was a Charlie Morgan designed Starratt and Jenks 45 sailboat despite her assertions to the media it was 50 feet long. She talks about the wreck of her Coranado 34 sailboat in 2012 and the hull modifications that she made to the SV Sea Nymph which she abandoned on October 25, 2017. This skype interview was conducted while Appel and Tasha Fuiava were in Long Island, New York just after Thanksgiving 2017.
Public domain photo by Petty Officer, 3rd Class, Jonathan R. Clay, US Navy. Jennifer Appel on the USS Ashland in Japan.
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In the patron-only bonus interview Ms. Appel tells Slow Boat Sailing that her boat lacked charts which would allow her to see the depths in the anchorages in Christmas Island, Kiribati, the northern Cook Islands, and Wake Islands. She has said they passed close to all three places after their spreader was damaged without stopping.
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Check out our latest video about “How to make a sailing video that does not stink!!!”
In that video you’ll get the first glimpse of our new male, toy poodle, puppy Avery (apricot). We also feature our recently passed male, toy poodle Daly (black) who in his 11 years sailed 6,500 nm, sailed to the Bahamas, Cuba, Panama, Ecuador, and in French Polynesia. He transited the Panama Canal and crossed the equator in our 31-foot sailboat. Daly will star in many yet to be released episodes of season 2 of Slow Boat Sailing in French Polynesia. We visited places like Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva, Moorea, and Tahiti together in season 2. He will be missed.
(c) Linus Wilson, 2017
Vermilion Advisory Services, LLC
Rescued Hawaii Sailor Left for Tahiti without Charts for Islands on the Way by Linus Wilson
Jennifer Appel told Slow Boat Sailing that she lacked large-scale island or harbor charts on board the SV Sea Nymph, which would have allowed her to see the depths in the anchorages they passed up. In our patron-only bonus episode to the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast episode 42, Jennifer Appel tells how she hated electronic charts and lacked electronic charts for the South Pacific.
In an e-mail exchange the author asked Ms. Appel, “Did you have paper charts for Christmas Island, Kiribati and the Northern Cooks? Did you have a paper chart for Wake Island?” All those were islands that Ms. Appel has said the SV Sea Nymph passed by on their 5 month journey ending in a US Navy rescue. Ms. Appel replied, “I had overall charts for those locations but none that were island specific.”
Photo credit: Public domain US Navy photo by by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan R Clay. Jennifer Appel with her dog on the USS Ashland in Okinawa, Japan.
“What I have learned about GPS’s is that sometimes they do not match exactly what the paper chart says. You can have things in the Garmin that are five miles away from where they actually are in reality. So my experience has been to always use paper charts as the law, and use the GPS as a secondary backup,” Ms. Appel said.
Slow Boat Sailing asked, “So the Garmin chart plotter with the screen did it have charts loaded on it or no?”
“Yeah,” replied Ms. Appel.
“It did. It did have charts. Did you get the charts for French Polynesia before you left?” asked Slow Boat Sailing.
“I think actually it had the entire Pacific Ocean to the California coast over to about the end of the Hawaiian Islands on it.”
Garmin chart plotters only have charts for the areas purchased by the owner. For example, the chart card named “VUS021R BlueChart g2 Vision West Coast Hawaii California-Mexico SD Card” does not cover French Polynesia, the Cooks, Kiribati, or Wake Island.
“So, like I said, the handheld [Garmin GPS] never quit. It always had a battery backup it was wonderful. The big one [Garmin GPS chart plotter] would quit because I have no idea why and we would just reset it and just turn it back on, but 100 percent of the time we use paper charts.”
Many times the electronic charts are identical to paper charts. It just depends on if the electronic chart used and the paper charts on board the vessel. For example, the USA and the UK have different paper charts that may be used for electronic charts. Navionics uses chart plotter soundings to update some of their electronic charts. Many paper charts were drawn prior to GPS positioning and are over a century old. Thus, large chart errors are possible whether they are paper or electronic.
Ms. Appel told Slow Boat Sailing that she did not have any electronic charts on the hand-held Garmin GPSMAP 76cx that she had on board.
She also told Slow Boat Sailing that she had never looked on her past bread crumb trail on the GPSMAP 76cx. She asserted on a Today Show interview with Matt Lauer that the handheld GPS would prove that they were not near Tahiti on June 15. The USCG said it made radio contact with the Sea Nymph. Ms. Appel told Slow Boat Sailing that the memory storage on the unit was unlikely to keep records that far back.
This bonus episode 42 of the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast is part of an interview exclusive to Slow Boat Sailing. To our knowledge, this is the first time Jennifer Appel has been interviewed by a sailboat owner since being rescued by the US Navy.
This interview highlight’s Ms. Appel’s lack of familiarity with much of the electrical navigation and communication gear on her boat. For example, Ms. Appel talks about the gear on board and often uses marine brand names to refer to pieces of electronics, assuming they manufacturer only makes one type of gear. Appel mentions that “ICOM” was an SSB. ICOM is an electronics manufacturer that makes both VHF and AIS transeivers in addition to SSB units. A similar exchange happens when Appel refers to “Furono,” which was the Sea Nymph‘s radar. Furuno makes GPS, fish finders, and chart plotters in addition to radar domes.
Ms. Appel has repeatedly said that she paid someone to install much of the new electronic gear. In this interview, she says, “I wholeheartedly espouse what Don Casey says in This Old Boat. You need to do your own work and don’t trust other people to do it for you. Because once they do something if you have no idea what they have done, then, by the time you realize there is a problem, you are so far behind the eight ball trying to fix it. You might not even have the parts.”
Ms. Appel said, “The two things that I was not good at or had not had a large amount of expertise in were the rigging and the communications.”
How to Make a SAILING VIDEO that DOES NOT STINK!!!
Face it! Most videos that are uploaded on the Tube are AWFUL! A few simple tips can get you on the path to making VIRAL VIDEOS about SAILING that people ACTUALLY WANT TO WATCH. Linus Wilson talks about the top 5 keys to making a great sailing video.
They are editing, story, audio, cameras, and steady camera work. Uploading unedited video clips is a recipe to drive even friends and family from your videos. Pictures (no matter how scenic are boring unless they tell a story.) You cannot tell a story if your audio is poor. Too few creators record audio at the editing stage and rely exclusively on audio recorded when the cameras are rolling. Your cell phone is probably a great camera to start out with. Most folks will want a waterproof action camera like the Fluid + Form Eagle 4k Action Camera (link is below) that we unbox in this video to take underwater or wet shots. Finally, you must, must, must hold your camera steady so your viewers don’t get seasick. A tripod can really help out with this.
We filmed part of this video in our home port of New Orleans, Louisiana, but many other shots were from French Polynesia where SV Contango, The Slow Boat, is currently located. We used to have a boat in Orleans Marina in NOLA.
You get the first glimpse of our new male, toy poodle, puppy Avery (apricot). We also feature our recently passed male, toy poodle Daly (black) who in his 11 years sailed 6,500 nm, sailed to the Bahamas, Cuba, Panama, Ecuador, and in French Polynesia. He transited the Panama Canal and crossed the equator in our 31-foot sailboat. Daly will star in many yet to be released episodes of season 2 of Slow Boat Sailing in French Polynesia. We visited places like Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva, Moorea, and Tahiti together in season 2. He will be missed.
We use a Mantus Anchor and swivel on our boat. Get all your Mantus gear at
http://www.mantusanchors.com/?affiliates=15
Mantus Anchors is a corporate sponsor of this episode.
Support this channel for great rewards:
http://www.Patreon.com/slowboatsailing
Patrons of the round the world vlog and podcast get bonus podcast episodes and free audiobooks of How to Sail Around the World Part-Time and Slow Boat to Cuba. They get never before released audiobook chapters of Slow Boat to the Bahamas. You can also get access to many podcasts and videos early as a patron.
Slow Boat to the Bahamas
Slow Boat to Cuba
and
How to Sail Around the World-Part Time
have been #1 sailing bestseller on Amazon.
Associate Producer, Anders Colbenson
Support the Slow Boat Sailing vlog and podcast at
https://www.patreon.com/slowboatsailing
(c) Linus Wilson, 2017
Vermilion Advisory Service, LLC
US Air Force Confirms Part of Hawaii Sailor’s Story about Hailing Wake Island by Linus Wilson
Very little of the timeline and itinerary given by Hawaii sailors Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava prior to October 24, 2017, on the 45-foot, SV Sea Nymph sailboat has been confirmed at this point. The US Air Force base at Wake Island in the North Pacific confirms to the author and Slow Boat Sailing that US Air Force personnel did have radio contact with the SV Sea Nymph on October 2, 2017. The North Pacific atoll is approximately 1,000 nautical miles east from where the women and their two dogs were rescued by a Taiwanese fishing vessel. That means the SV Sea Nymph averaged about 2 nautical miles per hour over the roughly three weeks until they accepted a tow from Taiwanese fishing vessel.
Public domain photo by Anthony J. Rivera, Navy Media Content Services, on October 26, 2017: Four F/A-18C Hornets fly in formation over Wake Island and the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt during a U.S. Navy Heritage event for the crew.
Ms. Appel and Ms. Fuiava said they set sail for Tahiti from Honolulu on May 3, 2017, and never touched land until after they were taken off Ms. Appel’s sailboat on October 25, 2017, by the US Navy’s USS Ashland approximately 900 miles east south east of Japan. Their account has been questioned after they described a “three day” force 11 storm at the start of their trip that could not be found in weather records. Further, they described sharks bigger than have ever been before measured. The Associated Press reported that a US Coast Guard’s VHF call put them just outside Tahiti on June 15, 2017, when they claimed to be over 1,000 miles to the northwest of Tahiti at that time.
In e-mail communication with the author, Ms. Appel said she was next to Wake Island on October 1. Wake Island has a US Air Force base and a landing strip sometimes accommodating commercial flights. The US Air Force in an e-mail exchange with Slow Boat Sailing said the fire department personnel received her call on October 2, 2017, at 6:35 A.M. local time. “She relayed her antenna was broken and a partial coordinate. She was seeking to harbor in the Wake Island Marina, which was approved. Communication was in and out,” wrote Mr. Tommie W. Baker, Chief of Community Relations for the Eleventh Air Force.
Ms. Appel has wrote the following on her Facebook page on a November 12, 2017, post, which she said was sent to media outlets on November 1:
“Please keep in mind that Wake Island could have towed us less than 3km into their turning basin and the fishing vessel/Navy rescue would never have happened. We would have replaced the broken rigging with the rigging replacements we had on board while in the safety of a harbor and gotten motor parts and a new antenna then would have continued on our journey with no press involved.
We were close enough to the reef at Peacock Point to have discussions with`Big Island` on Channel 16 at Wake Island and they responded that they were aware we needed assistance. That factoid is actually pretty impressive because we had navigated over 2000 miles to reach a 7.4km island in the literal `middle of nowhere` at roughly 19 degrees North and 166 degrees East.”
Mr. Baker of the US Air Force wrote that they did not tow the SV Sea Nymph because they were, “Unable to locate their craft.” Further, he wrote that the Air Force “was not aware of the vessel being adrift. Island personnel passed all information gathered to the USCG.”
The USCG in Honolulu’s Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara A. Molle declined to comment on their communications with the US Air Force at Wake Island, saying “this case is now closed”.
The author has examined the chart and the channel on the west side of the island, which was little under 100 feet wide. Thus, it is the author’s opinion that sailing a 45-foot cruising boat into that channel would be very risky and difficult for a crew of two under ideal circumstances. Ms. Appel asserted that the engine did not work since late May 2017. Slow Boat Sailing found that the US Navy was also unable to start the sailboat’s engine when the two women and two dogs were rescued on October 25, 2017. Nevertheless, the shelf outside the channel could be used to anchor in while the crew waited for assistance or took their tender to shore to get help.
The one-day discrepancy in the date of the US Air Force could be due to Ms. Appel not adding an additional day to her log entries when she passed the international dateline at 180 east longitude. Wake Island is at approximately 166.6 east longitude. Alternatively, they could have sailed near the island for multiple days.
Taiwanese Fishing Vessel that Rescued Hawaii Sailors is Never Asked to Comment on Appel’s Allegation “They tried to kill us during the night.”
Below is a Google translation of a selections of a Taiwanese news article. The lazy, English-speaking journalists print Ms. Appel’s allegations over and over against her rescuers without attempting to contact the persons on the fishing boat. There are at least half a dozen different stories repeating Ms. Appel’s nutty allegations without attempting to contact the fishing boat skipper or his company. Ms. Appel told the lazy journalists at NBC:
“’The Taiwanese fishing vessel was not planning to rescue us,’ she continued. ‘They tried to kill us during the night.’” This is the same NBC news who failed to look at the tracks on her Garmin when she waved it in Matt Lauer’s face and said she it would prove her story.
The Taiwanese fishermen lost over 24 hours of time fishing assisting Ms. Appel and Ms. Fuiava after they waved white flags at them and asked for help. This is the fullest account from the Taiwanese side of the story that I have seen. If you are a journalist covering this story, act like one and ask Mr. Changli or Su Zhenije for comment.
“Until the 99th day, Taiwan fishing boat Feng Chun 66 finally found them. Fengchun Fishery, a shipping company, said that Captain Chen Changli (50s) went out to sea in the fishing port of former town on the 10th of this month to work in the North Pacific Ocean. At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, in the waters near 930 miles Southeast of Tokyo, Japan, two woman sitting on a sailboat waving white flag shouting: ‘Help! Help’.
Chen Changli asked to know the sailing boat lost its momentum and had drifted for five months, at a distance of 4350 km from their original destination, Tahiti. Chen told them to board a satellite phone service to call their families safe and provide food and water. Afterwards, they notified the Fisheries Department and the Fisheries Department of liaising with the U.S. through the National Rescue Command Center of the Executive Yuan.
Su Zhenjie, director of the State Counseling Center, said after receiving a notification from the Department of Fisheries at 12 noon on Tuesday, he immediately contacted the Coast Guard of the U.S. overseas territorial island of Guam and the rescue center of Japan after he assisted in the translation process through satellite telephones. In the end, the position of the sailboat was locked by the U.S. Navy’s USS Ashland stationed in Japan and arrived at the scene at 8 am on Wednesday.
Feng Chun’s staff said Chen Changli originally planned to escort 2 women and dragged the sailing boat to Midway Island. However, the hull condition of the sailing boat was too poor. Chen Changli was worried about the danger, and the U.S. military had already given his assistance. Therefore, regardless of the possible damage caused by the delayed work, Wait until U.S. warships approached safety on Wednesday before leaving.”
Ms. Appel initially told reporters that the crew of the Taiwanese fishing vessel that they were “kind,” before she told the sorry excuses for journalists at NBC “they tried to kill us.”
See the full article at https://tw.news.appledaily.com/international/daily/20171028/37828382/ and press translate on your browser or run it through Google Translate.
A video version of the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast’s episode 41 with commentary on some of the Daily Mail allegations is above.
Matt Lauer Questions Hawaii Sailors Back in the USA on the Today Show
The rescued Hawaii sailors are back in the USA (NYC), talking to the Matt Lauer on the Today Show on November 8. Matt says he’s a “boater”. Ms. Appel changes her story to say they were not “allowed” to enter Christmas Island, Kiribati. I actually checked with Christmas Island and they have no record of the Sea Nymph checking in.
Ms. Appel was touting their Garmin GPS and Katdyn Watermaker. We are all looking forward to her proving where they traveled with her handheld GPS! I really hate my life raft Katydyn watermaker bought new in 2016, because it puts out salty water. My Katadyn powersurvivor stinks and I plan to put it in the garbage before leaving Tahiti. I’m glad somebody got some decent use out of the thing. Ms. Appel said she had two and one broke down. (That was my problem. I did not have two!) Micheal Parker of Parker Marine told me that gave her one salvaged off her wrecked boat the SV FSOW that broke up in February 2012.
My video looking at the 6 biggest problems with the rescued Hawaii sailor’s story is below:
Engine Problems Totaled Two Sailboats Owned by the Woman Rescued by the US Navy Off Japan by Linus Wilson
When Jennifer Appel abandoned her SV Sea Nymph, a 50-foot sailboat in the North Pacific on October 25, 2017, she was urged to do so because US Navy rescuers could not restart her sailboat’s engine. On January 25, 2012, at 2:00 PM, Ms. Appel lost her 34-foot sailboat when the outboard engine failed, and the boat hit the rocks just outside of Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, according to Clifford Inn of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Photo of the wreck of Jennifer Appel’s SV FSOW on January 25, 2012, taken by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Ms. Appel became an instant international celebrity when she and her crew member, Tasha Fuiava, and their two dogs, Zeus and Valentine, were rescued by the USS Ashland (LSD 48) an amphibious US Navy ship doing maneuvers near Japan. They were rescued thousands of miles off course despite having sails in good condition, a mast upright, and a working GPS unit.
The women reported setting off 10 flares, waving a white flag, and making distress calls for 98 days despite telling the USCG in a survivor debrief that they had a working EPIRB. An EPIRB, if activated, can notify rescuers immediately of a survivor’s location. Ms. Appel has said that their boat was not going to sink within 24 hours until after they were towed by a Taiwanese, fishing vessel 900 miles off Japan. Ms. Appel made a distress call by satellite phone on the fishing vessel. She said they departed for Tahiti from Honolulu on May 3, 2017. When Ms. Appel was rescued, her boat was thousands of miles west of her home port when Tahiti lies 2,600 miles to the south, southeast of Honolulu, Hawaii.
“Ashland crew members inspected the sailboat’s engine and determined it could not be fixed without parts. This information was provided to a Coast Guard official via telephone, who then recommended taking the mariners on board. The Commanding Officer of the ship concurred, and the mariners were brought to Ashland,” wrote Lt. Commander Adam Cole, Public Information Officer of the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, Amphibious Force. Ms. Appel told reporters that the engine’s starter was flooded on May 25, 2017, by a “white squall” that filled the of the sailboat with water.
Ms. Appel lost another sailboat in 2012 to engine problems when it broke up on the rocks near the marina where she had a berth in Honolulu. Michael Parker of Parker Marine, which also is part of Tow Boat US’s Vessel Assist, said his company does most of the small boat salvage in the state of Hawaii. He said 80 percent of boats are salvaged by his company, and, typically, he salvages about 60 wrecks per year. Ms. Appel’s SV FSOW was one he was called out to salvage in February 2012. He said Ms. Appel attributed the wreck to the failure of the outboard motor pushing the 10,500-pound, Coranado 34, according to sailboatdata.com.
When asked to comment on the loss of the sailboat in 2012, Ms. Appel said, “I wasn’t at the helm when that happened.” Additional e-mail enquiries about the wreck were not responded to.
Mr. Parker said that Ms. Appel’s insurance company denied the salvage claim for “an unusual reason,” which he would not specify further. He thought the 34-foot sailboat was “under powered.” While he was not paid in full for his salvage work, Mr. Parker said that he was on good terms with her after she settled the bill for pennies on the dollar three years after the wreck. “She did not have to,” he said. According to Mr. Parker, the statute of limitations had lapsed on any claim that he could bring to court when Ms. Appel offered pay part of her bill. He towed the SV Sea Nymph when its engine was not working prior to her departure for Tahiti.
Ms. Appel told the author that she bought her second boat the SV Sea Nymph in January 2015 during her interview in episode 42 of the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast. According to Ms. Parker, she settled her salvage bill with Mr. Parker around the same time.
Slow Boat Sailing corresponded with Roman Kalinowski by Facebook Messenger. Roman is a DJ in Honolulu who used to have a relationship with Ms. Appel, but has not spoken to her since 2014, but he knew her when the wreck of the FSOW occurred in January 2012.
“I wasn’t aboard. She decided to test out a new outboard engine in 10’+ south shore swells. Engine failed and she was on the rocks in a wave or two. Then she was basically homeless and living on ppls couches,” he wrote.
Mr. Kalinowski wrote that he had sailed with her, “She could tack and jibe, wasn’t very good a trimming sails tho…She’s really overconfident in her abilities and should stick to lake sailing.”
When he stopped seeing her in 2014 he wrote, “She was living in a tent on her farm, I got tired of driving up there. Also tired of supporting her farm.”
Matt Rutherford, a sailor who was the first person to sail unsupported around the Americas through the Northwest Passage and around Cape Horn, single-handed, said, “Obviously, that is a crazy story involving those ladies,” referring to the voyage of Ms. Appel and Ms. Fuiava. He went on, “There are too many inconsistencies.” When asked about the media attention that his world-record voyage in an Albin Vega 27 sailboat got, he said he was written about in some sailing magazines and interviewed on the Weather Channel. He was never interviewed by a national newspaper such as the New York Times. In addition to the New York Times, Ms. Appel and Ms. Fuiava have been guests or featured on the NBC’s Today Show, CBS This Morning, and Good Morning America on ABC.
Lt. Commander Cole said that it was not the U.S. Navy’s job to confirm any part of their story when asked if Navy sailors checked the passports of Ms. Appel or Ms. Fuiava to see if they stopped anywhere between May 3, and their rescue on October 25, 2017. The rescued sailors said they had been adrift at sea for over 5-months, that they saw sharks as big as 50-feet long, and that survived as 3-day and two-night storm in Hawaii that NOAA has no record of. “I do not have details of whether the passports were looked at or not or what the contents of the passports were. The U.S. Navy’s role was to respond to a vessel in distress and the crew of USS Ashland executed that mission safely and professionally,” Mr. Cole wrote.
Mr. Cole said that no other inspection of the sailboat was made by Navy personnel other than the inspection of the engine. Thus, Ms. Appel and Ms. Fuiava are the only sources confirming that the sailboat’s spreader was damaged from May 2017 until October 25, 2017. Navy footage shows Ms. Appel climbing the mast when the US Navy rescuers were on board. Ms. Appel said the damage to the sailboat rig limited their speed to four-to-five miles per hour.
The US Coast Guard Honolulu told the Associated Press that they had hailed the SV Sea Nymph near Tahiti. Ms. Appel, told The Today Show, “We never got near Tahiti (our GPS track proves that)”.
If NBC news inspected their GPS track, they have never disclosed that. Alan Block writing on a deleted Sailing Anarchy forum under the moniker of Mr. Clean said he could not find any data on the hand held GPS track. Ms. Appel told the author on the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast’s bonus episode to 42 that her handheld was a Garmin GPSMAP 76cx with a micro SD card. She said on the podcast interview that she had never actually looked at the tracks on the unit, but said its storage capacity was small.
After Mr. Block took home the GPS unit, he could not find any tracks GPS. He wrote on the deleted sailing anarchy thread after he visited Ms. Appel on November 29, 2017:
“GPS doesn’t interface with a mac.”
“SD card appears to be empty, tracks must be on the unit which needs a charge. Any ideas?”
“If could see the data I wouldn’t have posted here.”
“Took the GPS home with me, and will bring it over to a friends when I get home. Lot of work ahead to finish this story.”
When the USCG was pressed if they would verify their story with GPS, satellite phone records, credit card statements, or inspecting the passports of the survivors, Petty Officer 2nd Class, Tara A. Molle, Public Affair Specialist for the USCG in Honolulu said, “We are not conducting an investigation into this incident. Our command center conducted a post rescue survivor debrief as part of standard protocol for any type of rescue. The two women did report distress situations while at sea and contacted the Coast Guard for assistance. We were able to locate a Navy ship (USS Ashland) as one of the closest available assets to conduct the rescue of Ms. Appel and Ms. Fuiava and are happy to know that they (and their two dogs) are safely back ashore.”
(c) Linus Wilson, 2017, Oxriver Publishing
Dr. Linus Wilson, Captain, OUPV-Near Coastal, is the author of How to Sail Around the World Part-Time and the creator of the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast and YouTube Channel. He sails an Island Packet 31, which is currently in Tahiti.
Ep. 41: HOAX? Sailboat Rescue Story Has Many Problems on the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast Hosted by Linus Wilson
Two Hawaiian sailors rescued off Japan by the US Navy told some tall tales about their ordeal at sea in stories covered by all the major news networks.
The youtube video of this discussion is at
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They said they sailed through a force 11 storm and saw 50-foot sharks in the “Devils Triangle,” but those tales were false. The U.S. Navy rescued two Hawaiian women and two dogs off at 50-foot (or 37-foot) sailboat 900 miles from Japan. Jennifer Appel (the captain and owner of SV Sea Nymph) and Natash “Tasha” Fuiava were rescued 900 miles southeast of Japan and thousands of miles off course from their destination in Tahiti. They said they set off 10 flares, waved a white flag, and made VHF distress calls for 98 days before they were towed by the Taiwanese fishing vessel the Fong Chun No. 66 and then Ms. Appel swam over and used the fishing boat’s satellite phone to call for rescue. Why did they not use their EPIRB to signal for rescue 99 days earlier?
We look at the NOAA weather data, tiger shark tale,(which resembles the book and movie Jaws), the decision to not use the EPIRB, the failure to stop at the excellent anchorage in Kiritimati, Kiribati, Christmas Island, the non-lying explanations for the 10-knot current, and GPS and communications gear on the sailboat. Ms. Appel has been made the most famous sailor in the USA by sloppy reporting and poor coordination by the US Navy and the USCG investigating this case. Was this a mayday hoax, which is a felony under federal law? The United States Coast Guard district 14 in Honolulu is not at the time of investigating what led to the expensive US Navy rescue despite many inconsistencies and fabrications in the story.
USS Ashland
Video by Lance Cpl. Jack Gnosca
American Forces Network Okinawa
Marines Returned to Okinawa after taking part in a multinational bi-lateral exercise.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Mayday Hoaxes are subject to prosecution as a Class D felony under Title 14, Section 85 of the U.S. Code, liable for a $5000 fine plus all costs the Coast Guard incurs as a result of the individual’s action.
Jaws Official Trailer #1 – Richard Dreyfuss, Steven Spielberg Movie (1975) HD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1fu_sA7XhE
All Hands Update: USS Ashland Rescue
FT. MEADE, MD, UNITED STATES
Video by Kevin Dawson
All Hands Update
USS Ashland (LSD 48) renders assistance to two distressed American mariners in the Pacific ocean, Oct. 25, whose sailboat had strayed well of its original course. Ashland was operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region on routine deployment when the received the message to help.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
UNITED STATES
10.29.2017
Video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan R Clay
Commander, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet
171029-N- UX013-001- PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 29, 2017) Sailors aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) help to bathe Zeus and Valentine, the two dogs rescued with Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava at sea after spending months adrift.
Interviews: Jennifer Appel, Tasha Fuiava,
Petty Officer 3rd Class Nichole Gorofalo
USS Ashland Renders Aid to Mariners
PACIFIC OCEAN
10.25.2017
Video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan R Clay
Commander, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet
USS Ashland LSD 48 renders assistance to two distressed American mariners in the Pacific ocean, Oct. 25, whose sailboat had strayed well of its original course. Ashland was operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region on routine deployment when the received the message to help.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
6 SOPS shows Hurricane Irma from space [Image 4 of 6]
6 SOPS shows Hurricane Irma from space
Photo by Capt. Craig Warn
310th Space Wing
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/31/asia/pacific-sailors-jennifer-appel-tasha-fuiava-questions/index.html
AP: Two lost sailors did not activate emergency beacon
http://nypost.com/2017/10/30/lost-sailors-story-doesnt-add-up-experts-say/
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Photo credit:
USS Ashland arrives in Okinawa with Mariners [Image 6 of 6]
10.30.2017
Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan R Clay
Commander, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet
171030-N-UX013-151 OKINAWA, Japan (Oct. 30, 2017) Natasha Fuiava, left, and Jennifer Appel, look out from on top of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) as the ship moors pier side at White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan, to deliver the mariners and their two dogs ashore. Ashland, operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region on a routine deployment, is in Okinawa for a scheduled port stop to prepare for the joint U.S. Navy-Marine Corps exercise Blue Chromite. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/Released)
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