Questions raised about sailors' story after months stranded at sea

Happy Halloween ATS members and lurkers!

When I first read the story about these two female sailors and their dogs being rescued after 5 months at sea, I thought, "Wow, they are lucky and fortunate to be alive- I bet the dogs will be happy to get their paws back on land and chase some squirrels!".

But, as the saying goes, THE PLOT THICKENS!

Apparently, there was an emergency beacon on board that WAS NOT ACTIVATED!?!? And, there are even more questions about a storm they say they survived that may not have even happened?

What are they trying to hide? Are they running from something? Is it all just a misunderstanding? I'm sure some of you have interesting theories- I'd like to hear 'em!!!

Thanks for reading and posting!
CNN SOURCE

The two women from Hawaii who say they were lost at sea had an emergency beacon on the ship that was not activated during their roughly five months at sea, a Coast Guard spokeswoman tells CNN. The mariners, Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava, had "one EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) on board, which was properly registered," Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara Molle told CNN. The emergency beacon, which is found on many vessels, is used to alert rescue locations around the world in the event of an emergency, "by transmitting a coded message on the 406 MHz distress frequency via satellite and earth stations to the nearest rescue coordination center," according to EPIRB.com. Molle told CNN that "as far as we know, the EPIRB on their sailboat was working properly. I can't speculate as to why they wouldn't have activated it."

Further confusion about the two women's story also arose when they claimed to have been battered by a strong storm at the beginning of their months at sea. The two women say they set out from Hawaii on May 3, and the transcript of their interview with the Navy quotes Appel as saying that "on the first night" they encountered a "force 11 storm," which they battled for the following two nights and three days. However, Norman Hui, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu told CNN there were "no organized storm systems near the Hawaiian Islands on the dates of May 3, 2017 or the few days afterward."

a reply to: seattlerat

Maybe they killed someone out at sea?

Maybe doing some drug running on the side? Or human trafficking?

a reply to: seattlerat

I doubted their story from the start. Good that they got busted. They planned the whole thing with the intention of being rescued and becoming famous. Perhaps a book deal. They were probably out there for a few weeks vs. months and didn't suffer at all.

Maybe aspiring reality/ellen stars with a heartfelt story to tell.

ETA: looks like Echoesintime beat me to it by a few mins.

originally posted by: EchoesInTime
a reply to: seattlerat

I doubted their story from the start. Good that they got busted. They planned the whole thing with the intention of being rescued and becoming famous. Perhaps a book deal. They were probably out there for a few weeks vs. months and didn't suffer at all.

This was my initial gut-feeling, as well. I try not to be too judgmental (I'm not perfect), but I think they (the sailors not the dogs) are flakes.

a reply to: seattlerat

Let's see two women and dogs lost at sea, so my first thought would be "pirates". Let's not advertise our whereabouts.

a reply to: Jimmycrackerson3

Sure they are lining up the interviews, book deal and film rights already.

Rule of 3's...
3 hours shelter.
3 days no water.
3 weeks no food....

Hmmm.
Must have weighed that boat wayyyyyy down with water and some food.
I agree with the others. Story seems suspicious. I wonder how emaciated they all ( dogs included ) looked after being rescued after 5 MONTHS at sea.

Saw on the news this morning that it's come out they passed at least two islands that they could've put in to for repairs and communications.

And also that they'd known each other for only a week prior to starting the trip?

Curiouser and curiouser.

They prepared to sail to Tahiti for two years, yet "she had no idea what she was getting into"???

Aggressive tiger sharks, imaginary hurricane-like storm, emergency beacon forgotten, 2 yrs worth of food...?

What is this?...a bad USA original movie.

Pound sand ladies...you couple of attention-seeking (bad) liars! At minimum they are aggressively embellishing.

originally posted by: EchoesInTime
a reply to: seattlerat

I doubted their story from the start. Good that they got busted. They planned the whole thing with the intention of being rescued and becoming famous. Perhaps a book deal. They were probably out there for a few weeks vs. months and didn't suffer at all.

Agreed, I knew something was up when it was two woman.

Give two woman ten minutes, and imagine the stories they could come up with. So I'm sure they had plenty of time "lost at see" to concoct all sorts of stories and drama.

Boy, if those dogs could talk then we'd really know what happened.

a reply to: Bigburgh

I wonder how emaciated they all ( dogs included ) looked after being rescued after 5 MONTHS at sea.

Wonder no more. Loads of pictures of them. To answer your question: they don't.

Lesson learned. Here is one of the women's explanation.

Jennifer Appel confirmed in an interview Tuesday that they had the beacon and did not use it. She said that in her experience, it should be used only when you are in imminent physical danger and going to die in the next 24 hours.

"Our hull was solid, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had limited maneuverable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them after they were rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things did not say we are going to die. All that said, it's going to take us a whole lot longer to get where we're going."

In retrospect, though, Appel said there were two times that she would have used it — once when she and Tasha Fuiava were off Hawaii around late June to early July, and a second time off Wake Island on Oct. 1. "That's a lesson learned for me, because that was the best chance we had in the ocean to get help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed opportunity.

www.chicagotribune.com...

a reply to: seattlerat

Uuhhhhmmmmm........ it's a sailboat. And navigation is easy enough without a radio. I imagine they were never in any real trouble. They say there were more than a few boats around. Did they have a flare gun? And those dogs look fat. They couldn't unflood their engines in the 5 months?

a reply to: Shamrock6

Appel released a response to those questions Tuesday, saying that they had decided not to activate the beacon because, while damaged, the boat was still seaworthy. The women had food and a way of generating fresh water, and thought they could make it to a safe haven to complete repairs, she said.

I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, as I'm not sure on civilian version of Sea Water Desalination kits. Who knows

a reply to: seattlerat

They could be suffering from the rampant Attention Whorism epidemic that is going around.

a reply to: InTheLight

That's funny because at a press conference one of women said, "we would have died if we weren't rescued in another 24 hours". They are getting their "script" mixed up.

originally posted by: EchoesInTime
a reply to: seattlerat

I doubted their story from the start. Good that they got busted. They planned the whole thing with the intention of being rescued and becoming famous. Perhaps a book deal. They were probably out there for a few weeks vs. months and didn't suffer at all.

The algae grown on the boat suggests it was at least a few months since they cleaned the hull. LOL. So they could have been out there that long.

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: seattlerat

Uuhhhhmmmmm........ it's a sailboat. And navigation is easy enough without a radio. I imagine they were never in any real trouble. They say there were more than a few boats around. Did they have a flare gun? And those dogs look fat. They couldn't unflood their engines in the 5 months?

I heard their GPS went down and Celestial navigation is not as cut and dry as you might think. Without a sextant and the know-how you might as well sail in circles.

At sea you might be able to establish North and all the other directions but using that to get your exact location is impossible.

I honestly think these women were just completely unprepared and inexperienced enough for the journey. Yeah they had food and water but there were prob 1000 things they could have done to get found sooner.