Rescued Hawaiian women safe at US naval base
WHITE BEACH NAVAL FACILITY ( Japan): Two women from Hawaii
who were adrift on a stormbattered sailboat in the Pacific for months set foot on solid ground at a United States Naval base in southern Japan.
The USS Ashland rescued Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava and their two dogs about 1,450km southeast of Japan, and brought them to America’s White Beach Naval Facility after waiting for a typhoon to pass.
The two women, sporting USS Ashland knit shirts, were standing with the commanding officer and others high on the bridgeway as the ship docked.
They later spoke to reporters on the flight deck before clearing customs and walking down metal stairs to the dock.
They had left Honolulu on May 3 aboard Appel’s 15m vessel, the Sea Nymph, for what was supposed to be an 18day trip to Tahiti.
Storms flooded the engine and damaged the mast and sails so badly, they couldn’t generate enough wind power to stay on course.
They tried to return and at one point in June were within 1,345km of Oahu, but couldn’t make it.
“We knew we weren’t going to make it,” Appel said. “So that’s when we started making distress calls.”
The women said they drifted aimlessly and sent unanswered distress calls for 98 consecutive days.
They were thousands of miles in the wrong direction when a Taiwanese fishing vessel found them. Towing the sailboat damaged it further, but Appel swam to the Taiwanese vessel to make a mayday call.
They said they ran out of food for the dogs and began sharing their own, leaving their food supply 90% depleted by the time they were rescued.
On Wednesday, the USS Ashland picked up the women and the dogs, Zeus and Valentine, all four looking remarkably fit for having been lost at sea for nearly six months.
Appel told reporters on Friday that they were beginning to believe they were completely out of luck when they saw the US Navy ship chugging toward them.
“When I saw the gray ship on the horizon, I was just shaking,” she said then. “I was ready to cry, I was so happy. I knew we were going to live.” — AP