"A day after the U.S. Coast Guard said it was suspending its weeklong search for three missing boaters, the men were found alive Saturday night." - CNN

The Story

The three men survived eight days on an overturned boat. I hope that more details are to come in the story.

Nothing guarantees that you are going to be found if you get into trouble, not even the coast guard.
I wish there was more detail in the story too.

Edit:
An upside down hull in the water is not a very easy thing to find, especially if it is a small boat.

Apparently their vessel was a 23 foot catamaran. Not much more detail, but, another article on the topic: 3 Rescued off Texas coast

It would be interesting to hear what they might have tried to get noticed. I wonder what they had aboard to signal, communicate? (Apparently not much, or perhaps it was lost overboard?)

Maybe we'll get more info in the coming days, at least it was a rescue instead of a recovery.

You have to wonder in those eight days if they saw aircraft or boats that could have been signaled with a mirror. Of course this makes the assumption that they didn't have a signal mirror or were unable to catch the attention of passing vessels.

This really is one I would like to know more about.
I would like to know how they didn't die of sunburn, thirst or from hypothermia (if they were wet much).
8 days capsized is quite a bit of time.
They must have had a supply of drinking water at least.

Wait a minute.
"Stranded for 8 days" and they "declined medical attention"?

How is that even possible?
I wouldn't expect anyone under those conditions to even be coherent.

Three men, 8 days. That's a huge fresh water requirement.

And if they had no cover or shade how is it even possible that they are not at
least severely sunburned let alone dehydrated?

From several news source:

'They fired off three flares hoping to get the attention of workers at a nearby oil rig, but no one responded. The boat capsized that night.'

'The Coast Guard officials said they survived because they stuck with the boat. The men also rationed bubble gum and crackers and used a hose to suck fresh water out of the internal "washdown" tank. Fishermen often keep such a tank to wash fish slime off their boat when they are out in the salt water. "It's not the cleanest, not the greatest and it tasted like diesel," Shane Phillips told the newspaper.'

'Local car dealer, Eddie Yaklin, was out sailing his boat near an oil rig when he made a startling discovery Saturday. Yaklin saw two people standing on top of a capsized boat through binoculars. The third person was in the water at the time. One of the people on the capsized boat was waving a white T-shirt at Yaklin... Yaklin said he put in a call to the Coast Guard and didn't know at the time that the men ... had been missing for eight days. The boat capsized due to a pontoon malfunction.

'Hall ... will see a doctor later on Sunday for what he thinks are second-degree burns on his legs from sun exposure.'

'The three were dehydrated, had cracked lips and were sunburned. Yaklin gave them water and fed them. The three said they survived on a couple crackers, beer and three gallons of water. They also said they used a towel to cover themselves from the sun.'

'... everybody on shore knew that we had the equipment to get out there and call distress if anything was wrong like that, but we didn't have time to do any of that," Hawkins explained.'

I caught a bit of this story on the local news here in Houston. The three men stated that they refused to give up, give in, and die.

Proof again just how important a will to live is. They had it, those three pro football players last year didn't.

-Blast, who will always make it home to his family

"Proof again just how important a will to live is. They had it, those three pro football players last year didn't."

Ouch! That's a little bit rough on the three dead men, don't you think? I don't think the full story of what happened will ever be known.

There's a Latin saying: "De mortuis nil nisi bonum"

The best translation is: "Speak nothing but good of the dead."

A PLB needs a clear view of the sky. I don't think they work if submerged or through obstructions (the upside down hull). I know some marine 406MHz beacons are intended to signal if the boat sinks but I assume they're carefully mounted so they will float free of the boat and self-right so the antenna faces up (or have several antennae).


The NFL players were in a much worse situation. The water temperature at the end of February - 63 degrees - was not nearly as warm as it is now in late August, and they weren't able to get out of the water.