The funny thing is that in these cases I'm usually one who says "...the press usually gets these things wrong...let's give them the benefit of the doubt until we have more info..." or words to that effect. However, in the two interviews I watched their very own words seemed so full of improbabilities and inconsistencies that I had to wonder, like the 3 day Force 11 storm one day out of Hawaii, not being able to survive another 24 hours, and the "Devils Triangle". Then the old salts on Cruiser's Forum, many of whom have experience doing extended voyages in those waters, soon started to pick apart their story.

One story said:
Quote:
Appel said they carried two GPS units; one failed and they had to rely on the hand-held model for the entire voyage.
They also had a new VHF radio, a ham radio, a weather satellite and a radio telephone. She says none worked, and they apparently had a communications failure with their new antenna.
They also carried a satellite phone that she said never seemed to connect.
She says they had six ways to communicate with multiple backups, and none functioned properly.
I find that hard to believe.

Regarding the EPIRB, those are registered, listing the owner and boat. I'm sure one of the first things the Coast Guard did when the story broke was to check their records. Whereupon they found that boat and owner did have a registered EPIRB. One of the articles someone linked up thread said the Coast Guard asked them about it and the women admitted they had one but didn't activate it.

As to motivation, who knows. A book and movie deal maybe? Help for a failing actress's career? Whatever it was, their story started to fall apart from the moment they were first interviewed on the Navy ship.
_________________________
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
-Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz