Article from Wired.

Sort of a "wow, we did everything wrong but still lived" kinda thing.

Drink seawater??? Doesnt everyone know that...well never mind (leans back on chair and slips hat bac over eyes)

I just saw a picture of the two boys on television this evening.

The older one looks in extremely good shape facially for someone that has been on water for six days. His lips seem natural, but the news said they both had chapped lips and sunburn. The younger one seems to have face sunburn, chapped lips, and seems thin, but then I don't know if he had a sunburn six days ago and was thin then. The rescuers stated that the boys were dehydrated and sunburned, but the older one looked awfully good for someone that has endured so much.

I am not an SR qualified individual, but these guys don't seem to have suffered much if at all.

For you qualified SR types, please look at the news footage and tell us if I am misreading the signs.

Bountyhunter

These kids were so clueless they actually thought it was possible to sail across the Atlantic to Africa in a Sunfish in under a week. That makes their decision to drink seawater downright understandable by comparison. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

What bothers me (again) is the fact that the news article makes no attempt to educate the public as to what they did wrong. Surely any of the rescuers who were interviewed could have provided some useful information about how not to end up in this predicament.

How many things can we spot that they did wrong? Without even breaking sweat, I can point out the following:

1. Didn't check the weather reports before they left.
2. Didn't have a clue about how to navigate.
3. No survival supplies, signalling equipment, or anything else.
4. The "shark attacks" were more likely panic attacks, like hikers who mistake marmots for wolverines.
5. Drank sea water because they were thirsty.
6. Defeatist attitude.
7. After 6 days at sea, they still couldn't figure out which way was west? All they had to do after the weather cleared was point the sailboat toward the setting sun and they would likely have found land.
8. "tried to swim to shore, pulling the boat with them". Oh yeah, sure - the water's too rough to sail, so we'll just swim for it - and drag the boat behind us to boot.
9. Lost their fishing tackle on day 2. How? Carelessness?

Mind you, they were only 7 miles off the coast and Bountyhunter says they were in remarkably good condition for two kids who'd been on an exposed sailboat for almost a week with no food or fresh water. Maybe this was their idea of a joke? Anyone familiar with the area? Is it feasible to sail a Sunfish from Sullivan's Island to Cape Fear and then pretend to be lost so they can be rescued? Seems a little far-fetched, but then again, so is the "official" story.

Exactly my reaction as I saw this story on the TV news last night.

Even the young lady sitting next to me (who is no survivor or even a skilled outdoors person) said "doesn't salt water make you more dehydrated?"

Aardwolfe:

I am more inclined to believe they had done a hoax as a money making ploy or for some sort of sympathy.

Sharks take large seals into the air by attacking from below, so I don't see a little sunfish sailboat as a barrier from a curious shark.

Bountyhunter

They were in a SAILboat. If they had been in a motor-driven craft and run out of gas, etc, I could understand it. But a SAILBOAT??? Once the storm was over, why didn't they just sail toward the west? The last I heard, there was a really large chunk of land they would have hit -- somewhere.

If the Sunfish belonged to their family, it's probably a matter of genetics: stupid, ignorant, careless adults producing stupid, ignorant, careless offspring. Another corner of the the gene pool that needs chlorine (and nearly got some).

And more news media that tells how they drank seawater without the disclaimer that it's a stupid thing to do.

Sue

Okay I'm no sailor but isn't 15' a little small for an ocean vessel? Wouldn't a boat like this be better suited for a lake or bay? How small a boat do people (intellegent, experienced sailors) sail with in the ocean (or even the Gulf of Mexico)? I am quite curious about this as I maybe be moving to the coast in about a year and was considering taking up sailing but I'm not a rich man so I won't be buying any 65' yacht. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

hehe, glad Im not the only one. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

These idiots actually made the front page headline in the Calgary Herald this morning. That's Calgary - Alberta - Canada - somewhere north of Montana. How did 2 morons trying for a Darwin Award in South Carolina end up on the front page here?

Judging by the picture, the 15-year old had very bad sunburn, so I'm inclined to doubt it was a publicity stunt.

But the fact that neither of them knew that the sun sets in the west, and all they had to do was wait till it went down and then angle towards it, boggles the mind.

Oh, wait - they thought they were off the coast of Africa, so they were probably heading East instead <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Hmm, let's see - approximately 1500 miles in 6 days, that would require a sustained speed of over 10 miles per hour for 144 hours in a 12-foot single-sail boat. Looks like they slept through arithmetic AND geography in school.