Shipwrecked in Minnesota...

Posted by: TeacherRO

Shipwrecked in Minnesota... - 08/14/17 08:34 PM

Two men were marooned in the wilds of Mn/ Canada

1st source for the story

2nd link to the story
Posted by: Phaedrus

Re: Shipwrecked in Minnesota... - 08/14/17 09:08 PM

Lake of the Woods is a pretty big lake! Sounds like they were decently prepared at least and knew how to get by til rescue came.
Posted by: dougwalkabout

Re: Shipwrecked in Minnesota... - 08/15/17 08:48 PM

Another story with additional details and a photo of the rescuers' view:

http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/amer...cb-8f4cbb2f1823


Two warm bodies is always a win. Glad they made it.

That said, and from my comfortable armchair, it seems there were a lot of preparation holes at the outset. Nobody knew they were away, when to expect them back, or where to look. Without their very lucky break, they could have been there quite a while.

They weren't wearing lifejackets in heavy swells (though at least they had some.) Lucky they had time to put them on.

A classic cascade failure got them in trouble in a hurry, and then they lost essentially all of their gear when the boat went over.

Their only signalling devices weren't protected from water. It's remarkably easy to be invisible in big country.

On the plus, though, staying with the boat made it possible to find them. An air search would have turned that up pretty fast.

They kept their heads and used scrounged items to stay hydrated (boil water), dry (lean-to), and warm (fire). With those things in place, they would have kept going quite a long time. But it seems they were preparing a somewhat risky self rescue attempt on the water, perhaps because they knew nobody was looking for them, so who knows what the outcome would have been.

Posted by: TeacherRO

Re: Shipwrecked in Minnesota... - 08/23/17 08:02 PM

see related threads on boating preparedness...
Posted by: TeacherRO

Re: Shipwrecked in Minnesota... - 09/21/17 06:34 PM

Even simple preps would have helped:
- waterproof phone case
- tiny PSK ( lighter, knife, mirror, )
- Leave a note with family