Posted on 05/01/2005 5:53:56 PM PDT by nuconvert
Teenagers Survive Six Days Lost at Sea
May 01, 2005
SOUTHPORT, N.C. — Two teenagers who had survived nearly a week at sea, clinging to a 14-foot Sunfish (search), prayed to go peacefully in the hours before they were discovered.
"I asked God to take me," 15-year-old Troy Driscoll (search) told The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier on Saturday night as he lay in the emergency room of Dosher Memorial Hospital (search). "You're out there fighting for your life. We didn't want to fight anymore."
Driscoll and 18-year-old Josh Long (search) were spotted by fishermen aboard the Renegade about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The boys were about seven miles off Cape Fear — six days and more than 100 miles from where they had put in off Sullivans Island (search), S.C., on April 24.
The boys were sunburned, dehydrated, exhausted and beat up by their six days at sea on the small sailboat, but Coast Guard and other officials said they were in pretty good shape considering what they had been through.
"We were praying for a miracle and we got one," Charleston Coast Guard Cmdr. June Ryan said. "Everybody on the East Coast has been looking for these boys."
Their families had never lost hope of finding the two best friends.
"This is unreal," Long's older brother Jonathan Goerling told The Post and Courier as he drove toward North Carolina late Saturday to reunite with his brother.
Shane Coker said first he would hug his little brother Troy. "Then I'm gonna hit him and let him know how much he made us worry."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Wow...I had a Sunfish...on a lake....would never think of taking it in the ocean!
Luck but pretty good sailing if you ask me.
All I can think of is that episode of South Park where they're frozen in, and fifteen minutes in, they're deciding who they have to eat...
Sounds like incredibly poor seamanship to me. They almost died seven miles from land. Even if they had lost their sail, one would image they could kick or paddle seven miles in a week. The sun and stars or prevailing winds should give them a clue about which way is West. And what were they doing losing sight of land in the first place?
Don't know about that. My wife went through a heck of a lot more escaping from Vietnam. Getting past Communist guards. Getting shot at by Thai fisherman. Other boats trying to sink them by making big waves. Having to bail water out of their boat for six days. No food, little water.
It's an old nautical tradition to draw straws.
From the article:
The boys were about seven miles off Cape Fear — six days and more than 100 miles from where they had put in off Sullivans Island, S.C., on April 24.
Kind of like a large ice chest.
Those kids are so lucky, and yet skilled enough to keep their cool throughout the whole thing. Thank goodness they are safe now.
Great young sailors they are!
They were only 15 and 18, I guess you never did anything stupid as a kid. At least they were not gangbanging or carjacking someone
Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh, but lubbers this inept need to stay in the shallow end of the pool.
ping !
Yeah, I did, probably more stupid. I was reacting to the "great sailing" remark. BTW, once when I was about seven, I snorkeled about mile out to sea on Cape Cod Bay. I was lucky not to have been hit by a pleasure boat, but CC Bay was a lot less crowded in those days. I certainly scared the bejesus outta myself. I calmly figured that I got myself out there and I could get myself home and I did. Lesson to self: always know how far you are from shore and have a course for home.
Sheesh.
An offoshore breeze, a falling tide, + the strength of teenagers. Glad so much they are OK!
Regardless, one thing they did not exhibit was great seamanship, or even a modicum of common sense.
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