Castaway story. More that meets the eye?

[Ozzie]

https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episo ... /102669092

I had seen other reports on the net questioning the details of this incident. Judge for yourself. If it was not a bona fide emergency it unfortunately could have potentially put other people in danger or at least a great deal of trouble. One thing for sure if you do something like this you are open to judgement and assessment from many quarters.

[Andrew]

Here is Tim Shaddocks interview, why he didn't press the Mayday button (on his Garmin Inreach)

https://amp.nine.com.au/article/f442c31 ... 6f049985c2

[Ozzie]

It’s a hard one to understand. Three months. Also according to Media Watch the boat could have been sailed.

[Andrew]

From what ive read/utubed, Tim admits he "bit off more than he could chew" , his only previous sailing experience was coastal NSW (don't know if owner skipper or crewing).

Here's my 2 cents worth. His route crossed the equator, so likely got stuck in the doldrums, a vast area of no wind. With no sail repair kit and probably no fuel left too (30ft Warram cats just have small outboards). He was an optimist, maintaining hope that the boat could drift to an island westwards eventually (and save his floating home too). He thought that it wasn't dire enough for a Mayday, not sinking, dry, warm, enough food and water from nature.
But finally a tropical revolving storm season began around the boat, and a hurricane was bearing down, (lucky he got the inreach txt msg warning for that)

Investigations will be limited, no vessel, no countrys jurisdiction out there. vast expanse.

In the pre-GPS era there were quite a few good ole drift-away survival sea stories that i avidly read, but it's almost unheard of in this day and age.

[Peter T]

I reckon you are absolutely spot on Andrew. 100% agree
Cheers

[Ozzie]

Yep Andrew , good summation.

As you have raised before Peter, certain elements of the media are not to be trusted to give an accurate report. They sometimes need an “angle” rather than all the facts. If somebody had suffered from trying to rescue him, it would have been interesting to contrast the reporting.

In any case I’m certainly glad he is safe…..and his dog

[Peter T]

Quite right Ozzie

[Andrew]

https://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sai ... ths-at-sea

Bit more discussion on other forums..

Voyage planning Depending on season, probably better to coast it through central America down to Ecuador, (so safer if learning/trouble etc) once at the latutude of Ecuador the winds and currents are more favorable to cross the Pacific. (Check out windy app's winds and currents.)

One thing cruisers need to do is talk to other cruisers, at the beach, diner nights, yacht clubs etc. This usually helps allot.

This is another interesting rescue story, the young bloke in the Bight..discussed on Seabreeze forum
https://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sai ... ght?page=2. Another case of "biting off more than can chew", it's easy to do when the gung-ho factor ourweighs the due diligence factor. The boat was well prepared in this case, but it was the wrong boat for extreme conditions, critically he didnt take heed of the weather forecast in windy app or listen to other yachty's thoughts on it, was trying to break records at any cost it seems. They also discuss the media's reporting on it. At least he had an AIS transponder and left it on after rescue, so his boat wasnt lost and was towed back to port.

[Ozzie]

Thanks Andrew, another good insight into the story.

Friday night Sauv Blanc ramble here…
I suppose there is little wrong with eccentricity but if it puts others in peril or even inconvenience it’s not to be applauded. Those who know me from here and tsp will know I’ve done a fair bit of outback travel with my family in years past.

Our longest trip in ‘94 was 500km short of 20,000km in a by then 18 year old Kombi, which we were experienced in from a previous shorter 12K trip. The vehicle was well serviced, well prepared and all possible failure points were addressed or replaced in my mechanics workshop before I left. I carried sufficient spares/tools that either I could service like clutch cables and air filters or if it at service points I could pay others to fit. In these pre mobile days we had a SSB cb radio and stuck basically to well traveled routes. These days we’d have a PLB.

Point I’m making here, is a local I spoke to out at Kings Canyon mentioned they didn’t mind helping people like me if we got into bother. It was people who came totally unprepared with no tools no spares , no back up water and just expected locals to drop everything and get them back on track or safety that really got up their noses. Understandable I guess . I friend I made some years ago who was a live aboard and experienced blue water cruiser said he had quality non electronic nav gear and knew how to use it. A former pilot, he lamented the number of cashed up people putting to sea with “ push button knowledge” only.

Once again I’m glad Tim’s dog is safe …and Tim. You’d have to hope that others viewing his story on whatever slanted media they tune into learn a lesson from it and not regard it like reality tv. (Which never is). I believe in staying within your limits. I also believe I’ll have another glass. Good weekend to all , weather is warming up.

[Peter T]

I certainly know one thing Ozie. When the media is involved, there is three versions of the truth.
1. The media's Truth.
2. Poor Bastards Truth
3. The real truth