By Kevin Falvey
Editorial
I
T HEADLINED THE WORLDWIDE
news earlier this spring, so many of you
likely saw the story of the three boaters
rescued from a deserted island in the
Pacific Ocean thanks to the combined efforts
of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. If
you didn’t see it, the big visual accompanying
the story is an aerial shot from a Navy P-8A
Mad Fox aircraft showing the word
“HELP” spelled out in palm fronds on
the beach. Nearby, men are seen
waving orange life jackets.
The three men had left the island
of Pulap, one of several islands in the
Pollap Atoll, and steered their 19-foot
skiff toward the island of Weno. All of
2 miles into their trip, they capsized in
rough water, lost the boat, and swam
through the night to deserted Fanadik, an
island about 4 miles from where they had
started. All these places are part of the
Chuuk Islands, in the Federated States of
Micronesia, where thousands of islands
and atolls lie roughly 100 miles north of
New Guinea, west of Hawaii and east of the
Philippines. To clarify some errors reported
elsewhere, Fanadik is a deserted island,
but it’s not a remote one, and, north of the
equator, it is not in the “South Pacific.”
Still, remote or uninhabited, north or
south, swimming through 2 miles of ocean
at night is a scary thing and no mean feat.
By all accounts, and in comparison with
equipment common aboard recreational
boats in the United States and Canada,
these guys didn’t have much: a 19-foot
skiff, no GPS, no radio or satphone, no
EPIRB, no PLB — all equipment we might
take for granted. These boaters didn’t set
themselves apart by what they bought, but
rather by using what they did have to the max.First, they were wearing life jackets,
which, in all likelihood, made the long, dark
swim to the island possible. It’s not known
where these three lucky men procured
their life jackets, but I’d like to note that as
part of what was called Pacific Partnership
2015, Coast Guard members conducted
outreach in Chuuk, providing boating-safety equipment such as life jackets, radar
reflectors and signal mirrors. Nice work.
Second, they had skills. At least one of
them knew how to make a fire, which they
kept going for three days. It was the fire that
first caught rescuers’ attention. The palm-
frond sign was a great idea for a makeshift
day signal, but the fire really saved them.
Finally, they had told someone where they
were going and when they were expected to
arrive. While it wasn’t an official “float plan,”
the search began when they were reported
overdue to local authorities.
My takeaway is to remember that, as a
boater, I might need more than conspicuousKevin Falvey, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]The Bare Necessities
MONEY CAN’T BUY EVERYTHING
W Second, they had skills.
At least one of them knew how to
make a fire, which they kept going
for three days. It was the fire that
first caught rescuers’ attention.16 BOATINGMAG.COM JUNE 2016