Today’s Photo of the Day is of a tropical
sunrise somewhere in Fiji. If you’ve never lived in the tropics,
you don’t know what spectacularly colorful cloud formations there
can be. Unfortunately, we have no idea who took this shot.
Forget the Survivor TV Show, this
Was the Real Thing
September 25 – Off Costa Rica
By now, almost everyone has heard the almost
unbelievable tale of 62-year-old Richard Van Pham, who in June
set sail from Long Beach on a 25-mile pleasure trip to Catalina
aboard his 26-ft sloop Sea Breeze – which actually looks
a lot like a Columbia 24. The little boat was dismasted and the
radio crapped out on the way to Catalina. It’s hard to believe
the boat wasn’t seen in those heavily traveled waters or that
Van Pham – a Vietnamese immigrant – wasn’t reported missing by
friends. Nonetheless, for the next 3.5 months and 2,500 miles,
the man and his boat helplessly drifted. He survived by collecting
rainwater and eating fish, turtles, and seabirds. He was finally
sighted by a P3 Orion drug interdiction plane well offshore of
Costa Rica and picked up by the U.S. Navy frigate McClusky.
Although he’d lost 40 pounds, Van Pham was declared to be in
excellent health. A sea cruise will do that for you.
Kenneth Kahn II, an attorney who practices
in Portland, wrote us to say, “Van Pham is a hero to all
of us who have ever sailed offshore in bad conditions and made
it home. Is there a way that Latitude could assist by
setting up a trust fund to buy this fellow a new boat?”
Our first question would be whether Van
Pham would like a replacement boat. If he does, we’re sure his
old one – which the McClusky crew scuttled, much to Van
Pham’s dismay – could be replaced for well under $10,000. If
we hear that he wants a replacement boat and a fund is set up,
we’ll be sure to let everyone know. Furthermore, we promise to
buy him a functioning radio, for as much as this is a story of
heroic survival, it’s also about less than stellar seamanship,
for Van Pham never should have ended up in that much trouble.
(above) Crewmembers help 62-year-old
Richard Van Pham board the U.S. Navy frigate USS McClusky after rescuing Van Pham from his battered and broken sailboat
(below).
Van Pham aboard the USS McClusky
Photos Courtesy U.S. Navy
Cruiser Victim of Stabbing in San Diego
Sets Record Straight
September 25 – San Diego
Chuck and Linda Allen of the St. Augustine,
Florida, Ingrid 38 Tumbleweed signed up for late October’s Baja Ha-Ha, and in preparation
made their way to San Diego. While their boat was berthed at
the San Diego Police Docks, he was stabbed by a complete stranger.
Here’s his report:
“I was knifed in the back while entering
the portable heads at the Police Docks at 6:30 a.m. on September
8. A young man ran up to me and asked if I had a cell phone to
call the police. I said no, but pointed to the Police Station.
The young man was being pursued by an older man in his 50’s who
was holding a knife. As the young man ran to the station, I turned
to go into the head. As I opened the door, I was stabbed in the
back.
“Later, the young man reported that
this man had came up to him when he had a couple young girls
with him on their way to church. The young man ordered the girls
to get in the car and stay there. The older man declared he was
with the Marines and he and his buddies were there to ‘take him
out’. He chased this guy around the Japanese Bell at the end
of Shelter Island, screaming at him. It was at this point, unfortunately,
that I walked up the dock.
“We still plan to do the Ha-Ha.”
Allen was in a hurry to write this, so
we didn’t get all the details. Secondhand sources tell us that
Allen spent some time in the hospital after exploratory surgery,
and that the assailant, believed to be an anchor-out from down
near National City, has a history of mental issues.
Van Liew Is the Man!
September 25 – San Diego
As the Around Around Fleet closes in on
England, former Santa Monica resident Brad Van Liew continues
his dominance over Class B. With less than 1,000 miles to the
finish, he holds an incredible lead of more than 500 miles over
the second place boat. Van Liew – who is a wonderful person and
who is being sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger – could be on the verge
of making a big name for himself.
In Class A, Frenchman Thierry Dubois covered
400.7 miles in 24 hours – wow! – with Solidaires in an
attempt to reel in Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group-Armor Lux.
With Stamm 300 miles from the finish, Dubois is 62 miles back.
Who Saw the Catamaran Hakuna Matata
from July 5 to July 8?
September 25 – French Polynesia
We’re sure everyone is familiar with the
case of former NBA player Bison Dele, who is missing from his
55-ft catamaran Hakuna Matata in French Polynesia, along
with girlfriend Serena Kaplan, and French captain Bertrand Saldo.
It’s believed that Kevin Williams, Dele’s older brother, killed
the three on the boat. That’s the story that Williams told his
Santa Rosa girlfriend. Before Williams could be apprehended,
he overdosed on drugs and went into a coma. He’s only been kept
alive by machines, and they are about to be unplugged, so the
complete story will probably never be known.
Moorea, French Polynesia Photo Sheri Seybold
R. Scott Ohlgren, Kaplan’s stepfather,
writes, “We now need to move to the next phase, and that
is finding the three bodies. There will be no rest for us until
we either actually find some remains, or learn for certain exactly
where they were dropped into the ocean. I’m asking Latitude
to please help us by getting the word out about two things:
“1) The crimes took place between
July 5 and July 8, somewhere very close to Tahiti. We are looking
for mariners who were in the area at that time, and saw the Hakuna
Matata. The profile of the 55-ft cat is unusual, so someone
must have seen them.
“2) We have also been getting some
seemingly farfetched explanations of Serena’s whereabouts, but
can’t sleep until we check them out. We have heard two bizarre
stories that Serena may have been taken onto a second boat, and
that she was dropped off at Howland Island. From my layman’s
guess, Howland Island is about 900 miles away from Tahiti. You
may be familiar with it – it’s the tiny 1.6 sq. kilometer sand
dune that Amelia Earhart was trying to reach back in ’37. I want
to get a message out to any mariners traveling in that direction.
I would pay someone a $300 reward to stop at Howland and take
an hour walk around the island to search for any remains. This
is probably a bizarre request, but as I’ve learned over the past
month, life is stranger than any fiction.
“Many thanks from myself and my wife.”
Scott can be reached at: 7440 North 49th Street, Longmont,
CO 80503-8847. Office: (303) 530-2332; FAX: (303) 527-0270. If
you’re in French Polynesia, please pass this request around.
YOTREPS
September 25 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southwest.shtml.
Pacific Winds and Pressure
The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily
map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.
