On Wednesday, two American women and their dogs who set sail from Hawaii aiming to reach Tahiti and got lost at sea for five months were rescued by the U.S. Navy.
Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiaba wound up roughly 900 miles southeast of Japan — and more than 5,000 miles away from Tahiti. The women’s odyssey started on May 3; two hours after they left Hawaii, Appel’s phone was washed overboard. Appel contacted the Coast Guard; the Coast Guard estimated the women should arrive in Tahiti by around June 5.
According to Appel’s mother Marie, next came problems with the antenna, the motor starter failing, and new rigging on the mast breaking. According to the Navy, the engine became disabled on May 30, so the women used the sails of the boat to continue.
But two months after leaving Hawaii, the women started making distress calls. That didn’t work because they were out of range of any stations or ships. The women were well stocked with a year’s worth of food, as well as water purifiers. aboard — mostly dry goods like oatmeal, pasta and rice — before setting out for Tahiti from Hawaii on May 3, the Navy and Marie Appel said, and they used those supplies to survive.
On Tuesday, a Taiwanese fishing boat spotted the women. After the fishermen alerted the U.S. Coast Guard, on Wednesday the USS Ashland, a warship in Sasebo, Japan, tracked them down and dispatched the rescue boat.
As a news release from the Navy reported, Jennifer Appel asserted, “They saved our lives. The pride and smiles we had when we saw them on the horizon was pure relief.”
On Thursday, Marie Appel told NBC News, “One prays every day, and your friends pray with you, and you hope that everything goes well. I thank God that she has made it there safely.” She added that she would tell her daughter, “I think four wheels on the solid ground is preferable to sailing,” but admitted, “She loved the water, she loved going to Galveston, she’s always enjoyed the water. So I doubt that she’ll stop, I doubt that she’ll stop sailing.”
Video of rescue below: