Miracle At Sea...

[Lord Jim]

Man rescued after 66 days at sea is 'utterly thankful and grateful'

(CNN)The last time Frank Jordan spoke with his son, Louis Jordan was fishing on a sailboat a few miles off the South Carolina coast.

The next time he spoke with him, more than two months had passed and the younger Jordan was on a German-flagged container ship 200 miles from North Carolina, just rescued from his disabled boat.

"I thought I lost you," the relieved father said.

Louis Jordan, 37, took his 35-foot sailboat out in late January and hadn't been heard from in 66 days when he was spotted Thursday afternoon by the Houston Express on his ship drifting in the Atlantic Ocean.

"I was utterly thankful and grateful to the people who rescued me, and I was grateful to God that my parents were not going to be worried about me," Jordan told CNN.

Frank Jordan told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he had worried about his son, who is an inexperienced sailor, but he held hope because his son had a good boat. And he had the strength to make it.

"He's got very strong constitution and (is strong) not only physically, but spiritually," Frank Jordan told CNN. "And he told me on the phone that he was praying the whole time, so I believe that sustained him a great deal."

What happened?

The younger Jordan said he took his sailboat out to the Gulf Stream to find some better fishing, when it capsized. He broke his shoulder when the boat flipped.

Because of the injury, Jordan couldn't repair the boat's mast, which had snapped.

"Everything I owned got broken -- all my electronics, my GPS devices," Jordan said. He was dead in the water.

Jordan drifted in the Atlantic, rationing food and water until his shoulder healed.

He was able to rig a makeshift mast and sail, Jordan said, but he could make little headway against the currents.

"It took so long," he said. "It moved so slowly."

The boat capsized two more times before he was rescued, according to Jordan.

After his food and water ran out, it became an issue of survival.

Collecting fresh water was a nightmare for Jordan. The weather wouldn't cooperate.

"I had tried to collect (rain)water ... but every time the waves would splash into the boat," Jordan said. "The waves would put saltwater into my freshwater and it tasted bad.

"Finally the conditions were right. I filled up my water tank, which is 25 gallons. I filled up a bucket."

Then there was the issue of food.

The fish weren't cooperating, but after a while Jordan learned that they were attracted to his laundry that he would put out to sea for a rinse.

The fish would swim in and out of his clothes and he could easily scoop them up with a hand net, he said.[I'll be sure to remember that should the need arise...]

Jordan came ashore Thursday evening.

CNN affiliate WAVY in Norfolk, Virginia, reported that he was able to walk from the helicopter into Sentara Norfolk General Hospital at about 7:30 p.m.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/us/rescue ... ys-at-sea/

[Long Run]

A whole new take on teaching a man how to fish. Feel good story of the week, thanks!

[oldr_n_wsr]

The Gulf Stream is about 12-15 miles off the outer banks of NC. That's a little far for an inexperienced sailor.

[rubato]

The Coast Guard weren't looking for him?

yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

A rather fishy story, methinks....

[rubato]

I'm not saying it isn't true just that there are some facts I would want to have before concluding it was true.


The Gulf stream isn't that far off shore and moves at a very predictable rate, something set adrift would move in a very predictable way right by a whole series of CG stations on the Eastern Seaboard.

So? Was there a search? Was it in the news back there?

yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

"Finally the conditions were right. I filled up my water tank, which is 25 gallons. I filled up a bucket."

25 gallons of rainwater, collected in a bucket? 25 gallons?

I'm trying to imagine the sheer amount of rainwater that must have fallen. I can't picture the boat not filling up with a mix of rain and salt water forcing him to use that bucket to bail it out all the time it was raining.

How on earth did he right a capsized boat when he had a broken shoulder? Even without that, it should have been almost impossible (unless he was in a coracle).

Oh well... good luck to him

[Big RR]

Meade--I saw something on TV last night and apparently he said he had many days of continuous rain, but it usually was accompanied by wind, which blew saltwater spray into the rain. On one day he said there was a continuous rainfall without much wind, and he collected a lot of water which he dumped into the boat's freshwater tank. I don't think the bucket was left full; my guess is he rigged the sail to collect water and dump it into the bucket (which he then dumped into the tank).

Also, the report is now that he broke his collarbone, not shoulder, so he would still have had pretty good use of his arms. My guess is that it listed heavily to the side and then righted itself--it did not capsize (although he might have called the roll a capsize).

it may well be a made up story, but I'd like to see more information before I concluded that.

[MajGenl.Meade]