# Sailors rescued after five months adrift **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 27, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019 "2017-10-27T20:58:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/302 "2017-11-09T23:01:50Z")
Here is my question for those in the know - regarding the ocean currents of the mid-pacific. OK, so they say they got to Christmas Island in the nation of Kiribati (south of Hawaii), they say they went past Wake Island (due east of Hawaii), and then they were picked-up 900 miles off the coast of Japan (east of Wake Island and also east of Hawaii). I can understand of someone left Hawaii on a boat, and then the boat became disabled, that they would drift on equatorial ocean currents to the east (if such currents exist at that time of the year - I assume they do - can someone comment?). But, is it possible that they could have drifted south first, then east-northeast toward Wake Island and Japan? Do mid-summer, mid-Pacific ocean currents permit such a trip? Likewise, would winds that time of year permit that? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/303 "2017-11-09T23:07:49Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Here is my question for those in the know - regarding the ocean currents of the mid-pacific. OK, so they say they got to Christmas Island in the nation of Kiribati (south of Hawaii), they say they went past Wake Island (due east of Hawaii), and then they were picked-up 900 miles off the coast of Japan (east of Wake Island and also east of Hawaii). > > I can understand of someone left Hawaii on a boat, and then the boat became disabled, that they would drift on equatorial ocean currents to the east (if such currents exist at that time of the year - I assume they do - can someone comment?). > > But, is it possible that they could have drifted south first, then east-northeast toward Wake Island and Japan? Do mid-summer, mid-Pacific ocean currents permit such a trip? > > Likewise, would winds that time of year permit that? I’ve mentioned above that I don’t think the equatorial currents and prevailing winds would permit simply drifting passively from the South Pacific to the North Pacific. If they crossed the Equator in either direction, they must have had some sailing capacity. But they have said that the problem with the mast just limited their maneuverability and speed. They clearly had some capacity to sail. The fact that they got to Wake Island would suggest that they must have had some ability to navigate and steer. Wake is a long way from anywhere. It would be unlikely you would just happen to drift by it by accident. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/304 "2017-11-09T23:16:44Z")
Every “east” in your (ETA: **snowthx** ’) post should be “west”. Other than that, it’s a heck of a theory. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/305 "2017-11-10T00:23:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Every “east” in your (ETA: **snowthx** ’) post should be “west”. Other than that, it’s a heck of a theory. 🙂 OOps! D’oh! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/306 "2017-11-10T00:57:52Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Every “east” in your (ETA: **snowthx** ’) post should be “west”. Other than that, it’s a heck of a theory. 🙂 > [@snowthx](#): > > OOps! D’oh! :eek: You’re still doing better than Appel. At least you were consistent.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/307 "2017-11-10T01:08:48Z")
Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any weirder… Some quotes from the Daily Mail article: > [@](#): > > And DailyMailTV can reveal that Appel had a history of maritime catastrophes: she acquired the Sea Nymph last year having written off her first boat, the FSOW, in an accident in January 2012. > > Photographs obtained by DailyMailTV show the fate the FSOW suffered when Appel took it out in stormy seas - ending up smashed on the rocks at Magic Island, which sits at the western end of the famous Wakiki Beach. > [@](#): > > She had a motorbike accident in her early twenties that broke nearly every bone in her body and ‘affected the judgment part of her brain’, according to her younger boyfriend Roman Kalinowski, 27 > [@](#): > > A yoga friend, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, added: 'She’s not very bright – very ditzy and not very grounded. > > ‘You never got the feeling she really knew what she was doing. When I saw what happened to her [getting lost at sea], I wasn’t surprised – she’s never been very organized.’ > [@](#): > > Kalinowski said: 'I’ve sailed with [Appel] quite a bit and I don’t think she’s a competent sailor. She could steer the boat, steer the wheel and do basic tacks and jibes, maneuvering, but she’s never done a really long sail like that. > > ‘I don’t know how she decided to just up and do that one day. She’s not a skilled navigator, no real blue water sailing experience. The other woman definitely had zero experience.’ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/308 "2017-11-10T01:43:46Z")
It may be getting weirder, but it’s also getting more consistent. She’s a thorough ditz, whether by birth or post- the unfortunate motorcycle accident. All else follows (erratically and chaotically) from that. No need for hoaxes, dominatrixes, hidden islands, or any of the other distractions. Just chaotic thinking chaotically applied. And a massive dollop of luck. She should’ve stayed home and bought a Powerball instead. She’d be rolling in it right now. Or maybe she’d have forgotten where she put the ticket. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/309 "2017-11-10T02:25:19Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > … the photos seem to be authentic, and there is a lot of detail. Yes - a bit too much. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/310 "2017-11-10T03:36:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All else follows (erratically and chaotically) from that. No need for hoaxes, dominatrixes, hidden islands, or any of the other distractions. Is that the correct plural? I’d have thought ‘dominatrices’. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/311 "2017-11-10T03:40:37Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Is that the correct plural? I’d have thought ‘dominatrices’. Dictionaries give both plurals as correct. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/312 "2017-11-10T03:51:19Z")
“broke nearly every bone in her body”, while I don’t have the facts, this doesn’t really sound plausible to me. Makes me wonder about any other of their facts. Over 200 bones in the human body. If one took 75% to be “nearly every” that would be over 150 fractures. I sincerely doubt it. I could see breaking many long bones but you’d have to break an awful lot of hand and foot bone to be nearly every. Of course I doubt the ladies facts also. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/313 "2017-11-10T04:00:18Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > “broke nearly every bone in her body”, while I don’t have the facts, this doesn’t really sound plausible to me. Makes me wonder about any other of their facts. Over 200 bones in the human body. If one took 75% to be “nearly every” that would be over 150 fractures. I sincerely doubt it. I could see breaking many long bones but you’d have to break an awful lot of hand and foot bone to be nearly every. Of course that’s not literally true. It’s a bit of hyperbole related by Kalinowski about an event that must have happened 20 years before he met Appel. But given Appel’s tendency to exaggeration, it might have been what she told him. > [@](#): > > Of course I doubt the ladies facts also. If you didn’t, you would be about the only one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/314 "2017-11-10T12:03:57Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > “broke nearly every bone in her body”, while I don’t have the facts, this doesn’t really sound plausible to me. Makes me wonder about any other of their facts. Over 200 bones in the human body. If one took 75% to be “nearly every” that would be over 150 fractures. I sincerely doubt it. I could see breaking many long bones but you’d have to break an awful lot of hand and foot bone to be nearly every. Of course I doubt the ladies facts also. Agreed. It was said of Evel Kneivel that he had broken every bone at least once. That feat took him a lifetime of diligent work. And was still hyperbole. One accident? No way. Unless she rode her motorbike off a very tall building, and probably not even then. As **Colibri** said, just one more tall tale in a life seemingly full of them. In USAF flying we had a saying: “The older I get the better I was!” Maybe the Army had something similar. It sure seems to apply to Appell. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/315 "2017-11-10T12:10:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That actually apparently comes from a Daily Mail story (NSFW): > > [Jennifer Appel was a kinky sailor and dominatrix | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5063707/Bungling-yachtswoman-kinky-sailor-dominatrix.html) > > Daily Mail, I know, but the photos seem to be authentic, and there is a lot of detail.:eek::eek::eek: I like the fact that the very first photo in the Mail has the attribution of who’s who backwards. It’s not like they’re hard to tell apart. Appel is the older blond dom w the plastic bolt-ons. And an apparently well-stocked play room. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/316 "2017-11-10T12:44:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All else follows (erratically and chaotically) from that. No need for hoaxes, dominatrixes, hidden islands, or any of the other distractions. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Is that the correct plural? I’d have thought ‘dominatrices’. > [@Colibri](#): > > Dictionaries give both plurals as correct. I love the Dope! [Hijack] Is it possible to have two dominatrixes or is one not a true dom if ceding power to the other?[/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/317 "2017-11-10T13:21:41Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > [Hijack] Is it possible to have two dominatrixes… Yes. Don’t ask me how I know. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/318 "2017-11-10T15:42:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I like the fact that the very first photo in the Mail has the attribution of who’s who backwards. It’s not like they’re hard to tell apart. > > Appel is the older blond dom w the plastic bolt-ons. And an apparently well-stocked play room. It makes me wonder just how lucrative an occupation dominatrix is. Given her erratic employment, I wonder where she got enough money to buy and restore a boat and stock it with six months of food. One of the occupations they list for her is “skydiving instructor.”:eek::eek::eek: The Daily Mail says her erotic novel _The Original Niagara Falls Angel Falls: The Nephilim Stories Part One_ is still available for purchase on-line, but Googling doesn’t turn up anything. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/319 "2017-11-10T16:09:06Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The Daily Mail says her erotic novel _The Original Niagara Falls Angel Falls: The Nephilim Stories Part One_ is still available for purchase on-line, but Googling doesn’t turn up anything. Here you go. You can even browse a few pages, but keep the brain bleach handy if you do. It has some of the same photos from the Daily Mail article that are slightly NSFW, including the landing page, so I’ve spoilered the link. [https://www.amazon.com/Original-Niagara-Falls-Angel-Games-ebook/dp/B004BSGGJG/](https://www.amazon.com/Original-Niagara-Falls-Angel-Games-ebook/dp/B004BSGGJG/) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/320 "2017-11-10T16:11:35Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Here you go. You can even browse a few pages, but keep the brain bleach handy if you do. Thanks. My Google results may have been swamped by too many results from “Niagara” and “Angel.” I wonder what her cut of the $2.99 price is. Its rating is 100% five-star (“Best book ever”), although admittedly there is only one review: > [@](#): > > If you don’t know LJ, you should! She has rocked my world many times through her literary and culinary expertise. Check it out! ---
**Author:** ![jkirkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@jkirkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkirkman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019/321 "2017-11-10T16:30:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I like the fact that the very first photo in the Mail has the attribution of who’s who backwards. It’s not like they’re hard to tell apart. > > Appel is the older blond dom w the plastic bolt-ons. And an apparently well-stocked play room. Noticed that as well. They also said: “Appel was living on her boat the FSOW at the time of the crash (pictured). She was forced to coach surf for a time afterwards .” Mind, from what we think we know of Appel so far, that might **NOT** have been a typo. (“coach” vs “couch”) A bit off topic, but they also call her a “kinky sailor” like that is a **BAD** thing… (I hope her Dom abilities are much better than her sailing abilities, but her apparent inability to understand how to properly use her sailing and safety equipment, and unwillingness to quit on a scene, should probably give one pause.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailors-rescued-after-five-months-adrift/800019.md?page=17)