KAREN EARNSHAW
August, 2018
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
Children’s nursery rhyme
University of Georgia students Christopher Lee and Jacob Pope had a dream: To row across the Pacific from California to Hawaii.
They trained, they raised money from sponsors, they decided to use their voyage to raise awareness (and money) for the blood disorder hemophilia, and they finally set off from Monterey in their 27-foot vessel in early June, 2016.
Just days out, things began looking grim: “We faced conditions that hindered our progress significantly, but on June 17th things turned dangerous,” they subsequently wrote on their Facebook page. “We had 14 foot waves every three to four seconds from multiple directions, and 25 knot winds that made being on deck and rowing incredibly dangerous.
“We were effectively locked in our six and a half feet by five feet cabin for three days. Our cooking gimbal broke, so the only food we could eat was the Chops Jerky we brought, and a few of the Paleo Meals to Go eaten cold.
“We became dehydrated rapidly, because our desalinator didn’t have constant input in the choppy conditions long enough for us to make more water. Our backs took the full force of the seas, since sitting in any other position in the cabin rocketed us head first into the walls.”
Their rowing boat was being pushed toward the strong coast current where they would have “no way of escaping its grasp.”
The guys radioed for help and a friend, Captain Monte, came to the rescue, but he was unable to tow the smaller craft because his boat nearly capsized in the big seas and he had to withdraw to a safe anchorage.
Since a civilian towing option was unavailable until conditions improved, which was forecast to not happen for 10 days, the young men requested a tow from US Coast Guard. “After several hours of coordination, a 47 foot aluminum hull Coast Guard boat was dispatched. It took them several hours to get to us, in which we packed only our essentials into an ocean-safe grab bag.”
They had spent 10 days in the ocean. Their boat, Dream Maker, spent considerably longer drifting on the endless Pacific rollers until it beaches itself on Second Island in Likiep Atoll and was found by locals on July 31.
I contacted Christopher by email, who said he was intrigued to find out their boat had been found and to see photos of it. He wrote in an email: “Thanks for the update. I can confirm that is the boat based on the sponsor tags.
“Not a day goes by without something reminding me of our experiences, however unfortunate.”
Both Christopher and Jacob, who suffers from hemophilia, have graduated from university. “I majored in genetics and Jacob in management information systems.”
In his email, he then apologized: “Sorry for being a bit quick with this email! I’m ironically about to start rowing workout, but will gladly answer any further questions.”
How I found the story
Likiep Mayor Nika Wase on Monday, August 6, contacted me via Messenger: “There is a catamaran boat drifted ashore on Number Two island. Fully wrecked. No-one is on it. It was found on 31 July. Am trying to get hold of the Police Commissioner and other authorities to inform them while I’m here in Hilo.” She suggested I contact Likeip Acting Mayor Junior deBrum to find out more details, whichIwe did: “The boat is about twenty by five in length and width,” Junior wrote. “It is not clear if this is a yacht, sailing boat, or catamaran, as it has become a wreck upon arrival by the mercy of the currents and waves.”
Junior said the boat is “situated at Raktolok Ward. In the small compartments we found many packages of dried food.” The only other items of any use were a small portable RO unit and a four-person liferaft.
Junior tried to send photos of the wreckage to me, but his Internet connection was poor. Subsequently he sent them to Deputy Police Commissioner Harris Kaiko, who generously shared them with me.
