Well, further research failed to support the blue tarp thing, but did support the eating seabirds, which the sailor said tasted nasty (see articles below).
Red neck tale for sure.
Sailor shows survival skills as jaunt turns into epic voyage
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/26/1032734228330.htmlBy Jessica Garrison in Los Angeles
September 26 2002
Richard Van Pham drifted and slept, slept and drifted - for 3 months and 4000 kilometres - from Long Beach in California to Costa Rica.
He ate roasted seabirds and drank rainwater. And when he was rescued by the United States Navy, all he wanted was help fixing his boat so he could sail on.
Instead, the crew of the frigate McClusky sank his boat, had a whip-round for him and dropped him off in Guatemala, where he bought an air ticket. He arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
The navy came upon Mr Pham 500km off Costa Rica on September17, nearly four months after he had set off from Long Beach for a short, easy sailing jaunt to Catalina Island.
As Captain Terry Bragg of the US Navy put it: "It's a three-hour cruise gone bad. It's like a cross between Gilligan's Island and Robinson Crusoe."
Some time on that 35km journey, a storm broke the Sea Breeze's mast. Then the outboard motor and the radio failed.
Mr Pham, 62, told navy officials he had no family and had not filed a voyage plan. No-one reported him missing and no-one looked for him.
So he drifted, alone, in his eight-metre boat. He stayed below decks, out of the sun, during the day. Although barnacles collected on the hull, his solar-powered generator worked and sometimes he watched videos on his small television. He put out a large bucket to collect rainwater. He caught fish, eating some and hooking others to his broken mast to attract seabirds to roast. He tore wood panelling off his boat and set up a makeshift grill.
He told his rescuers how he hit sea turtles with a bat as they swam near the boat, hauled the carcasses aboard and then cooked part of the meat while using the rest as bait for seabirds that would roost on the broken mast.
Gary Parriot, captain of the McClusky,
said the guided missile frigate was on counter-narcotics patrol off Central America last week when a US Customs drug hunting aircraft directed it to a broken down sailboat that was bobbing in the water nearby.
The McClusky blew its whistle, and a skinny man came up on the deck of the Sea Breeze and began waving his arms frantically, Captain Parriot said. Sailors and a medic sped over in a small boat to find Mr Pham, 62, fixing a lunch of roasted seabird on a makeshift grill.
Mr Pham was delighted to see the sailors, but refused medical treatment. Instead, he said, all he wanted was a new sail and help fixing his mast, so he could sail on. He thought he was somewhere near Hawaii.
Engineers on the McClusky told Mr Pham it did not look good for the Sea Breeze. The fuel was contaminated with water and the mast was beyond repair. They persuaded him to let them sink his boat and to come aboard the frigate.
Richard Van Pham drifted and slept, slept and drifted - for 3 months and 4000 kilometres - from Long Beach in California to Costa Rica.
He ate roasted seabirds and drank rainwater. And when he was rescued by the United States Navy, all he wanted was help fixing his boat so he could sail on.
Instead, the crew of the frigate McClusky sank his boat, had a whip-round for him and dropped him off in Guatemala, where he bought an air ticket. He arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
The navy came upon Mr Pham 500km off Costa Rica on September17, nearly four months after he had set off from Long Beach for a short, easy sailing jaunt to Catalina Island.
As Captain Terry Bragg of the US Navy put it: "It's a three-hour cruise gone bad. It's like a cross between Gilligan's Island and Robinson Crusoe."
Some time on that 35km journey, a storm broke the Sea Breeze's mast. Then the outboard motor and the radio failed.
Mr Pham, 62, told navy officials he had no family and had not filed a voyage plan. No-one reported him missing and no-one looked for him.
So he drifted, alone, in his eight-metre boat. He stayed below decks, out of the sun, during the day. Although barnacles collected on the hull, his solar-powered generator worked and sometimes he watched videos on his small television. He put out a large bucket to collect rainwater. He caught fish, eating some and hooking others to his broken mast to attract seabirds to roast. He tore wood panelling off his boat and set up a makeshift grill.
He told his rescuers how he hit sea turtles with a bat as they swam near the boat, hauled the carcasses aboard and then cooked part of the meat while using the rest as bait for seabirds that would roost on the broken mast.
Gary Parriot, captain of the McClusky,
said the guided missile frigate was on counter-narcotics patrol off Central America last week when a US Customs drug hunting aircraft directed it to a broken down sailboat that was bobbing in the water nearby.
The McClusky blew its whistle, and a skinny man came up on the deck of the Sea Breeze and began waving his arms frantically, Captain Parriot said. Sailors and a medic sped over in a small boat to find Mr Pham, 62, fixing a lunch of roasted seabird on a makeshift grill.
Mr Pham was delighted to see the sailors, but refused medical treatment. Instead, he said, all he wanted was a new sail and help fixing his mast, so he could sail on. He thought he was somewhere near Hawaii.
Engineers on the McClusky told Mr Pham it did not look good for the Sea Breeze. The fuel was contaminated with water and the mast was beyond repair. They persuaded him to let them sink his boat and to come aboard the frigate.
Mr Pham told the sailors he had come to the US from Vietnam as a refugee in 1976 and was retired. He had been living on the Sea Breeze, docking it at Long Beach in between trips.
Before the sailors dropped Mr Pham in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, they had collected $US800 ($1470) to send him home.
Los Angeles Times
Man rescued after 4 months at sea
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/West/09/24/man.adrift/index.htmlFrom Charles Feldman (CNN)
Wednesday, September 25, 2002 Posted: 4:41 AM EDT (0841 GMT)
Richard Van Pham
Richard Van Pham
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A man who says his crippled sailboat was adrift at sea for almost four months was rescued a U.S. Navy frigate. KSWB's Brian Black and KCBS' Jennifer Sabih report (September 25)
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man who says his crippled sailboat was adrift at sea for almost four months was rescued by a U.S. Navy frigate off the coast of Costa Rica last week, the ship's commander told CNN.
Cmdr. Gary Parriott said 62-year-old Richard Van Pham was spotted by a military aircraft on narcotics patrol September 17. The 24-foot sailboat appeared battered and broken, and Parriott said his crew was stunned when Van Pham appeared and waved at the frigate.
Van Pham told crew members of the Navy frigate McClusky that he had set out for a brief trip between Long Beach and Catalina Island, some 23 miles off the southern California coast, when high winds broke his mast. His radio, he said, failed to work and he found himself adrift.
According to Parriott, Van Pham survived by eating fish he caught, as well as a few seagulls. He drank rainwater collected in a bucket.
Van Pham appeared to be in generally good health, Parriott said.
Parriott said Van Pham told him that he only passed one other ship in the entire 3 1/2-month period, but it was too far away to signal.
Parriott said Van Pham told him he had come to the United States from Vietnam in 1976 and lived on his sailboat in Long Beach harbor.
In this U.S. Navy photo, sailors from the McClusky speak to a parka-wearing Van Pham, right, aboard his sailboat after he was found adrift.
In this U.S. Navy photo, sailors from the McClusky speak to a parka-wearing Van Pham, right, aboard his sailboat after he was found adrift.
The boat was so badly damaged that it had to be sunk. Parriott said Van Pham, apparently an accomplished sailor, was clearly upset that he would no longer have a place to live once he returned to the U.S. mainland.
The commander said his crew collected $800 to pay for an airplane ticket for Van Pham back to the United States.
Van Pham was turned over to U.S. State Department officials in Guatemala for processing. Upon his arrival at the Los Angeles International Airport, he was briefly detained by Immigration and Naturalization Service officials but was let go when his "green card" checked out.
He is now in the care of a charity organization in Los Angeles.
Man rescued after 3 months at sea returns to US
http://www.wistv.com/story/948397/man-rescued-after-3-months-at-sea-returns-to-us(Los Angeles-AP) Sept. 25, 2002 - A man who survived three months adrift in the Pacific Ocean by collecting rainwater in a bucket and roasting the sea birds that landed on his sailboat thanked the crew of the U.S. warship that rescued him.
Richard Van Pham, 62, of Long Beach returned to California on Tuesday. He was held temporarily by U.S. immigration officials, then released after officials verified he was a legal, permanent resident.
He had lost about 40 pounds but was in good condition when he was found aboard his damaged sailboat a week ago by the San Diego-based frigate McClusky, Navy officials said.
"If you travel at sea, you take what you find," Pham said in Wednesday's editions of the Los Angeles Times. "If you are scared, you will die."
Van Pham set sail from Long Beach in his 26-foot sailboat, Sea Breeze, bound for Santa Catalina Island, some 25 miles offshore. En route, a storm broke his mast and his outboard motor and two-way radio also failed.
On Sept. 17, his boat was spotted from a plane 275 miles southwest of Costa Rica, about 2,500 miles away from his original destination. When the McClusky neared, its crew saw it jury-rigged sail flapped from a splintered mast and a man cooking a seabird on a makeshift grill.
The ship's corpsman, Petty Officer 1st Class A.J. Davis, said Van Pham described bashing a sea turtle with a bat as it swam near his boat and then cooking part of the meat while using the remainder as bait for seabirds.
Capt. Terry Bragg, commander of Destroyer Squadron One in San Diego, which oversees the McClusky, said he had never heard a story of survival like Van Pham's.
"It's a three-hour cruise gone bad," Bragg said. "It's like a cross between Gilligan's Island and Robinson Crusoe."
Van Pham had used a small grill on board his boat to cook seabirds and turtle meat after he ran out of food a week into the ordeal. To keep the grill going, he began disassembling parts of the boat for fuel, Bragg said.
Each day he drifted at sea, Van Pham said, he looked for any sign of life, any sign of land.
"I see nothing," he said. "Then one day, I see a plane. I know I'm close to people. They tip their wings to say hello. Two hours later, a ship comes to my boat. I am very, very happy."
Van Pham was dropped off Sunday in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, when the McClusky visited port. The ship's crew collected about $800 to pay for his plane trip home.
Navy officials said the most poignant moment came when Van Pham left the Sea Breeze. Unable to fix the sailboat, Van Pham approved having crew members set fire to the Sea Breeze. It sank in 8,700 feet of water.
"He waved goodbye to his sailboat," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Slaight. "He was upset ... and said he was going to miss it."
The Navy came upon Pham 300 miles off Costa Rica on Sept. 17, nearly four months after Pham had set off from Long Beach for a short, easy sailing jaunt to Santa Catalina Island.
Somewhere on that 22-mile journey, a storm blew in and whipping winds broke the Sea Breeze's mast. Then the outboard motor failed, and so did the radio, according to Navy officials.
"For two months the wind continued nonstop," Pham said. The breezes augmented the ocean currents that pushed him steadily south.
What's more, the 62-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, who told Navy officials he had no family, had not filed a float plan. No one reported him missing, so no one went looking for him.
So he drifted, alone in his 26-foot boat. He stayed below deck during the day to keep out of the sun.
Though barnacles collected on his boat's hull, his solar-powered generator worked, and sometimes he watched videos on his small television. He put out a five-gallon bucket to collect rainwater. He caught fish, eating some and hooking others to his broken mast to attract seabirds to roast. He tore the wood paneling off his boat and set up a makeshift grill. He netted a sea turtle that swam near his boat and salted the meat to store for times when food was scarce.
"If you travel at sea, you take what you find," Pham said. "If you are scared, you will die."
Gary Parriot, captain of the McClusky, still sounded flabbergasted Tuesday as he related the tale of the rescue via satellite phone to his commanding officer in San Diego.
The McClusky, a 453-foot guided-missile frigate, was finishing up six months of counter-narcotics patrol off the coast of Central America last week when a U.S. customs P-3 drug-hunting plane reported a broken-down sailboat bobbing in the water nearby, he said.
The frigate headed to the area at maximum speed, and an hour and half later spotted a very dilapidated sailboat.
The McClusky blew its whistle, and a skinny man came up on the deck of the Sea Breeze and began waving his arms frantically, Parriot said.
Sailors, along with a medic, lowered into a boat and sped over to him.
It was early afternoon, and they found Pham in the middle of fixing a lunch of roasted seabird on his homemade grill.
Pham was delighted to see the sailors, but he refused medical treatment, Parriot said. Instead, what he wanted was a new sail and help fixing his mast, so he could sail on. He thought he was somewhere near Hawaii.
Back on the frigate, Parriot said he listened to the radio transmissions from his crew with growing amazement.
"It was coming in in pieces," he said. "It was unbelievable . . . the guy had been lost at sea for four months."
Engineers on the McClusky told Pham it didn't look good for the Sea Breeze. The fuel was contaminated with water, the mast was beyond repair and the vessel was simply not seaworthy.
They persuaded Pham to go aboard the frigate. They thought about towing his boat but soon concluded that wasn't possible. Reluctantly, Pham gave permission for the Navy to sink the Sea Breeze. But he went below deck so he wouldn't have to watch as they loaded it up with smoke floats and set it aflame.
"He was pretty distraught," Parriot said. "The sad part is, he lost his home."
Pham told the sailors that he was retired and had been living on the Sea Breeze, docking it in Long Beach in between trips. He said he had come to the United States from Vietnam in 1976 as a refugee.
Pham said in an interview that after he came to this country in 1976, he became a successful businessman, owning furniture stores in North Hollywood, Culver City and Los Angeles and an auto mechanic shop.
But about 10 years ago, he said, a car accident left him in a coma for six months. He had suffered severe memory loss and had to relearn English and simple tasks such as taking the bus. The injuries left him unable to run his business, and the hospital bills exhausted his savings, he said. He lost everything.
Long Beach officials said Pham did not have a permanent slip in their city but had rented space for four days in May. Until January, Pham apparently lived in an apartment in downtown Los Angeles.
Aboard the McClusky, Pham slept in sick bay but took his meals with the sailors. A medical examination revealed that he had lost some weight but had no obvious health problems.
Crew members fussed over their new arrival. "They adopted him," the captain said.
They were captivated by his tales of adventure. How had he had the ingenuity to tie fish to the mast to attract birds? To bash sea turtles? To set aside some of the meat for salting?
"The ship McClusky, they're like my family," Pham said. "They treated me like a brother. I love them."
The crew members were touched and saddened to learn that the man was now homeless and did not have enough money to get himself back to the United States. Before the frigate stopped in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, to drop Pham off, sailors had taken up a collection and raised $800 for his plane fare.
Arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, Pham was directed to Traveler's Aid, which provided him with a room for the night.
His future is uncertain.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rescued-after-4-months-adrift-2767114.php
