#Koji Moritsugu
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Captain Ultra & Space March (special effects) J-pop
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This TV/SF work was not a Tsuburaya production work, but I watched it enthusiastically as a program after watching "Ultraman" enthusiastically. However, it is a pity that the actor who played the main character of this work: Hirohisa Nakata, was only active as a villain after that. Strictly speaking, even in the full-scale "Ultraman series" other than "Captain Ultra", Susumu Kurobe of "Ultraman", Danjiro of "The Return of Ultraman" are all villains, Koji Moritsugu of "Ultra Seven", Saburo Shinoda of " Ultraman Taro" are just baby faces.
キャプテンウルトラ&宇宙マーチ(特撮)J-pop
こ��テレビ・SF作品は、円谷プロ作品ではなかったけど、熱狂的に視聴した「ウルトラマン」の後番組として熱心に見た。ただ、この作品の主人公を演じた俳優:中田博久は、以後悪役としてしか活躍しなかったのが残念だ。厳密に言えば、「キャプテンウルトラ」以外の本式の「ウルトラマンシリーズ」でも、「ウルトラマン」の黒部進、「帰ってきたウルトラマン」の団次郎は、悪役ばっかり、「ウルトラセブン」の森次晃嗣、「ウルトラマンタロウ」の篠田三郎はベビーフェイスばっかり。
#Captain Ultra#special effects#Babylman#J-pop#Tsuburaya production#Ultraman#Hirohisa Nakata#villain#Susumu Kurobe#Ultra Seven#baby face#Koji Moritsugu#Youtube#Isao Tomita
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"Ultraseven IF: The Future 55 Years Ago" is a short film, just released to celebrate Ultraseven's 55th anniversary.
It so happens that I'm watching Ultraseven right now and this 6:37-long movie has just been out. What a timing!
While I'm not a big fan of AI derived art and stuff, I'm impressed that Tsuburaya Pro managed to recreate the younger Dan Moroboshi and Anne Yuri using AI and CGI (but of course, the real Dan is way more handsome haha).
I just hope it expands into a feature-length movie or an Ultraseven mini-series that will explore details of how the alien invaders were doing when Ultraseven wasn't present in those 55 years, and how Dan Moroboshi resolves it in the end.
And it looks like there's a romantic subplot, too! *screams internally*
Koji Moritsugu, now 80, plays as Jiro Satsuma there. Of course, he's very much older now but it looks like he's still in the mining business. Or is he still also playing Dan? Ahh, I'll never know!!!
If you remember Jiro in the original Ultraseven series, he was a young miner saved by Ultraseven from a mountaineering accident. Impressed by Jiro's bravery and selflessness, Ultraseven took Jiro's image as his own human form and named himself Dan Moroboshi to avoid confusion.
I'm happy Moritsugu-san is still alive and active and involved in another Ultraman-related project. 😊
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Woah, this looks cool.
SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN
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Yuriko Hishimi (Anne) e Koji Moritsugu (Dan) em Ultraseven.
Hishimi Yuriko (ひし美 ゆり子, born June 10, 1947 in Tokyo, Japan), best known for portraying Anne Yuri in the television series Ultra Seven (1967-1968) and subsequent appearances in other Ultra Series film and television and projects.
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Ultra Seven will be released on Steelbook and Blu-ray on December 10 via Mill Creek Entertainment. Created by Eiji Tsuburaya, it’s the third installment in Tsuburaya Productions’ Ultra series.
Following the success of Ultraman, the show aired in Japan for 49 episodes from 1967 to 1968. Koji Moritsugu, Yuriko Hishimi, Shoji Nakayama, Iyoshi Ishii, Shinsuke Achiha, and Bin Furuya star.
Ultra Seven is presented in its native Japanese with English subtitles. Although no special features are included, both versions include a collector's booklet.
In the Age of Interplanetary Wars, Earth is in danger from those who would threaten its very existence. From their massive underground complex near Mt. Fuji the Ultra Guard, an elite unit of the Terrestrial Defense Force, stands vigilant as our decisive first-line of defense. But unbeknownst to his teammates, Dan Moroboshi is secretly an extraterrestrial aiding them in their fight to preserve the future of humanity. Dubbed Ultraseven, he aides the Ultra Guard in fighting back alien hordes that would doom the world to conquest.
A far greater threat emerges, though, as Ultraseven sees the consequences of his power: can he maintain his soul in the face of constant violence, even when that is necessary to protect his newfound friends?
#ultraman#ultra seven#ultraseven#ultra man#kaiju#eiji tsuburaya#tsuburaya#mill creek entertainment#dvd#gift#steelbook#japan#tsuburaya productions#ultra q#japanese film
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Today’s Ultra Trivia:
Ultraman Premiere 2011 is a live stage show that premiered in Nagoya, Tokyo and Osaka, and features a large cast of characters including Ultraman Zero (Daisuke Watanabe, Mamoru Miyano, Naoki Kawano), Hayata Shin (Susumu Kurobe), Dan Moroboshi/Jiro Satsuma (Koji Moritsugu), Gen Ootori (Ryu Manatsu), Rei (Shota Minami) and more. The stageshow is written by Keiichi Hasegawa (Ultraman Dyna, Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Ginga, SSSS.Gridman)
The story revolves around Ultraman Zero and his first visit on Earth while chasing after the Monster Corps that attacked members of the Space Garrison. On Earth, he borrows the body of a man and goes by the name Shin Moroboshi and learns about the planet’s inhabitants in his stay.
Source: https://m-78.jp/special/premiere/date.html
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To wrap up my 50th Anniversary of Ultraseven celebration here is a video of a live performance of the theme to Ultraseven. The conductor is Toru Fuyuki who composed the music for the original series. Also present are Koji Moritsugu who played Dan Moroboshi and Yuriko Hishimi who played Anne Yuri.
Thanks for joining me today for this special Anniversary. As a special bonus, here is one of my favorite covers of the Ultraseven Theme for the band Kagaku Tokusotai.
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<p>Inconsistencies cast doubt on tale of sea survival - Sports KFBB.com News and Weather</p>
By CALEB JONES Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - Two Hawaii girls who say they were lost at sea on a sailboat for months never activated their emergency beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard said, adding to a growing list of inconsistencies that cast doubt on their harrowing tale of survival.
The girls told The Associated Press that they had radios, satellite phones, GPS and other emergency gear, but they didn't mention EPIRB, or the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
A Coast Guard review of this episode and interviews with the women revealed that they had an EPIRB aboard their boat but never turned it on.
Jennifer Appel confirmed in an interview that they had the beacon and didn't use it. She said it ought to be used when you are in imminent danger and going to die in the next 24 hours.
"Our hull was strong, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had restricted maneuverable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them after they had been rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things didn't say we will die. All that said, it's going to take us a great deal longer to get where we're going."
In retrospect, however, Appel said there were two times that she would have used it - once when she and Tasha Fuiava were off Hawaii around late June to early July, and another time off Wake Island on Oct. 1.
"That's a lesson learned for me, because that was the best chance we had in the sea to get help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed opportunity.
Previously, Appel and Fuiava had said they had been close to giving up a week when they were rescued by the Navy, tens of thousands of miles off course.
The EPIRB and satellites communicate and sends places to authorities. It's activated when itturned on manually or's submerged in water. The signal sends a location to rescuers within minutes.
A Coast Guard officer who was responsible for search and rescue operations said that when the emergency beacon had been used by the girls, they would have been found.
"If the thing was operational and it had been turned on, a signal should have been received very, very quickly that this vessel was in distress," Phillip R. Johnson said Monday in a telephone interview from Washington state.
The device was described by Johnson but added that a unit could be caused by weak and old batteries.
Appel and Fuiava said they had six forms of communication that all failed to work.
"There is something wrong there," Johnson said. "I have never heard of all that stuff going out at the exact same time."
The two girls met in late 2016, and of knowing each other within a week decided to take the trip. Fuiava had never sailed a day in her life. They intended to take 18 days then traveling the South Pacific to get to Tahiti and return in October to Hawaii.
They set off on May 3 and have been rescued by the Navy last week.
Key elements of the women's account are contradicted by police, and are not consistent with geography of the Pacific Ocean or weather reports. The disagreements raised questions regarding whether Appel Tasha Fuiava, and her sailing companion, could have avoided disaster.
In their first day at sea, the two girls described running into a ferocious storm that tossed their vessel with 60 mph (97 kph) winds and 30-foot (9-meter) seas for three times, but meteorologists say there was no severe weather anywhere along their path during that time.
After leaving "we got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for two nights and three days," Appel has said of the storm they struck off Oahu. In one of the first signs of trouble, she said she lost her cellphone.
"We were permitted to know that we could withstand the forces of nature," Appel said. "The boat could withstand the forces of nature."
However, the National Weather Service in Honolulu said no organized storm systems were in or near on May 3 or in the days later. Archived NASA satellite images confirm there were no storms around Hawaii daily. Appel expressed surprise that there was no record of this storm. She said while sailing after sunset on May 3, a Coast Guard storm warning was received by them.
The group said they thought about turning back, but the islands of Lanai and Maui didn't have harbors to accommodate their sailboat. At 50 feet (15 meters) long, the vessel is relatively small, and both islands have harbors that accommodate boats of that size. Additionally - the southernmost island in Hawaii - has several areas.
Appel, however, said she altered her sailboat, known as the Sea Nymph, by adding six tons of fiberglass into the hull to make it thicker and heavier and extend the keel to a depth of 8.5 feet to give the boat higher stability. Similar vessels typically have a keel of 5 to 7 feet, '' she said. The keel supposed it could not get in to nearby harbors.
"Given the constraints of our vessel, we chose the appropriate action," she said.
Days later, after portions of rigging and their mast failed, they drifted up to another island, still with a engine that was working, but decided against attempting to land, believing the island was mostly uninhabited with no waters.
"It is uninhabited. They only have habitation on the northwest corner and their reef was too shallow for us to cross so as to get in the lagoon," Appel said.
However, a part of the island nation of Kiribati, Christmas Island, is home to over 2,000 people and has a port which welcomes ships that are commercial.
"We could probably nurse it down to the upcoming significant island in Kiribati," Appel said. "Then we will have the ability to stop there and look for safe haven and get up on the mast and fix it."
The island has at least two airfields, and girls had flares aboard to alarm people. Additionally, its broadest point spans about 30 miles (48 km), a day's hike to safety from even the most remote area.
If the island could have been a good place to land and fix their sails when asked, Appel said no. "Kiribati, um, one whole half of the island is known as shipwreck beach for a reason," she said.
Christmas Island has a place named Bay of Wrecks.
So, rather than quitting for assistance, they say they set a new destination about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) away and a couple of hundred miles beyond their initial goal of Tahiti. They were headed into the Cook Islands.
"We really did think we could make it to the next spot," Appel said.
They say, their engine was killed by another storm in the end of May.
The Coast Guard made radio contact with a vessel that identified itself as the Sea Nymph in June near Tahiti, and the next morning the captain said they were not in distress and expected to make land.
Over five months after they departed, they were picked up in the western Pacific about 900 kilometers (1,448 km) southeast of Japan. The two girls and their dogs were all in good health when picked up by the U.S. Navy.
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report from Naha, Japan.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(AP Photo/Koji Ueda). Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava talk on the deck of the USS Ashland at White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Navy base, five days after it picked up...
(NASA via AP). In this May 3, 2017 the Pacific Ocean Hawaii is shown. Two Honolulu girls who set off to sail the South Pacidic in their 50-foot sailboat the Sea Nymph left the country on May 3 and ran into troubl...
(U.S. Navy via AP). In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 still image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Jennifer Appel, of Honolulu, holds up a shaka sign as rescuers approach her crippled sailboat, the Sea Nymph, after being lost at sea for month...
(AP Photo/Ken Moritsugu). USS Ashland, carrying two girls who were rescued after months at sea in their storm-damaged sailboat, arrives at White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Na...
(Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/U. S. Navy via AP). CORRECTS NAME TO TASHA FUIAVA-In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 photo, sailors from the USS Ashland approach a sailboat with two Honolulu girls and their dogs aboard since they are r.. .
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Urutora sebun (1967/68) Ultra Seven (Kôji Moritsugu) and Anne Yuri (Yuriko Hishimi)
#ultra seven#urutora sebun#tv series#anne yuri#koji moritsugu#yuriko hishimi#ウルトラセブン#girls with helmets#japanese
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Today’s Ultra Trivia:
In the original script for Ultraman Leo, the name of MAC’s captain is Tetsutaro Kawakami, and was planned to have Koji Moritsugu (who previously played Dan Moroboshi/Ultraseven) portray him. However, Moritsugu felt hesitant playing a role in an Ultraman show that was different from Dan, and so the production team quickly replaced Kawakami with Dan Moroboshi as the Captain of MAC. As a result this quick change forced Dan to adopt Kawakami’s character traits and role instead, explaining the sudden change in Dan’s character in the show.
Moritsugu after Leo admitted "I might have shown Leo as weak all because of my selfishness.” and at the time was unwilling to talk about the show itself in interviews. But in the early 2000s, Moritsugu’s view on Leo have changed and grew more positive, saying that he wanted people to see while Captain Dan may be strict on Gen/Leo, he trained him out of genuine care and compassion for him.
Source: Heart of Ultraman Leo (2001)
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<p>Inconsistencies cast doubt on harrowing tale of sea survival</p>
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The two girls who were rescued after months stranded with their two dogs at sea are devoting the US Navy. Jennifer Appel, Tasha Fuiava and their dogs arrived in Okinawa, Japan on board the USS Ashland on Monday. (Oct. 30)
Media: Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) -- 2 Hawaii girls who say they were lost at sea on a sailboat for months never activated their emergency beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard stated, adding to a growing list of inconsistencies that cast doubt on their harrowing tale of survival.
The girls told The Associated Press that they had satellite phones, radios, GPS and emergency equipment, but they didn't mention EPIRB, or the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
A Coast Guard review of interviews with the women and the episode revealed that they had an EPIRB aboard their ship but never turned it on.
Jennifer Appel confirmed in an interview that they did not use it and had the beacon. She said that in her experience, it ought to be used only when you are going to die in the next 24 hours and in imminent physical danger.
"Our hull was strong, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had limited maneuverable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them once they were rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things did not say we will die. All that said, it is going to take us a great deal longer to get where we are going."
Photo: Koji Ueda, AP
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Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava talk on the deck of the USS Ashland at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Navy base, five days after it picked up the girls and their two dogs from their storm-damaged sailboat, 900 miles north of Japan. less
Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava talk on the deck of the USS Ashland at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Navy base, five ... more
Photo: Koji Ueda, AP
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In this May 3, 2017 the Pacific Ocean Hawaii is revealed. Two Honolulu girls who set off to sail the South Pacidic on their 50-foot sailboat the Sea Nymph left the state and ran into trouble almost immediately. They say they encountered a violent "Force 11" tropical storm just off the shores of Hawaii on their first night, a storm that lasted for three days. The National Weather Service in Honolulu says no storm systems that are organized were in the area at the moment, and this NASA satellite image shows no major depressions in the area on May 3. (NASA via AP) less
In this May 3, 2017 the Pacific Ocean Hawaii is revealed. Two Honolulu girls who set off to sail the South Pacidic on their 50-foot sailboat the Sea Nymph left the nation ... more
Photo: NASA, AP
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 still image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Jennifer Appel, of Honolulu, holds up a shaka sign as rescuers approach her crippled sailboat, the Sea Nymph, after being lost at sea for months, about 900 miles southeast of Japan. Their engine was crippled, their mast was damaged and things went downhill from there for two girls who set out to sail the 2,700 miles from Hawaii. A fishing boat spotted their boat off Japan and thousands of kilometers in the direction. The Navy sent the USS Ashland to their rescue. (U.S. Navy via AP) less
In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 still image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Jennifer Appel, of Honolulu, holds up a shaka sign as rescuers approach her crippled sailboat, the Sea Nymph, after being ... more
Photo: US Navy, AP
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USS Ashland, carrying two girls who were rescued after months at sea on their storm-damaged sailboat, arrives at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Navy base, five days after it picked up the girls and their two dogs from their storm-damaged sailboat, 900 miles north of Japan. less
USS Ashland, carrying two girls who were rescued after months at sea on their storm-damaged sailboat, arrives at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived at ... more
Photo: Ken Moritsugu, AP
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CORRECTS NAME TO TASHA FUIAVA-In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 photo, sailors from the USS Ashland approach a sailboat with two Honolulu girls and their dogs aboard as they are rescued after being lost at sea for several months while trying to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti. The U.S. Navy rescued the girls on Wednesday after a Taiwanese fishing boat spotted them about 900 miles north of Japan on Tuesday and alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. The women, identified by the Navy as Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava, lost their motor in late May in bad weather, but thought they could still reach Tahiti. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/U. S. Navy via AP) less
CORRECTS NAME TO TASHA FUIAVA-In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 photo, sailors from the USS Ashland approach a sailboat with two Honolulu girls and their dogs aboard as They're rescued after being lost at sea ... more
Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay, AP
Picture of
Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava sit with their dogs on the deck of the USS Ashland Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan. The U.S. Navy ship carrying two sailors it rescued in their storm-battered sailboat in the Pacific docked Monday at the American naval base in Japan. Appel and Fuiava were standing together with the USS Ashland's commanding officer and others high on the bridgeway once the ship arrived in the naval facility in Okinawa, five days after it picked up the girls and their two dogs from their ship, 900 miles north of Japan. less
Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava sit with their dogs on the deck of the USS Ashland Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan. The U.S. Navy ship carrying two sailors it ... more
Photo: Koji Ueda, AP
Doubt was cast by inconsistencies on tale of sea survival
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In retrospect, though, Appel stated there were two times that she'd have used it -- once when she and Tasha Fuiava were away Hawaii around late June to early July, and another time off Wake Island on Oct. 1.
"That's a lesson learned for me, because that was the best opportunity we had in the sea to find help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed chance.
Formerly, Appel and Fuiava had stated they were close to giving up when the Navy rescued them last week, thousands of miles off course.
The EPIRB communicates with satellites and sends places to authorities. It's activated when it's submerged in water or turned on manually. The alert signal sends a place .
A Coast Guard officer who was responsible for search and rescue operations stated that if the girls had used the emergency beacon, they would have been discovered.
"If the thing was operational and it had been turned on, a signal should have been received very, very quickly that this vessel was in distress," Phillip R. Johnson said Monday in a phone interview from Washington state.
The device was described by Johnson as sturdy and dependable, but added that weak and old batteries could make a unit to not function.
Appel and Fuiava said they had six forms of communication that all failed to work.
"There is something wrong there," Johnson said. "I've never heard of all that stuff going out at the same time."
The two girls met in late 2016, and of knowing each other within a week decided to take the trip together. Fuiava had never sailed in her life. They planned to take 18 days to get to Tahiti, then traveling the South Pacific and return to Hawaii.
They set off and both dogs on May 3 and were rescued by the Navy last week.
Authorities contradict key elements of the accounts of the women, and are not consistent with weather reports or geography of the Pacific Ocean. Questions were raised by the disagreements about whether her sailing company, Tasha Fuiava and Appel, could have avoided disaster.
In their first day at sea, the two girls described running into a ferocious storm that tossed their boat with 60 mph (97 kph) winds and 30-foot (9-meter) seas for three days, but meteorologists say there was no severe weather anywhere along their path during that time.
After leaving "we got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for 2 nights and three days," Appel has said of the storm they encountered off Oahu. In one of the first signs of trouble, she said she dropped her phone.
"We were empowered to know that we can withstand the forces of nature," Appel said. "The ship could withstand the forces of nature."
However, the National Weather Service in Honolulu reported no storm systems were in or near on May 3 or in the days later. Archived NASA satellite images confirm there were no storms around Hawaii that day. Appel expressed surprise that there was no record of the storm. She stated a Coast Guard storm warning was received by them while drifting after sunset on May 3.
The pair said they thought about turning back, but the islands of Lanai and Maui didn't have harbors to accommodate their sailboat. At 50 feet (15 meters) long, the boat is comparatively small, and both islands have harbors that accommodate boats of that size. Plus, the Big Island -- the island in Hawaii -- has areas.
Appel, though, said she altered her sailboat, called the Sea Nymph, by adding six tons of fiberglass into the hull to make it thicker and heavier and stretch the keel to a depth of 8.5 feet to give the boat greater stability. Similar vessels typically have a keel of 5 to 7 feet, she said. The extra-long keel supposed it couldn't get in to harbors.
"Given the constraints of our boat, we chose the suitable action," she said.
However, they pressed on.
Days later, after portions of the mast and rigging failed, they sailed up to another island with a working motor, but decided against trying to property, believing the island was uninhabited with no protected waters.
"It's uninhabited. They only have habitation on the northwest corner and their reef was too shallow for us to cross in order to get in the lagoon," Appel said.
However, Christmas Island, part of the island nation of Kiribati, is home to over 2,000 people and has a port that regularly welcomes enormous ships.
"We could probably nurse it down to the upcoming major island in Kiribati," Appel said. "Then we will be able to stop there and seek safe haven and get up on the mast and fix it."
The island has at least two airfields, and girls had flares aboard to alert people on land. Plus, its widest point spans about 30 miles (48 km), a day's hike to safety from even the most remote area.
Appel said no when asked if the little island would have been a fantastic place to land and repair their sails. "Kiribati, um, one entire half of the island is called shipwreck beach for a reason," she said.
Christmas Island has a place called Bay of Wrecks on its northeast side.
So, instead of stopping for assistance, they say they place a new destination about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) away and a couple of hundred miles beyond their original target of Tahiti. They were led into the Cook Islands.
"We really did think we can make it to another spot," Appel said.
Then another storm killed their motor in the end of May.
The Coast Guard made radio contact with a boat that identified itself as the Sea Nymph at June near Tahiti, and the next morning, the captain said they were not in distress and expected to make land.
Over five months after they departed, they were picked up in the western Pacific about 900 kilometers (1,448 km) southeast of Japan. Both girls and their dogs were all in good health when picked up from the U.S. Navy.
___
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report.
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<p>'There Is something wrong there': Inconsistencies cast doubt on harrowing tale of sea survival</p>
HONOLULU -- Two Hawaii women who say they were lost at sea on a sailboat for weeks never activated their emergency beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard said, adding to a growing list of inconsistencies that cast doubt on their harrowing tale of survival.
The girls told The Associated Press that they had radios, satellite phones, GPS and other emergency equipment, but they didn't mention EPIRB, or the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
A Coast Guard review of the episode and interviews with the women revealed that they had an EPIRB aboard their boat but never turned on it.
Jennifer Appel affirmed in an interview that they had the beacon and didn't use it. She said that in her experience, it should be used only when you are going to die in the next 24 hours and in imminent physical danger.
"Our hull was strong, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had restricted manoeuvrable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them after they were rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things didn't say we will die. All that said, it is going to take us a great deal longer to get where we are going."
In retrospect, though, Appel said there were two times that she would have used it -- after when she and Tasha Fuiava were off Hawaii around late June to early July, and a second time off Wake Island on Oct. 1.
"That is a lesson learned for me, because that was the best chance we had in the ocean to get help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed chance.
In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 frame from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Jennifer Appel, left, and Tasha Fuiava, who with their puppies were rescued after being lost at sea for many months while attempting to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti, are interviewed aboard the USS Ashland in the South Pacific Ocean.
Formerly, Fuiava and Appel had said they were close to giving up when the Navy rescued them a week, tens of thousands of miles off course.
The EPIRB and satellites communicate and sends locations. It's activated when itturned on manually or's submerged in water. The signal sends a place .
A retired Coast Guard officer who was responsible for search and rescue operations said that when the women had used the emergency beacon, they would have been found.
"If the thing was operational and it was turned on, a sign should have been obtained very, very quickly that this vessel was in distress," Phillip R. Johnson said Monday in a phone interview from Washington state.
The device was described by Johnson as sturdy and reliable, but added that a unit could be caused by weak and old batteries.
Fuiava and Appel said they had six forms of communication that all failed to work.
"There's something wrong there," Johnson said. "I've never heard of all that stuff going out at exactly the exact same time."
During this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 photo, USS Ashland sailors help Zeus, one of two dogs that were accompanying two Honolulu women who were rescued after being lost at sea for many months while attempting to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti. The U.S. Navy rescued the women on Wednesday after a Taiwanese fishing boat seen them about 900 miles north of Japan on Tuesday and alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. The women, identified by the Navy as Tasha Fuiaba and Jennifer Appel, lost their engine in late May in poor weather, but thought they could reach Tahiti. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/U. S. Navy via AP)
The two women met of knowing each other within a week, and in late 2016 decided to take the trip together. Fuiava had never sailed in her life. They planned to take 18 days then travel the South Pacific, to get to Tahiti and return to Hawaii in October.
They set off on May 3 and both dogs and have been rescued by the Navy last week, tens of thousands of miles off course.
Authorities contradict crucial elements of the account of the women, and aren't consistent with weather reports or basic geography of the Pacific Ocean. Questions were raised by the disagreements about whether her sailing company, Tasha Fuiava and Appel, could have avoided disaster.
On their first day at sea, the two women described running into a ferocious storm that tossed their boat with 60 mph (97 kph) winds and 30-foot (9-meter) seas for three times, but meteorologists say there was no severe weather anywhere along their path during that time.
After leaving "we got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for 2 nights and three days," Appel has said of the storm they encountered off Oahu. In one of the first signs of trouble, she said she lost her phone overboard.
"We were empowered to understand that we can withstand the forces of nature," Appel said. "The boat could withstand the forces of nature."
Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava sit with their dogs on the deck of the USS Ashland Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan. The U.S. Navy ship carrying two sailors it rescued in their storm-battered sailboat in the Pacific docked Monday at the American naval base in Japan. Appel and Fuiava were standing with the USS Ashland's commanding officer and others high on the bridgeway once the ship arrived at the naval facility in Okinawa, five days after it picked up the women and their two puppies from their boat, 900 miles north of Japan. (AP Photo/Koji Ueda)
But the National Weather Service in Honolulu said no organized storm systems were in or near Hawaii on May 3 or in the days afterward. Archived NASA satellite images confirm there were no tropical storms around Hawaii daily. Appel expressed surprise that there was no record of the storm. She said while drifting after sunset on May 3, a Coast Guard storm warning was received by them.
The group said they thought about turning back, but the islands of Lanai and Maui didn't have harbours deep enough to accommodate their sailboat. At 50 feet (15 metres) long, the boat is relatively small, and the two islands have harbours that accommodate ships of that size. The Big Island -- the island in Hawaii, plus -- has places.
Appel, though, said she altered her sailboat, called the Sea Nymph, by incorporating six tons of fiberglass into the hull to make it thicker and heavier and stretch the keel to a depth of 8.5 feet to give the boat higher stability. Similar vessels have a keel of 5 to 7 feet, '' she said. The extra-long keel supposed it could not get in to nearby harbours.
"Given the constraints of our boat, we chose the appropriate action," she said.
They pressed on.
In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 photo, Tasha Fuiaba, an American mariner who was drifting for five months on a damaged sailboat, climbs the accommodation ladder to board the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland after the Navy ship rescued two Honolulu women and their puppies after being lost at sea for many months while attempting to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti. The U.S. Navy rescued the women on Wednesday after a Taiwanese fishing boat seen them about 900 miles north of Japan on Tuesday and alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. The women, identified by the Navy as Tasha Fuiaba and Jennifer Appel, lost their engine in late May in poor weather, but thought they could reach Tahiti. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/U. S. Navy via AP)
Days later, after parts of rigging and the mast failed, they drifted up to another island with a working engine, but decided against attempting to land, believing the island was uninhabited with no waters.
"It is uninhabited. They simply have habitation on the northwest corner and their reef was too shallow for us to cross so as to get into the lagoon," Appel said.
But part of the island nation of Kiribati, Christmas Island, is home to over 2,000 people and has a port which welcomes commercial ships that are enormous.
"We could probably nurse down it to the next major island in Kiribati," Appel said. "Then we will have the ability to stop there and seek safe haven and get up on the mast and fix it."
The island has at least two airfields, and women had flares aboard to people on land. Plus, its widest point spans about 30 miles (48 kilometres), a day's hike to safety from even the most remote place.
Appel said no, when asked if the island would have been a good place to land and fix their sails. "Kiribati, um, one entire half of the island is called shipwreck beach for a reason," she said.
Christmas Island has a place named Bay of Wrecks on its northeast side.
So, instead of stopping for assistance, they say they place a new destination about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometres) away and a few hundred miles beyond their initial target of Tahiti. They were led into the Cook Islands.
"We really did think we can make it to another place," Appel said.
They say, their engine was killed by another storm .
The Coast Guard made radio contact with a boat that identified itself as the Sea Nymph at June near Tahiti, and the next morning the captain said they weren't in distress and expected to make land.
Over five months after they departed, they were picked up in the western Pacific about 900 kilometers (1,448 kilometres) southeast of Japan. The two women and their dogs were all in good health when picked up from the U.S. Navy.
----
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report from Naha, Japan.
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<p>Woman in harrowing sea Success had beacon but didn't use it - KOAA.com | Constant News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo</p>
By CALEB JONES Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - 2 Hawaii girls who say they were missing at sea on a sailboat for months never activated their emergency beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard said, adding to a growing list of inconsistencies that cast doubt on their harrowing tale of survival.
The girls previously told The Associated Press that they had radios, satellite telephones, GPS and emergency gear, but they did not mention EPIRB, or the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
A Coast Guard review of interviews with the women and the incident revealed that they had an EPIRB aboard their boat but never turned it on.
Jennifer Appel confirmed in an interview Tuesday that they didn't use it and had the beacon. She said that it ought to be used only when you're in physical danger and going to die in the next 24 hours.
"Our hull was solid, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had restricted maneuverable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them after they had been rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things didn't say we will die. All that said, it is going to take us a great deal longer to get where we are going."
In retrospect, though, Appel said there were two times that she would have used it - after when she and Tasha Fuiava were off Hawaii around late June to early July, and a second time off Wake Island on Oct. 1.
"That's a lesson learned for me, because that was the best opportunity we had in the sea to get help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed opportunity.
Formerly, Appel and Fuiava had said that they had been close to giving up last week, when they were rescued by the Navy, tens of thousands of miles off course.
The EPIRB sends places to authorities and and satellites communicate. It's activated when itturned on manually or's submerged in water. A place is sent by the alert signal to rescuers within minutes.
A retired Coast Guard officer who was responsible for search and rescue operations said that if the girls had used the emergency beacon, they would have been discovered.
"If the thing was operational and it had been turned on, a signal should have been received very, very quickly that this vessel was in distress," Phillip R. Johnson said Monday in a phone interview from Washington state.
Johnson described the device but added that a unit could be caused by batteries that were old and weak.
Appel and Fuiava also said they had six kinds of communication that all failed to work.
"There's something wrong there," Johnson said. "I've never heard of all that stuff going out at exactly the exact same time."
The two girls met in 2016, and within a week of knowing each other decided to take the trip. Fuiava had never sailed a day in her life. They intended to take then travel the South Pacific to reach Tahiti and return to Hawaii.
They set off and their two dogs on May 3 and were rescued by the Navy last week, tens of thousands of miles off course.
Police contradict key elements of the women's account, and are not consistent with geography of the Pacific Ocean or weather reports. The discrepancies raised questions regarding whether Appel Tasha Fuiava, and her sailing company, could have prevented tragedy.
In their first day at sea, the two girls described running into a ferocious storm that tossed their boat with 60 mph (97 kph) winds and 30-foot (9-meter) seas for three days, but meteorologists say there was no severe weather anywhere along their route during that time.
After leaving "we got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for 2 nights and three days," Appel has said of the storm they struck off Oahu. In one of the first signs of trouble, she said she dropped her cellphone overboard.
"We were permitted to understand that we can withstand the forces of nature," Appel said. "The boat could withstand the forces of nature."
However, the National Weather Service in Honolulu reported no organized storm systems were in or near Hawaii or in the days later. Archived NASA satellite images confirm there were no storms around Hawaii daily. Appel expressed surprise that there was no record of the storm. She said while drifting after sunset on May 3, they received a Coast Guard storm warning.
The group said they thought about turning back, but the islands of Lanai and Maui did not have harbors deep enough to accommodate their sailboat. At 50 feet (15 meters) long, the boat is relatively small, and the two islands have harbors that accommodate boats of that size. Plus - the island in Hawaii - has places to dock.
Appel, though, said she modified her sailboat, called the Sea Nymph, by incorporating six tons of fiberglass to the hull to make it thicker and heavier and stretch the keel to a depth of 8.5 feet to give the boat greater stability. Similar vessels typically have a keel of 5 to 7 feet, '' she said. The extra-long keel meant it could not get in to nearby harbors.
"Given the constraints of our boat, we chose the appropriate action," she said.
After parts of rigging and the mast failed, they drifted up with a engine that was working, still to another small island, but decided against attempting to property, believing the island was mostly uninhabited with no protected waters.
"It's uninhabited. They only have habitation on the northwest corner and their reef was too shallow for us to cross in order to get in the lagoon," Appel said.
However, a part of the island nation of Kiribati, Christmas Island, is home to over 2,000 people and has a port that welcomes ships that are commercial.
"We could probably nurse it down to the next significant island in Kiribati," Appel said. "Then we'll be able to stop there and look for safe haven and get up on the mast and then fix it."
The island has at least two airfields, and girls had flares aboard to alarm people. Plus, its widest point spans about 30 miles (48 kilometers), a day's hike to safety from even the most remote place.
Appel said no when asked if the island would have been a good place to land and repair their sails. "Kiribati, um, one whole half of the island is called shipwreck beach for a reason," she said.
Christmas Island has a place called Bay of Wrecks on its northeast side.
So, rather than quitting for assistance, they say they set a new destination about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) away and a couple of hundred miles beyond their initial target of Tahiti. They were headed to the Cook Islands.
"We really did think we can make it to another spot," Appel said.
Then another storm killed their engine in the end of May.
The Coast Guard made radio contact with a boat that identified itself as the Sea Nymph and the captain said they were not in distress and expected to make land.
More than five months after they departed, they were picked up in the western Pacific about 900 miles (1,448 kilometers) southeast of Japan. The two girls and their dogs were all in good health when picked up by the U.S. Navy.
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(AP Photo/Koji Ueda). Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava speak on the deck of the USS Ashland at White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Navy base, five days after it picked up...
(NASA via AP). In this May 3, 2017, satellite image provided by NASA, the Pacific Ocean Hawaii is revealed. Two Honolulu girls who set off to sail the South Pacidic in their 50-foot sailboat the Sea Nymph left the country on May 3 and ran into troubl...
(U.S. Navy via AP). In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 still image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Jennifer Appel, of Honolulu, holds up a shaka sign as rescuers approach her crippled sailboat, the Sea Nymph, after being lost at sea for month...
(AP Photo/Ken Moritsugu). USS Ashland, carrying two girls who were rescued after months at sea in their storm-damaged sailboat, arrives at White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Na...
(Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/U. S. Navy via AP). CORRECTS NAME TO TASHA FUIAVA-In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 photo, sailors from the USS Ashland approach a sailboat with two Honolulu girls and their dogs aboard as they are r.. .
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<p>Inconsistencies cast doubt on tale of sea survival</p>
Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava speak on the deck of the USS Ashland at White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived at the American Navy base, five days after it picked up the women and their two dogs out of their storm-damaged sailboat, 900 miles north of Japan. (AP Photo/Koji Ueda) (Koji Ueda)
HONOLULU (AP) -- 2 Hawaii women who say they were missing at sea on a sailboat for weeks never activated their emergency beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard said, adding to a growing list of inconsistencies that cast doubt on their harrowing tale of survival.
The women previously told The Associated Press that they had radios, satellite telephones, GPS and emergency equipment, but they did not mention EPIRB, or the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
A Coast Guard review of the episode and interviews with the women revealed that they had an EPIRB aboard their ship but never turned on it.
Jennifer Appel affirmed in an interview that they had the beacon and didn't use it. She said it should be used only when you're going to die in the next 24 hours and in imminent physical danger.
"Our hull was strong, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had limited maneuverable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them once they had been rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things didn't say we are going to die. All that said, it is going to take us a whole lot longer to get where we're going."
In retrospect, though, Appel said there were two times that she'd have used it -- once when she and Tasha Fuiava were off Hawaii around late June to early July, and another time off Wake Island on Oct. 1.
"That's a lesson learned for me, because that was the best opportunity we had in the sea to find help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed chance.
Previously, Fuiava and Appel had said that they were close to giving up last week, when they were rescued by the Navy, tens of thousands of miles off course.
The EPIRB and satellites communicate and sends places. It's activated when it's submerged in water or turned on manually. The signal sends a location .
A retired Coast Guard officer who was responsible for search and rescue operations said that if the emergency beacon had been used by the women, they would have been discovered.
"If the thing was operational and it had been turned on, a signal should have been received very, very quickly that this vessel was in distress," Phillip R. Johnson said Monday in a telephone interview from Washington state.
The device was described by Johnson as sturdy and reliable, but added that weak and old batteries could cause a unit not to function.
Fuiava and Appel also said they had six kinds of communication that all failed to work.
"There is something wrong there," Johnson said. "I've never heard of all that stuff going out at the exact same time."
The two women met of knowing each other, within a week, and in late 2016 decided to take the trip. Fuiava had never sailed in her life. They planned to take 18 days then travel the South Pacific to reach Tahiti and return to Hawaii in October.
They set off on May 3 and were rescued by the Navy last week.
Key elements of the women's account are contradicted by authorities, and aren't consistent with geography of the Pacific Ocean or weather reports. The disagreements raised questions regarding whether Appel and her sailing companion, Tasha Fuiava, could have avoided disaster.
On their first day at sea, the two women described running into a fierce storm that tossed their boat with 60 mph (97 kph) winds and 30-foot (9-meter) seas for three times, but meteorologists say there was no severe weather anywhere along their route during that time.
After leaving "we got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for two nights and three days," Appel has said of the storm they encountered off Oahu. In one of the first signs of trouble, she said she lost her cellphone.
"We were empowered to know that we could withstand the forces of nature," Appel said. "The ship could withstand the forces of nature."
However, the National Weather Service in Honolulu said no storm systems that were organized were in or near Hawaii on May 3 or in the days later. Archived NASA satellite images confirm there were no storms around Hawaii that day. Appel expressed surprise that there was no record of the storm. She said while drifting after sunset on May 3, they received a Coast Guard storm warning.
The group said they thought about turning back, but the islands of Lanai and Maui did not have harbors to accommodate their sailboat. At 50 feet (15 meters) long, the boat is relatively small, and the two islands have harbors that accommodate ships of that size. The Big Island -- the island in Hawaii, plus -- has several places.
Appel, though, said she altered her sailboat, called the Sea Nymph, by adding six tons of fiberglass to the hull to make it thicker and thicker and extend the keel to a depth of 8.5 feet to give the boat higher stability. Similar vessels typically have a keel of 5 to 7 feet, she said. The extra-long keel supposed it could not get in to nearby harbors.
"Given the limitations of our boat, we chose the appropriate action," she said.
They pressed on.
Days later, after portions of rigging and their mast failed, they drifted up with a engine that was working, still to another island, but decided against trying to land, believing the island was uninhabited with no waters.
"It's uninhabited. They only have habitation on the northwest corner and their reef was too shallow for us to cross in order to get into the lagoon," Appel said.
However, Christmas Island, part of the island nation of Kiribati, is home to over 2,000 people and has a port that welcomes huge ships.
"We could probably nurse down it to the upcoming major island in Kiribati," Appel said. "Then we'll be able to stop there and look for safe haven and get up on the mast and fix it."
The island has at least two airfields, and women had flares aboard to alert people on land. Plus, its widest point spans about 30 miles (48 km), a day's hike to safety from even the most remote area.
When asked if the island could have been a fantastic place Appel said no. "Kiribati, um, one whole half of the island is called shipwreck beach for a reason," she said.
Christmas Island has a place named Bay of Wrecks on its northeast side.
So, rather than quitting for assistance, they say they set a new destination about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) away and a couple of hundred miles beyond their original target of Tahiti. They were led to the Cook Islands.
"We really did think we could make it to another place," Appel said.
They say, another storm killed their engine .
The Coast Guard made radio contact with a boat that identified itself as the Sea Nymph and the captain said that they were not in distress and expected to make land.
More than five months after they departed, they were picked up in the western Pacific about 900 kilometers (1,448 km) southeast of Japan. The two women and their dogs were all in good health when picked up from the U.S. Navy.
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report from Naha, Japan.
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Text
<p>Woman in sea Success had beacon but didn't use it</p>
By CALEB JONES Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - Two Hawaii women who say they were missing at sea on a sailboat for weeks never activated their emergency beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard said, adding to a growing list of inconsistencies that cast doubt on their harrowing tale of survival.
The women previously told The Associated Press that they had radios, satellite phones, GPS and other emergency equipment, but they did not mention EPIRB, or the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
A Coast Guard review of interviews with the women and the incident revealed that they had an EPIRB aboard their ship but never turned it on.
Jennifer Appel confirmed in an interview that they had the beacon and did not use it. She said that it ought to be used only when you are in physical danger and going to expire in the next 24 hours.
"Our hull was solid, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had limited maneuverable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them after they had been rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things did not say we are going to die. All that said, it is going to take us a great deal longer to get where we're going."
In retrospect, though, Appel stated there were two times that she'd have used it - once when she and Tasha Fuiava were away Hawaii around late June to early July, and a second time off Wake Island on Oct. 1.
"That is a lesson learned for me, because that was the best opportunity we had in the sea to get help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed opportunity.
Formerly, Fuiava and Appel had stated they had been close to giving up a week when they were rescued by the Navy, tens of thousands of miles off course.
The EPIRB and satellites communicate and sends places. It's activated when itturned on manually or's submerged in water. A place is sent by the signal to rescuers within minutes.
A Coast Guard officer who was responsible for search and rescue operations stated that when the women had used the emergency beacon, they would have been discovered.
"If the thing was operational and it had been turned on, a sign should have been received very, very quickly that this vessel was in distress," Phillip R. Johnson said Monday in a telephone interview from Washington state.
Johnson described the device as sturdy and dependable, but added that a unit to not function could be caused by weak and old batteries.
Fuiava and Appel also said they had six forms of communication that all failed to work.
"There is something wrong there," Johnson said. "I have never heard of all that stuff going out at the same time."
The two women met in 2016, and of knowing each other within a week decided to take the trip. Fuiava had never sailed in her life. They intended to take then traveling the South Pacific to reach Tahiti and return in October to Hawaii.
They set off on May 3 and their two dogs and were rescued by the Navy last week, tens of thousands of miles off course.
Authorities contradict key elements of the women's accounts, and aren't consistent with basic geography of the Pacific Ocean or weather reports. Questions were raised by the discrepancies regarding whether Appel and her sailing company, Tasha Fuiava, could have avoided disaster.
In their first day at sea, the two women described running into a ferocious storm that tossed their boat with 60 mph (97 kph) winds and 30-foot (9-meter) seas for three days, but meteorologists say there was no severe weather anywhere along their route during that time.
After leaving "we got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for 2 nights and three days," Appel has said of the storm they encountered off Oahu. In one of the first signs of trouble, she said she lost her phone overboard.
"We were permitted to know that we could withstand the forces of nature," Appel said. "The ship could withstand the forces of nature."
But the National Weather Service in Honolulu reported no storm systems that were organized were in or near Hawaii or in the days afterward. Archived NASA satellite images confirm there were no tropical storms around Hawaii daily. Appel expressed surprise that there was no record of the storm. She stated while drifting after sunset on May 3 they received a Coast Guard storm warning.
The group said they thought about turning back, but the islands of Lanai and Maui did not have harbors to accommodate their sailboat. At 50 ft (15 meters) long, the boat is relatively modest, and both islands have harbors that accommodate ships of that size. Additionally - the southernmost island in Hawaii - has several places to dock.
Appel, though, said she modified her sailboat, called the Sea Nymph, by adding six tons of fiberglass into the hull to make it thicker and heavier and extend the keel to a depth of 8.5 feet to give the boat greater stability. Similar vessels have a keel of 5 to 7 feet, she said. The extra-long keel supposed it couldn't get in to nearby harbors.
"Given the limitations of our boat, we chose the suitable action," she said.
Days later, after parts of rigging and their mast failed, they drifted up to another small island, still with a engine, but decided against trying to land, believing the island was uninhabited with no waters.
"It's uninhabited. They only have habitation on the northwest corner and their reef was too shallow for us to cross so as to get in the lagoon," Appel said.
But Christmas Island, part of the island nation of Kiribati, is home to over 2,000 people and has a port which welcomes huge ships.
"We could probably nurse down it to the upcoming major island in Kiribati," Appel said. "Then we'll be able to stop there and seek safe haven and get up on the mast and then repair it."
The island has at least two airfields, and women had flares aboard to people. Plus, its widest point spans about 30 miles (48 km), a day's hike to safety from even the most remote place.
If the island could have been a fantastic place to land and repair their sails when asked, Appel said no. "Kiribati, um, one entire half of the island is called shipwreck beach for a reason," she said.
Christmas Island has a place called Bay of Wrecks.
So, rather than quitting for help, they say they set a new destination about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) away and a couple of hundred miles beyond their original goal of Tahiti. They were headed into the Cook Islands.
"We really did think we could make it to another place," Appel said.
Then, they say, their engine was killed by another storm in the end of May.
The Coast Guard made radio contact with a boat that identified itself as the Sea Nymph at June near Tahiti, and the captain said they were not in distress and expected to make land.
Over five months after they departed, they were picked up in the western Pacific about 900 miles (1,448 km) southeast of Japan. The two women and their dogs were all in good health when picked up from the U.S. Navy.
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(AP Photo/Koji Ueda). Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava talk on the deck of the USS Ashland at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Navy base, five days after it picked up...
(NASA via AP). In this May 3, 2017 the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii is revealed. Two Honolulu women who set off to sail the South Pacidic on their 50-foot sailboat the Sea Nymph left the country on May 3 and ran into troubl...
(U.S. Navy via AP). In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 still image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Jennifer Appel, of Honolulu, holds up a shaka sign as rescuers approach her crippled sailboat, the Sea Nymph, after being lost at sea for month...
(AP Photo/Ken Moritsugu). USS Ashland, carrying two women who were rescued after months at sea on their storm-damaged sailboat, arrives at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived in the American Na...
(Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/U. S. Navy via AP). CORRECTS NAME TO TASHA FUIAVA-In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 picture, sailors from the USS Ashland approach a sailboat with two Honolulu women and their dogs aboard as they are r.. .
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<p>Inconsistencies cast doubt on harrowing tale of sea survival - KATC.com | Continuous News Coverage | Acadiana-Lafayette</p>
By CALEB JONES Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) - 2 Hawaii women who say they were missing at sea on a sailboat for weeks never activated their emergency beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard said, adding to a growing list of inconsistencies that cast doubt on their harrowing tale of survival.
The girls told The Associated Press that they had satellite telephones, radios, GPS and emergency equipment, but they did not mention EPIRB, or that the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
A Coast Guard review of following interviews with the women and the incident revealed that they had an EPIRB aboard their boat but never turned it on.
Jennifer Appel confirmed in an interview Tuesday that they did not use it and had the beacon. She said it ought to be used when you are in imminent physical danger and going to expire in the next 24 hours.
"Our hull was solid, we were floating, we had food, we had water, and we had restricted maneuverable capacity," Appel said in Japan, where the U.S. Navy took them after they had been rescued by a Navy ship. "All those things did not say we will die. All that said, it is going to take us a whole lot longer to get where we are going."
In retrospect, however, Appel said there were two times that she would have used it - after when she and Tasha Fuiava were off Hawaii around late June to early July, and a second time off Wake Island on Oct. 1.
"That's a lesson learned for me, because that was the best opportunity we had in the sea to find help," Appel said of the Wake Island missed opportunity.
Formerly, Fuiava and Appel had said that they had been close to giving up last week when the Navy rescued them, tens of thousands of miles off course.
The EPIRB sends locations and and satellites communicate. It's activated when it's submerged in water or turned on manually. The signal sends a place to rescuers within minutes.
A Coast Guard officer who was responsible for rescue and search operations said that when the emergency beacon had been used by the women, they would have been found.
"If the item was operational and it had been turned on, a sign should have been obtained very, very quickly that this vessel was in distress," Phillip R. Johnson said Monday in a phone interview from Washington state.
Johnson described the device but added that batteries could cause a unit to not function.
Fuiava and Appel also said they had six kinds of communication that all failed to work.
"There's something wrong there," Johnson said. "I've never heard of all that stuff going out at the same time."
The two women met of knowing each other, within a week, and in late 2016 decided to take the trip. Fuiava had never sailed in her life. They intended to take 18 days to get to Tahiti travel the South Pacific and return to Hawaii.
They have been and set off along with their two dogs on May 3 rescued by the Navy last week.
Key elements of the account of the women are contradicted by police, and are not consistent with geography of the Pacific Ocean or weather reports. Questions were raised by the discrepancies about whether Appel and her sailing company, Tasha Fuiava, could have prevented tragedy.
In their first day at sea, the two women described running into a fierce storm that tossed their vessel with 60 mph (97 kph) winds and 30-foot (9-meter) seas for three times, but meteorologists say there was no severe weather anywhere along their path during that time.
After leaving "we got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for 2 nights and three days," Appel has said of the storm they encountered off Oahu. In one of the first signs of trouble, she said she lost her cellphone.
"We were empowered to know that we could withstand the forces of nature," Appel said. "The boat could withstand the forces of nature."
However, the National Weather Service in Honolulu said no storm systems that were organized were in or near Hawaii or in the days afterward. Archived NASA satellite images confirm there were no tropical storms around Hawaii daily. Appel expressed surprise that there was no record of the storm. She said a Coast Guard storm warning was received by them while sailing after sunset on May 3.
The group said they thought about turning back, but the islands of Lanai and Maui did not have harbors to adapt their sailboat. At 50 feet (15 meters) long, the vessel is relatively small, and both islands have harbors that accommodate boats of that size. Plus, the Big Island - the southernmost island in Hawaii - has many places.
Appel, however, said she modified her sailboat, called the Sea Nymph, by incorporating six tons of fiberglass to the hull to make it thicker and heavier and stretch the keel to a depth of 8.5 feet to give the boat higher stability. Similar vessels typically have a keel of 5 to 7 feet, she said. The keel supposed it could not get in to harbors.
"Given the limitations of our vessel, we chose the appropriate action," she said.
Days later, after parts of rigging and their mast failed, they sailed up with a working engine, still to another small island, but decided against attempting to land, believing the island was mostly uninhabited with no protected waters.
"It's uninhabited. They simply have habitation on the northwest corner and their reef was too shallow for us to cross so as to get in the lagoon," Appel said.
However, part of the island nation of Kiribati, Christmas Island, has a port that regularly welcomes ships that are huge and is home to more than 2,000 people.
"We could probably nurse down it to the next major island in Kiribati," Appel said. "Then we'll have the ability to stop there and seek safe haven and get up on the mast and fix it."
The island has at least two airfields, and women had flares aboard to alert people on land. Plus, its broadest point spans about 30 miles (48 km), a day's hike to safety from even the most remote area.
Appel said no, when asked if the island could have been a fantastic place to land and repair their sails. "Kiribati, um, one whole half of the island is called shipwreck beach for a reason," she said.
Christmas Island has a place named Bay of Wrecks.
So, instead of quitting for assistance, they say they place a new destination about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) away and a few hundred miles beyond their original goal of Tahiti. They were headed to the Cook Islands.
"We really did think we could make it to another place," Appel said.
Then their engine was killed by another storm at the end of May.
The Coast Guard made radio contact with a vessel that identified itself as the Sea Nymph and the next morning, the captain said they weren't in distress and expected to make land.
Over five months after they departed, they were picked up in the western Pacific about 900 kilometers (1,448 km) southeast of Japan. The two women and their dogs were all in good health when picked up by the U.S. Navy.
Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report from Naha, Japan.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(AP Photo/Koji Ueda). Jennifer Appel, right, and Tasha Fuiava speak on the deck of the USS Ashland at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived at the American Navy base, five days after it picked up...
(NASA via AP). In this May 3, 2017, satellite image provided by NASA, the Pacific Ocean Hawaii is shown. Two Honolulu women who set off to sail the South Pacidic on their 50-foot sailboat the Sea Nymph left the state on May 3 and ran into troubl...
(U.S. Navy via AP). In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 still image taken from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Jennifer Appel, of Honolulu, holds up a shaka sign as rescuers approach her crippled sailboat, the Sea Nymph, after being lost at sea for month...
(AP Photo/Ken Moritsugu). USS Ashland, carrying two women who were rescued after months at sea on their storm-damaged sailboat, arrives at White Beach Naval Facility at Okinawa, Japan Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The U.S. Navy ship arrived at the American Na...
(Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay/U. S. Navy via AP). CORRECTS NAME TO TASHA FUIAVA-In this Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 photo, sailors from the USS Ashland approach a sailboat with two Honolulu women and their dogs aboard since they are r.. .
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