Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava had planned to sail from Hawaii to Taihiti, but Fuiava had never sailed before

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The two women who were rescued by the US navy after five months adrift in the Pacific have admitted they were not properly prepared for the trip and that one of them was a novice sailor.

Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava, who set off from Hawaii in May, were spotted on Tuesday by a Taiwanese fishing vessel. Their 50-foot boat was 900 miles (1,500km) off Japan and thousands of miles away from their planned destination of Tahiti.

US Navy rescues two women and their dogs lost at sea for five months Read more

Appel, who has been sailing the Hawaiian islands for a decade, said she had planned the voyage, which should take three weeks, for more than two years but that the pair were perhaps not as prepared as they should have been.

“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she said. “When I asked Natasha, I told her I have no idea what’s going to happen out there and she said, ‘That’s OK, I’ve never sailed.’”



The pair, who were accompanied by their dogs, ran into trouble almost immediately when they hit a storm off Hawaii. Their engine was crippled, their mast was damaged and things went downhill from there.

Play Video 0:39 US women rescued after being stranded at sea for five months - video

As their sailboat drifted helplessly in the middle of the Pacific for months, their water purifier broke, sharks started ramming their vessel, food ran low and their distress calls and signal flares went unanswered day after day.

Some nights they went to sleep wondering if they would live to see the sun rise.

The women credited their survival to advice from veteran Hawaiian sailors – and luck.

“They said pack every square inch of your boat with food, and if you think you need a month, pack six months, because you have no idea what could possibly happen out there,” Appel said. “And the sailors in Honolulu really gave us good advice. We’re here.”

Appel, who has been sailing the Hawaiian islands for a decade, said she and Fuiava were to spend about 18 days getting to Tahiti, then another six months or so cruising the thousands of small islands that dot the south Pacific before returning to Hawaii.

‘You got to die sometime’

One night during their ordeal, a group of tiger sharks began attacking the vessel, and the next morning, a shark returned and rammed the boat again, Appel said, adding, “We were just incredibly lucky that our hull was strong enough to withstand the onslaught.”

“There is a true humility to wondering if today is your last day, if tonight is your last night,” she said.

As the months passed, the pair discovered they were going through their food much faster than they had anticipated. Ninety percent was gone by the time they were rescued, some of it having been fed to their dogs after their pet food ran out.

“The dogs turned out to really like human food,” Appel said.

“A lot,” Fuiava added.

Despite the problems, the pair said there were positive moments, such as when they fixed their broken water purifier and used their long days adrift to learn more about the sea and the weather.

“You may as well use the time you have to do something beneficial,” Fuiava said.

Although the US Navy declared the Sea Nymph no longer seaworthy, Appel said she hoped to eventually recover it and perhaps take it out again.

“Well, you got to die sometime,” Appel said. “You may as well be doing something you enjoy when you’re doing it, right?”

Associated Press contributed to this report