A Real Survival Story

NorthStarXO

NorthStarXO

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Navy frigate finds Long Beach man, 62, in good shape

By James W. Crawley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

September 24, 2002

Adrift in his damaged sailboat for 31/2 months, a Long Beach man was found alive by a San Diego-based warship off the coast of Costa Rica – more than 2,500 miles from his home port.

Richard Van Pham, 62, was rescued a week ago by the frigate McClusky and turned over to U.S. officials in Guatemala on Sunday, Navy officials said yesterday.

He survived by catching fish, seabirds and turtles for food and collecting rainwater, said Navy crewmen who found him Sept. 17. Despite losing about 40 pounds and being heavily suntanned, Van Pham was in good condition when found, they reported.

"He's a tough old bird," said Cmdr. Gary Parriott, the McClusky's skipper, in a satellite phone interview yesterday. "I'm not sure I would have fared as well as he did."

Van Pham was dropped off in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, on Sunday when the frigate stopped for a port visit. Efforts to locate him in Guatemala City were unsuccessful last night.

The McClusky's crew collected about $800 to pay the hapless mariner's air fare home.

The incredible story of bad luck and survival began as a short cruise from Long Beach to Catalina in Van Pham's 26-foot sailboat Sea Breeze. A storm broke his mast. His outboard motor and two-way radio also failed.

For unknown reasons, Van Pham was not reported missing by friends, and he told officials he has no family. No search was conducted because no missing persons report was filed, Coast Guard officials said.

Van Pham was spotted 275 miles southwest of Costa Rica when a U.S. Customs Service P-3 drug-hunting plane saw his derelict vessel and asked the McClusky to check it out.

When the warship's boat neared, they saw a man cooking a sea gull on a makeshift grill – the ship's wooden trim supplying the fuel. A jury-rigged sail flapped from a splintered mast.

Hailing the boat in Spanish, Petty Officer 3rd Class Elias Nunez said he was surprised when Van Pham answered, "I don't speak Spanish. I speak English."

Van Pham was equally surprised when the sailors told him what month and day it was and where he was, Nunez said.

The ship's corpsman, Petty Officer 1st Class A.J. Davis said Van Pham was in exceptional health.

Davis spent hours talking to Van Pham, who described bashing sea turtles with a bat as they swam near the boat, hauling the carcasses aboard and then cooking part of the meat while using the remainder as bait for seabirds that would roost on the broken mast.

"This is an amazing story of survival," Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Lance Jones said yesterday. "But it also shows the importance of filing a float plan with friends or family."

If the Coast Guard had known he was missing, a search might have found him much earlier, said Jones.

The most poignant moment came when Van Pham left the Sea Breeze.

"He waved goodbye to his sailboat," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Slaight. "He was upset (that it would be scuttled) and said he was going to miss it."

Unable to fix the sailboat, Van Pham approved its sinking. Crew members torched the Sea Breeze, sinking it in 8,700 feet of water.

"We did it while he was below decks to lessen the blow," Parriott said.
 
Cool story. Thanks for posting it. It amazes me that someone could float around lost for that amount of time without being spotted and rescued.
--Josh
 
This is a story worth following. Maybe more articles will be written giving better description of his life aboard the Sea Breeze.
 
I am actually really hoping he, or someone will write a book about his experiences.
I just finished Adrift (Steve Callahan) for the second time while on a 5 day backpacking trip in the Cascades (for work). That is a great book, and difficult to put down. It is a book you could stash as a survival guide on your boat, just in case.
 
I don't get to go backpacking for work! :(

Someone tell Andy that I can transfer the phones to a global cell (after you tell him I need a global cell) so that I can go backpacking while working! :D
 
The guy is lucky to be alive--

A "storm" that dismasted a properly rigged and maintained craft somewhere between Catalina and Long beach 3 1/2 months a go? Hmmm, something like gusts to 40-45 knots tops, I bet. The guy either did something stupid, or the craft wasn't seaworthy.

The film footage showed a functional, though short jury rig, yet the guy apparently drifted south off the coast for 3 1/2 months...no compass on this thing? No clue or guide to rudimentary navigation, like which way is East or West? Even a very few miles a day made good in an Eastern direction and he'd have made landfall somewhere. Why set a jury rig if you can't use it to proceed towards land?

If the dismasting occurred hundreds or thousands of miles offshore, yes weeks or months under jury rig could be "reasonable", but a few miles offshore?

The real story is not to take a vessel into the ocean unless it's maintained, and to be prepared if all the gizmos with batteries die.
 
Josh, there's a lot of ocean out there ;) .

I with firkin, sound like knucklehead syndrome to me. No radio, compass or float plan. :rolleyes: . Mr. Van Pham is indeed lucky to be alive.
 
I read up a little more on Mr. Van Pham. He lived on his boat, which was at a marina. It doesn't appear that he has money, so this was probably a cost-effective alternative to standard housing, rather than being intended as a sailing craft. No family, and few if any friends, would also imply that this guy isn't a weekend sailor that goes to Catalina periodically to sip the finest red wines.

He's originally from Vietnam, so it would make sense for him to have a rudimentary knowledge of boats (speculation), seeing as they have a strong fishing culture there. But a knowledge of boats doesn't make you a sailor.

Yes, he seems to have made some pretty stupid mistakes as mentioned, but when it came down to it he had some pretty tough mettle to survive that long in those conditions.

Hey, if Chris McCandless can get a book written about his fatal misadventures, then this guy should qualify easily. It should be a good read.
 
Doesn't really matter if the craft is a live-aboard or not--if it's not seaworthy it just doesn't belong in the ocean. Or farther from any shore than one is able to swim. I've done 1-2 day offshore races on live-aboards that we stripped out before each race, and they were properly and safely maintained. The owners lived onboard to save money, and they basically owned an old car, the boat, and the rest fit in the car trunk and an onshore locker. I've also seen rotting live-aboards packed with expensive luxury items that struggled to travel a manditory short distance in calm harbor conditions required to retain classification as a vessel allowed to maintain an anchorage.

Take a diplapidated motor home or bus down off blocks and try to drive off-road across the desert, and most will think that's dumb. I think it's even dumber to try the maritime equivalent, but somehow many apparently don't. And filing a float plan doesn't make it much less dumb, really. Too bad the articles haven't pointed out the minimal level of preparedness to prudently venture a few miles offshore. The ocean is big, even the edge of it.

The man's tenacity is admirable, but I so far, I've seen little else commendable to this story. And he is damn lucky it rained wherever he happend to be.
 
Hmmm. More parrallels to McCandless than I thought. Some admire him, some think he was a naive tenderfoot with big illusions.

I don't know all the details of Mr. Van Pham's situation: I was speculating based on what I had read. But it would be interesting to learn the details, and then we can properly decide if he's a hero or a simpleton.
 
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