"All indications that the Coast Guard has is that this guy seems to be telling the truth" [View all]

[lumberjack_jeff]

In another thread, there is a great deal of speculation that Louis Jordan faked the capsize of his 37' sailboat and/or abandoned it 500 miles from shore because... something.

There was too much misinformation in that thread.

1. why no obvious exposure? - because he wasn't exposed. This was a boat with an enclosed cabin, a place of relative safety during bad weather.
   
2. why no hypothermia? - because the water off North Carolina is currently about 60 degrees... and because #1
   
3. if it capsized, why didn't it sink? Capsize simply means knocked down - rolled 90 degrees. Decent cruising sailboats won't flood due to a knockdown alone. His boat was apparently rolled 360 and dismasted (which disabled the radio antenna), which is obviously worse, but normally survivable.
   
4. Food? Water? Dry bibles? This was his home. It was a liveaboard, equipped with quite a bit of canned food, and probably had at least 30 gallons of water aboard. Could you survive in your home for 66 days without assistance?
   
5. if it rolled over, why did it return upright? Because boats, especially monohull sailboats are designed to do that.
   

https://www.yahoo.com/health/health-fact-checker-does-it-add-up-south-carolina-115677168942.html
[font color="green" size="2" face="courier"]While his story sounds farfetched to the general public — and even some of his rescuers — experts say it’s completely plausible.

“All indications that the Coast Guard has is that this guy seems to be telling the truth,” says Petty Officer 2nd Class Nate Littlejohn of the United States Coast Guard, who is familiar with his organization’s ongoing case study of Jordan’s adventure.

Jordan was inside a sailboat — after initially capsizing his boat eventually righted itself — which offered him protection from the sun, Littlejohn points out to Yahoo Health. “He conserved his energy. It’s possible he found a way to manage his calories and that the freshwater he was able to get ahold of was in abundance.”

Jordan also lived on his boat, which was a huge asset during his ordeal, says survival expert Joseph Alton, MD, author of the best-selling “The Survival Medicine Handbook.” He was an experienced fisherman, and had a solid water supply and most of his worldly possessions with him at sea. “If anyone could survive that amount of time without terrible physical effect it would be him,” Alton tells Yahoo Health.

Alton says three major factors work against people when they’re lost at sea—exposure to the elements, lack of water, and lack of food. Jordan had protection from the sun and wind on his boat, which was a huge plus for him. People lost at sea typically develop severe sunburn on their skin and in their corneas in an eye condition known as photokeratitis, says Alton: “That can dramatically reduce their ability to function.”

Jordan was also seemingly smart with his water supply. “You can’t live very long without water, but if you start rationing it immediately, you end up buying yourself more time,” says Alton, who points out that someone can go 24 hours without water and then survive on 12 ounces a day afterward. The water supply that Jordan already had onboard likely helped him to survive longer before he had to drink the rainwater he says he caught in buckets.[/font]

No doubt there were parts of the story that were embellished or misreported. He wasn't retrieved from his inverted hull, for instance.