Woman survives 19 hours in sea off Maui

[justleesa]

Found on Yahoo.com

UKUMEHAME, Hawaii - A 49-year-old woman held onto a water container to stay afloat for 19 hours until she was rescued from choppy ocean waters a mile off Maui, she said. Lillian Ruth Simpson, of Juneau, Alaska, told the Maui News that she also wrapped her bathing suit top around her head to keep warm after sunset.

A fishing charter boat spotted her in the water Friday morning, dehydrated and sunburned. She was treated at a hospital and released."The times I thought, 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die,' I would say, 'No, I have three kids and you're not taking me anywhere' " she said.

A buoy near where Simpson was floating registered an average water temperature of about 80 degrees this week, said National Weather Service forecaster Robert Ballard.

Simpson, who worked as a drug and alcohol counselor in Alaska, had been canoeing alone and paddled out to some tour boats Thursday morning to distribute invitations to a fundraiser for a documentary on youths and drugs. She was already tired from the effort when strong winds flipped her canoe.

She called to a nearby charter boat for help, but she apparently was unable to attract anyone's attention and it left. She tried for hours to right the canoe before giving up, she said. "Every time I turned it, the boat would partially submerge" she said.

Then she decided to swim for shore. "I just kept trying to swim toward Olowalu, but really the water did not want to take me there." she said.

Simpson spent a long night dozing off, accidentally swallowing sea water, throwing up and trying to keep warm. Joseph Carvalho Jr., captain of the boat Strike Zone, spotted what he first thought was a large balloon in the ocean early Friday morning. He went to investigate because floating objects usually attract mahimahi and other game fish. It wasn't until the boat got close that the crew realized it was Simpson.

After they carried her aboard, she was hungry, thirsty and couldn't remember her name. "She told me that she kept telling herself, 'At least the water's warm," Carvalho said. "Your survival instinct kicks in. She made something out of nothing and that saved her life."Simpson said that she is not a strong ocean swimmer, but that she has been around boats all her life because her father and sister fished."I won't say I'm not going back in the ocean." she said "But I'm not going back alone anytime soon."

 

[Teamcasa]

Amazing! The human survival instinct never ceases to amaze me. I’m glad she is OK.

 

[kidspot]

Thanks for posting that Lisa,

I am glad she is ok, so many kyakers around here that get swept out to sea are never found. Oluwalu is probably the most common place this happens as there is a natural wind funnel from the mountains that makes a very strong breeze blowing straight out to sea there.

Doesn't sound like anyone knew she was out there/missing even - she was very fortunate.

Aloha, Tim

 

[stevewirl]

its great to hear good stories . i hate the death side of our sport .

we all take the seas and oceans for granted . its only when we see or hear of incidents that give the sea a second thought and quickly dismiss these thoughts to the futher realms of our minds .

respect the sea and all that it contains because youll never know when it will come back to bite you in the asp

 

[KrisB]

Further details:
Maui News | Woman recovered by fishing boat after night in the ocean

n.b.:

Simpson, who had worked as a drug and alcohol counselor for adolescents in Alaska, said she was on Maui more than 29 years ago and returned this time “to heal.” Since being here, she had spent time in Paia and Kihei and was planning a fundraiser for a documentary project involving youths and drugs.

She had been camping at Camp Olowalu when she saw “yachts” moored offshore after breakfast and decided to take an invitation to the fundraiser to one of the boats, thinking wealthy people who would contribute to her project might be aboard. Simpson said she took a glass-bottomed Fiberglas canoe from the camp and paddled out to one boat, which turned out to be on a snorkel tour, and delivered the invitation.

I find it hard to believe that someone who had been on Maui for any more than a week or two couldn't tell the difference between the "yachts" and the snorkel boats... the idiocy involved here surpasses that of just taking a vessel you're not familiar with *way* offshore (probably 1/2 to a mile if she launched from the usual camping area), alone, in an area you don't know.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Dar be rich people on dat boat! I bet she'll think twice before doing it again. I feel sorry for the lady myself.. It sounds like she was definitely punished! I'm just glad those sharks you are always talking about didn't eat her!

Sean

 

[nereas]

Found on Yahoo.com

Well I am glad it was not a scuba incident.

 

[KrisB]

Dar be rich people on dat boat! I bet she'll think twice before doing it again. I feel sorry for the lady myself.. It sounds like she was definitely punished! I'm just glad those sharks you are always talking about didn't eat her!

Sean

Haha...

To quote a favourite movie: "Sharks. Dey only bite when you touch dere private parts."

 

[Teamcasa]

I take one of these on small craft in open ocean.
Radio

I'm sure it would have helped her!

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

When someone who is not a strong ocean swimmer takes a fiberglass canoe away from the Olowalu shore in typical offshore winds, they are very lucky to be found, much less found alive. Considering there is no mention of a life jacket, most of her luck probably has to do with natural buoyant insulation. The forethought required to bring a marine radio is obviously not part of the thought process for this woman. Glad she survived, but