A Molokai-based experienced fisherman, who was sailing to Lanai but got lost, has been miraculously rescued off the coast of Hawaii after 12 days adrift at sea in a battered sailboat.
The fisherman Ron Ingraham, who set off solo on Thanksgiving on what should have been a normal trip, like many others he'd made over the years, started making distress calls after his 25-foot sailboat started to fill with water, the CNN reported.
Though the 67-year-old boater's call spurred a 12,000 square miles search by an MH-65 helicopter, an HC-130 airplane and the 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Kiska, none of them could find him or his boat.
On December 1, the Coast Guard, who thought the boat had sunk, called off its search and told Ingraham's son Zakary, who didn't think his father was dead, that they couldn't find his dad's boat with the conditions the way they were.
Zakary said that he was told that airplanes, but not satellites, picked up his father's emergency beacon, suggesting it either had a weak battery or his boat was submerged.
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However, on Dec 9 Ingraham decided to give the distress call one more try, which was heard by the U.S. Coast Guard, who then immediately dispatched the closest available boat, the USS Paul Hamilton, a U.S. Navy destroyer, about 14 miles away.
Ingraham, who was then picked up about 64 miles (103 kilometers) south of Honolulu in a "weak, hungry, dehydrated and alive" state, said that it all started when a simple plan to get food and water before dark one night went awry after the weather took a turn for the worse and he tried all through the night but couldn't make it as he was going backwards all night long.
Ingraham, who is a fisherman and caught fish, added that he was way out there, and was out of water, but he hydrated on fish, which wasn't as a good as a sushi bar.
Zakary, who couldn't be happier, said that he is sure his dad, who is tough, strong and resourceful, is going to go fishing as soon as he's able, "like tomorrow.
