Navigating Fifteen Hundred Miles Across Open Ocean

A lone sailor crosses the Pacific aboard a damaged yacht after surviving a hurricane. (Digital Illustration: GoBeyondLocal)

Navigating Fifteen Hundred Miles Across Open Ocean

Tami Oldham Ashcraft woke after being knocked unconscious and saw a sea that had torn her yacht apart.

The storm had passed. Her fiancé, Richard Sharp, was gone. The mast was damaged, the engine had failed and the yacht had suffered severe structural damage.

She was alone in the Pacific, with Hawaii still roughly 1,500 miles away.

Oldham Ashcraft and Sharp had been sailing from Tahiti towards San Diego aboard the 44-foot yacht Hazana in October 1983. They were experienced sailors, and the passage across the Pacific was part of a longer period of travel at sea.

Hurricane Raymond formed during the voyage and grew into a powerful storm. The yacht was caught in severe conditions, with strong winds and enormous waves battering the vessel.

Oldham Ashcraft was below deck when a wave struck the yacht. The force threw her against the cabin and knocked her unconscious.

When she regained consciousness, she found the vessel badly damaged. Sharp had disappeared, and the yacht had lost much of its ability to sail normally.

Oldham Ashcraft searched the damaged yacht and found no sign of Sharp. She had suffered injuries during the storm, including a head injury, and she was alone with limited supplies.

The yacht had also lost its mast and suffered damage to its rigging. The engine was unusable, leaving her dependent on the remaining equipment and the movement of the ocean.

She began making repairs with whatever materials were available aboard the yacht. The damaged vessel had to remain afloat while she considered where to go.

San Diego was far away, and the original passage had been disrupted by the storm. Hawaii offered a more reachable destination from her position in the Pacific.

Oldham Ashcraft used celestial navigation to determine her latitude. The original plan had involved reaching San Diego, but the damaged yacht and the distance ahead made another destination more practical. Hilo, Hawaii, lay about 1,500 miles away.

She used the remaining sails and improvised repairs to keep the yacht moving. Food and water had to be managed carefully because there was no working engine and no reliable way to obtain more supplies.

She also had to maintain the vessel while dealing with the physical effects of the storm and the injuries she had suffered.

As the days passed, Oldham Ashcraft continued across the Pacific. The yacht moved slowly under the remaining sailing equipment, while she used the sun and stars to monitor her position.

She had no crew member beside her and no certainty about how long the damaged vessel would remain capable of crossing the distance.

Her destination came closer only gradually. The open ocean offered few visible signs of progress, so navigation depended on observations, calculations and the direction of the vessel.

Oldham Ashcraft continued making adjustments aboard the yacht while preserving the supplies she had left.

After weeks at sea, she reached waters near Hawaii. The island chain gave her a fixed destination after thousands of miles of open ocean.

She guided the damaged yacht towards Hilo, where people could finally reach her.

Oldham Ashcraft arrived in Hilo after spending roughly 41 days at sea. She had survived the hurricane, the loss of Sharp and the long passage across the Pacific aboard a severely damaged yacht.