Rimas sailor / drifter extraordinaire is on the move again

[TQA]

Rimas washed up in an old peoples home in Vietnam. Many followers of his unbelievable saga thought this was the end as he was clearly in a bad way when the Vietnamese fisherman rescued him.

Most people who followed his exploits thought he was a drooling idiot with a streak of incredible good luck and multiple guardian ages. There was a growing body of opinion that he should be prevented from leaving again on another small boat with no ability to sail to windward usually no safety gear or even an anchor.

Well he is back in the USA in Seattle and lining up another boat. While he was there a member of another forum interviewed him and several things emerged. He is virtually blind as he has bad cataracts in both eyes. He does no communicate well as he has bad teeth and a limited vocabulary in English. He is of Russian origin.

Most of the followers thought he was dead as this was the final position of his Delorme tracker before it went quiet.

View attachment 75290

When I looked at his last posted Delorme location [see the red arrow I think I got it right ] and factored in the recent strong SE winds I wondered how on earth did he get there? Did he make it over the Heemakarag reefs somehow?

I then thought well there is no way he is getting out of there. The wind was South of East and there was a westerly current.. Nothing was heard of him for months.

Now we find from the interview that he correctly identified his location realised the danger and took the only course that stood him any chance of avoiding wrecking or at least running aground..

If he is unable to read a GPS without taking a picture on his phone and blowing it up then can he read a compass ? I very much doubt it. So my guess is he sails by feel.

So we have a sailor who is nearly blind hand steering for hours by feel.to make it round the Undu Peninsula.

Is there anyone else that feels 'some' respect for him.

 

[LittleSister]

'Have you ever wondered (hypothetically) just how far you could go if you set sail one day and headed out over the horizon in a Craiglist special 4ksb with almost no preparation? Well...now you dont have to because three weeks ago this Russian immigrant, Rimas Meleshyus, left Oak Harbor, Washington in an old San Juan 24 he bought for $500 the month before. Where is he headed? Around the world...via Cape Horn. He has no autopilot or self steering, no communications equipment other than a handheld VHF. He has two ancient handheld gps units, 85 gallons of water and a boatload of food. Despite everyone tteelling him this was probably a bad idea, he left determined to follow his dream.'

So began the tale, with a request from someone else to donate money/help to support this mad dream.

It is a fantastic saga, and I can genuinely recommend starting on page 1 of the Sailing Anarchy thread about him and working through all 25,135 (and counting) posts to get the full roller-coaster ride of his exploits and the often repetitive, but sometimes absolutely brilliant observations, jokes, changes of mind, and creativity of some of the commentators.
http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?/topic/149798-sailing-around-the-world-in-a-san-juan-24/&

I treat with a very large pinch of salt his account of how he got out of that apparent dead end, given his history.

 

[TQA]

I treat with a very large pinch of salt his account of how he got out of that apparent dead end, given his history.

Well the position I show comes off the last PING from his Delorme tracker. Is it possible to get a Delorme to transmit a false position?

I would have thought it would be an automatic process and not open to user editing..

I can recommend the thread mentioned above as a darned good read.

 

[BurnitBlue]

The longer a sailor is at sea the more sensitive he becomes to the change in wave pattern caused by the rebound from an "obstruction". The smaller the boat the more apparent the change of the waves pattern.

Rimas was at sea in a tiny boat so I believe him.

 

[RupertW]

Have you read much of the thread - it's wonderful reading and should make us alll realise how incredibly safe ocean sailing can be compared to coastal sailing with shopping for food and water the only ability needed for survival. But believe Rimas about anything? I don't think he can know what he believes himself anymore.

 

[LittleSister]

Well the position I show comes off the last PING from his Delorme tracker. Is it possible to get a Delorme to transmit a false position?

I would have thought it would be an automatic process and not open to user editing..

That he may have been there and got out is one thing. His account of how that happened is something else!

The longer a sailor is at sea the more sensitive he becomes to the change in wave pattern caused by the rebound from an "obstruction".

Some sailors, sure, but I don't think you have quite got Rimas' approach to sailing skills.

 

[TQA]

The post that changed how I felt about him is 25103 in the Sailing Anarchy thread.

As to his veracity the one time he is definitely known to be economical with the truth is when he is on the VHF talking to anybody who will come out and tow him in. This worked until he got to Fuji. Masts booms sails and tillers will all fail leaving him a distressed sailor in need of a tow.

 

[LittleSister]

The post that changed how I felt about him is 25103 in the Sailing Anarchy thread.

Yes, that was the latest, and a significant, 'turning point' in the gradually unfolding saga, I think.