The Rimas saga opens a new chapter

[TQA]

For those of us following this impossible saga there is a new chapter. He was in an old peoples home in Vietnam and pretty much blind because of bad cataracts. He had also lost his passport during his last rescue. A friend helped organise a way out from Vietnam via Hawaii and on to Seattle.

He was visited by a Sailing Anarchy regular and this is taken from SA

The short story is that Rimas is smarter than I originally thought. He has bad cataracts in both eyes and this makes both navigation and piloting difficult. His teeth are pretty messed up too and that embarrasses him so he keeps his lips closed pretty much all the time, especially for photos. But he has a quite sophisticated command of English and a good memory of all of his voyage.

His escape from being shipwrecked in Fiji was actually pretty straightforward; he saw where he was headed and knew there was a high chance of wrecking his boat, especially with his terrible eyesight, so he put the boat on the other board and just barely eked around the northeastern tip of Vanua Levu to avoid being swept into Natewa Bay and almost certain shipwreck. That put him into the open Pacific and the South Equatorial Current, carried northwest past the Solomons. He eventually crossed the equator over to the North Equatorial Current and eventually into the Kuroshio Current. His destination was Japan but Kon Tiki style carried him toward landfall on mainland China where he was shadowed by Chinese Navy. He credits his American Flag with keeping him from being boarded or imprisoned by the Chinese. He exhibits quite a bit of political savvy and has a good understanding how the methods of governance effects the temperament of the population and the safety of visitors. His flag was in tatters but it was enough. He told me how he would take a spare flag kept safely belowdecks for use when needed.

Right at Fiji, RImas started having on-going trouble with corrosion on everything electrical, specifically charging systems for radios, phones, trackers, GPS, etc. He is motivated to educate himself about marine electronics. He has a very modest working knowledge about electronics and can kludge together solutions. For example, he is too blind to read his GPS screen so he takes a photo of it with his iPad and blows it up on the big screen and can read what he needs to.

His ordeal with the Vietnamese fishermen was not pleasant nor optimal nor even all that safe, as it turns out. The fishermen fed him but there was no verbal communication possible. He thought, since they were so close to shore, that they would just tow him in and be on their way but since it was the beginning of their fishing voyage, they would not forfeit the time to drop him off on land and instead kept him on board until their fish hold was full. They cut Mimsey adrift almost immediately as Rimas slept, utterly exhausted, on the fishing boat. His passport was either still aboard Mimsey or stolen by the fishermen. He did not have anything complimentary to say about the fishermen which he described as crude and brutish, obsessed with getting a good catch and a good payday and little else. He tried to be as pleasant as possible because he feared for his life with the fishermen; his perception was that if he was inconvenient for them, they'd just toss him overboard. No witnesses.

We already know much about his stay in Vietnam. He was in a clean but spartan private room but it was like house arrest. He described Vietnam as the most beautiful country in Asia but he was frustrated because he was not allowed to explore because of his nationless status as an illegal immigrant. He gave astute concise descriptions of the islands he has visited, both the physical beauty and political/cultural situations. I think he would be an interesting person to travel with. He was very pleased with the fresh quality produce in Vietnam and the great French baking and how inexpensive really good food cost.

Next for Rimas: Shannon is helping him navigate SS and Medicare and Rimas will probably get cataract surgery in a week or two. Shannon will not help Rimas go to sea (for all the reasons we know so well) but, understanding RImas' determination to do so, helps with things that support safety (a GPS, cataract surgery, etc.)

I for one was thinking that he should not be helped to set off again in a new boat, that the enablers should be disabled somehow. . Now I am thinking that perhaps he knows what he is doing and while it is not something that 99.9% would choose to do should he be stopped or helped.

It is worthy of note that Rimas kept Mimsy off the reefs of the Pacific and during the time he did this several captains failed to do so despite having considerably more eyesight and sailing skills.

So it looks distinctly possible that the unbelievable saga will soon start a new seaborne chapter.

 

[DownWest]

Having followed some of Rimas's exploits, it boggles me that he survives. Then, how he expects everbody to help him out, usually without any thanks, while he pays no attention to any reasonable advice. The few that seem to think that what he is doing is somehow OK and help him out, should really think about what they are doing. He is a bit nuts, possibly would be sectioned if in any juristriction that payed any attention