Episodi

  • The Notebook, the Misplaced Coordinates, and the Woman Who Swam Home

    The Notebook, the Misplaced Coordinates, and the Woman Who Swam Home
    Oct 15 2026
    The Notebook, the Misplaced Coordinates, and the Woman Who Swam Home

    Cold water, a waterproof notebook, and an eleven-digit coordinate that pointed rescuers to the wrong ocean - a notebook sealed with a brass mosquito clip survived four days on a basalt shelf with the last entry describing a decision to swim alone into 54°F Pacific water. Who wrote the precise coordinates that sent the search away from where a woman later walked ashore barefoot after swimming four miles?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events recorded by the notebook and the on-board logs, following three people who left Astoria on September 4 aboard the 42-foot sailboat Ardent Claire and the storm that followed - how one link in a careful chain failed, and what the notebook reveals about that failure.

    Person: Sandra Stroud
    Person: Roy Peck
    Person: Tim Caffrey
    Boat: Ardent Claire (42-foot sailboat)
    Date: September 4-19

    - The notebook’s last entry was dated four days before Carl Whitley found it on September 19.
    - The water temperature the entry described was fifty-four degrees Fahrenheit.
    - Three people left Astoria on September 4; one was dead seven days later, a second hospitalized eight days later, and a third walked ashore after swimming four miles.
    - The SSB radio’s antenna connection worked about 40% of the time before the storm and failed during the knockdown.
    - The storm on September 7 produced 40-knot winds and 12-foot waves, and the boat broached at 4:17 a.m, on September 8.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • A Child's Shoe Nailed to a Federal Buoy: The Ardmore Witch Survival

    A Child's Shoe Nailed to a Federal Buoy: The Ardmore Witch Survival
    Oct 14 2026
    A Child's Shoe Nailed to a Federal Buoy: The Ardmore Witch Survival

    A child's size four pink canvas sneaker, nailed with a single sixteen-penny framing nail to an orange federal buoy, sat oxidizing in salt before anyone could explain why - someone had been in open ocean with a hammer and a nail. How did a lost shoe belonging to a six-year-old named Poppy end up on buoy FL-7 while its owner’s grandmother spent eleven nights alone adrift on the Ardmore Witch?

    In this episode, we tell the chain of events from the Ardmore Witch’s August 3 departure through the discovery of the shoe on August 19, laying out the timeline, the small recorded details, and the open question that links them: who made the decision to nail that sneaker to a buoy and when?

    Person: Michelle Ford
    Date: August 3, 2011 (departure); August 19, 2011 (shoe found)
    Location: buoy FL-7 on Palmetto Shelf; departure from Brunswick
    Item: size four pink canvas sneaker with velcro strap and a drawn flower
    Event: eleven nights alone in the Atlantic after a squall on August 5

    - The shoe was attached to the buoy with a single sixteen-penny framing nail whose head was already oxidizing.
    - Michelle Ford left Brunswick at 06:15 on August 3, 2011 aboard the thirty-eight-foot wooden ketch Ardmore Witch.
    - The Ardmore Witch’s AIS transponder went silent at 23:50 on the night of August 5 after the mizzen mast came down.
    - The shoe remained in an evidence bag for eleven days with no connection to any case before being linked to the Ardmore Witch story.
    - Bert Causey logged hearing a bearing of “43 or 48” at 04:40 on August 7 in his radio log and did not report it for two weeks.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • She Wrote "Day 9" on a Card - Rescued Nine Days Later

    She Wrote "Day 9" on a Card - Rescued Nine Days Later
    Oct 13 2026
    She Wrote "Day 9" on a Card - Rescued Nine Days Later

    The moment Beverly Young pulled a laminated card from Pelican Shelf mud, seven words scrawled on the back hinted at a woman alone at sea, out of water, and counting days: "Day 9. Water gone. F.V. July 11." How did a dry, sharp-edged card from a drifting life-raft reach a Carolina marsh and lead to a rescue that began with a mismatched EPIRB signal - and who was Frances Vickers when she wrote those lines?

    In this episode, we follow the found card from discovery to rescue and trace the sequence of events on Frances Vickers's voyage that produced it. You will hear how routine seamanship, a functioning EPIRB, and a barcode of procedures intersected with misidentification and time at sea - could a single scrap of paper change a search's outcome?

    Person: Beverly Young
    Person: Frances Vickers
    Vessel: Celia Rose
    Date: July 2-11, 2011
    Location: Pelican Shelf Wildlife Preserve, four miles south of Beaufort Inlet

    - At 7:42 AM on July 19, 2011, Beverly Young found a laminated safety card in the cordgrass at Pelican Shelf.
    - The back of the card bore seven words in ballpoint pen: "Day 9. Water gone. F.V. July 11."
    - Frances Vickers launched Celia Rose at 5:15 AM on July 2 and was 46 years old that summer.
    - Frances activated her EPIRB in the water at 4:12 AM on July 6 after the mast punched through the hull and she deployed the life raft at 4:05 AM.
    - The EPIRB registered a position about 60 miles southeast of Cape Lookout and initially pulled up the vessel name Adelaide, which was later found undamaged at its dock.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • She Sailed by Smell: Alone, Lost, and Found Nineteen Miles Out

    She Sailed by Smell: Alone, Lost, and Found Nineteen Miles Out
    Oct 12 2026
    She Sailed by Smell: Alone, Lost, and Found Nineteen Miles Out

    The first thing Debra Evans noticed was kelp-the dense, mineral rot of a seafloor rising to meet her-while she floated for three days on a four-foot piece of fiberglass, nineteen miles from any shore she could name. She used her body as a sail and a permanent marker scrawled on the only floating debris, but a single digit entered with the wrong sign sent every search asset forty miles the wrong way; how did she survive against that chain of errors?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline of the sinking, the failed rescue search, and the small decisions that kept Debra alive, asking how human judgment, equipment failure, and one erroneous data sign combined to nearly cost a life. What unfolded between the moment the Harwick Star sank and the sixth day when her writing on the debris mattered most?

    Date: June 3
    Location: Strait of Juan de Fuca
    Vessel: F/V Harwick Star, 32 feet, aluminum hull
    Person: Debra Evans, age 28, holder of a 100-ton master’s license
    Event: Rescue search misdirected by a buoy current input with the wrong sign

    - The Harwick Star sank in approximately four minutes at about 2:20 PM on June 3.
    - Debra floated for three days on a hatch cover roughly 4 feet by 3 feet that had a foam perimeter.
    - The forecast predicted 10-15 knot winds and 2-3 foot seas, but waves were actually 8-10 feet with larger sets.
    - The buoy observation (Buoy 46087) north component was entered with the wrong sign, sending searches about 40 miles in the wrong direction.
    - Water temperature was around 50°F, where meaningful swimming time is measured in minutes.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 min
  • She Drifted 60 Miles Offshore - How Dawn Survived the Night

    She Drifted 60 Miles Offshore - How Dawn Survived the Night
    Oct 11 2026
    She Drifted 60 Miles Offshore - How Dawn Survived the Night

    A quiet roadside discovery - a waterproof bag buried six inches under gravel, a sailor's log and a tide chart - hinted at a survival story that began with a woman waking up sixty miles from land in a disabled sailboat. How did a seasoned boater survive forty minutes in near-freezing water, a dismasted vessel, and a dead engine to still be alive when a road-grader found her gear weeks later?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Dawn Padgett leaving Morrow Beach marina to the moment she activated her EPIRB, following her preparations, the storm that dragged her anchor, and the failures that left her adrift - and we ask how those specific failures combined to create one of the most unlikely rescues.

    Person: Dawn Padgett
    Date: May 4-10, 2011
    Location: West of Eureka, 60-63 miles offshore
    Event: Anchor drag, dismasting, engine failure, EPIRB activation
    Status: Alive when gear recovered and EPIRB transmitted

    - Dawn spent four years restoring the 26-foot sloop Fern Ledge herself before departing May 4, 2011.
    - Her last radio check-in was logged on May 8, roughly 120 miles north of Eureka and on schedule.
    - During an overnight storm at Vanner Point the anchor dragged and by morning the boat had traveled roughly 60 miles offshore.
    - The starboard shroud failed and the mast came down; Dawn spent 40 minutes in 51°F water cutting the rig free.
    - She activated her EPIRB at 12:40 PM on May 10, transmitting a position 63 miles offshore to the Coast Guard.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min
  • Drifting Alive: How a Steaming Mug Fooled Coast Guard Searches

    Drifting Alive: How a Steaming Mug Fooled Coast Guard Searches
    Oct 10 2026
    Drifting Alive: How a Steaming Mug Fooled Coast Guard Searches

    A steaming coffee mug three-quarters full sat on a chart table while the boat's engine idled - and no one was at the helm. That single, ordinary object led searchers away from three missing people and sparked a 400-square-mile hunt; how could a blue ceramic mug mislead a Coast Guard search for two full days?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events aboard the Mabel June from departure to the morning the vessel was found, describing the decisions, equipment, and weather that shaped the outcome and asking how routine choices left three people separated from their boat.

    Person: Paul Bowers
    Person: Rhonda Bowers
    Person: Marcus Webb
    Person: Janet Sousa
    Event: Call from utility worker Philip Graham at 08:47 on April 7, 2011

    - At 09:14 on April 7, 2011, a Coast Guard boarding officer photographed a three-quarters full, still-steaming coffee mug on the Mabel June's chart table.
    - The search launched after Philip Graham heard an engine idling offshore at 08:47 and called Coast Guard Mobile.
    - The Mabel June is a 31-foot fiberglass cruiser with a white hull and a green waterline stripe.
    - Winds hit 31 knots during the squall around 23:30 on April 6, causing the boat to drag anchor and Marcus Webb to go overboard.
    - Rhonda and Janet spent 34 hours in a dinghy with one 8-ounce water bottle between them while the Mabel June drifted with its engine running.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min
  • The Lunchbox on Heron Flats: How the Coast Guard Searched the Wrong Water

    The Lunchbox on Heron Flats: How the Coast Guard Searched the Wrong Water
    Oct 9 2026
    The Lunchbox on Heron Flats: How the Coast Guard Searched the Wrong Water

    A dry SpongeBob lunchbox washed ashore after nine days while the four people who'd owned it were still eleven miles offshore - and the Coast Guard spent six days searching the wrong water because two life vests carried an outdated name. What single detail hid an entire crew from rescuers and left a seven-year-old holding a bone-dry lunch?

    In this episode, you will hear the timeline of the trip from departure to the squall, the equipment and decisions aboard Clara Jean, and how a name stenciled on life vests redirected an official search; did an assumption about ownership cost precious time?

    Person: Christine Harris
    Person: Lily Kotz
    Person: Date: March 4-14
    Location: Heron Flats
    Event: Squall with gusts up to 51 knots and 11-foot seas

    - A man named Michael Nelson found a yellow SpongeBob lunchbox in wet sand at 6:15 on the morning of March 14 after it had been at sea for nine days.
    - The boat that carried the lunchbox, Clara Jean, was still eleven miles offshore and invisible to every search aircraft that had flown since March 5.
    - Two life vests aboard Clara Jean were stenciled with the boat name "Clara Jean" but had originally belonged to Greg Moody’s vessel and had not been re-stenciled in four years.
    - The squall arrived twelve hours ahead of forecast on March 6 with gusts reaching 51 knots and seas building to 11 feet, causing loss of visual contact between the two boats and capsizing Moody’s boat.
    - Frances Webb died after Moody’s boat capsized; Greg Moody and Stuart Cho survived approximately 30 hours clinging to a hull section before being found on March 8, while Clara Jean’s crew remained missing.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • Drifted Nine Days: How Aluminum Foil Outshone a Lost Signal Mirror

    Drifted Nine Days: How Aluminum Foil Outshone a Lost Signal Mirror
    Oct 8 2026
    Drifted Nine Days: How Aluminum Foil Outshone a Lost Signal Mirror

    A 62-year-old retired engineer spent nine days and ten hours adrift in the Gulf of Mexico after his sloop capsized - and the item that saved him was a makeshift reflector of aluminum foil, cardboard, and a tin can lid, not the glass signal mirror left on the dock. How did a thrown-away crafting of scraps become the difference between being found alive and never being found at all?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a routine Wednesday phone call that went unanswered to the capsizing at 1:00 a.m., the loss of the EPIRB, and the improvised survival tools that kept him visible and alive - asking how experience, small decisions, and unexpected materials combined to save one man.

    Person: Harvey Weaver
    Date: January 27 to February 19, 2011
    Location: Gulf of Mexico, 219 miles northwest of Portaveil
    Event: Sloop capsize and nine days adrift
    Finder: Gordon Wilson (found signal mirror on dock)

    - Harvey Weaver was 62 years old and a retired civil engineer with roughly 9,000 offshore miles logged.
    - Meridian Run capsized on the night of February 3-4 after winds reached 38 knots and seas built to 8-10 feet.
    - The EPIRB remained bolted to the mast and was lost when the mast went overboard.
    - A glass signal mirror was left on Pier C and found by Gordon Wilson 22 days later, propped against a cleat and damp with dew.
    - Harvey survived nine days and ten hours using an improvised reflector made from aluminum foil, a piece of cardboard, and a tin can lid.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min