Episodi

  • The Ring on the Shore: How One Beacon Sent Rescue Astray

    The Ring on the Shore: How One Beacon Sent Rescue Astray
    Aug 20 2026
    The Ring on the Shore: How One Beacon Sent Rescue Astray

    A life ring stenciled Ardent Star washed ashore sixty-one miles from a woman floating alone on a life raft, and a single hidden mismatch inside an EPIRB sent searchers looking for the wrong boat; how did one dormant identifier reroute an entire rescue? What happened between a beacon’s hexadecimal code and the people who trusted it?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from discovery to response, following the woman who found the ring, the sailor who activated the beacon, and the signal that named a different vessel - and we ask: how did the beacon’s internal identifier stay wrong when everything else looked correct?

    Person: Amanda Vogel
    Person: Peggy Barrett
    Event: EPIRB transmitted identifier "Ardent Star" at 22:22 on July 15, 2011
    Location: Crescent Inlet (ring found), Beaufort, South Carolina (Ardent Star berthed)
    Period: July 15-19, 2011

    - At 07:00 on July 19, 2011 Amanda Vogel found a life ring stenciled "Ardent Star" in the surf at Crescent Inlet.
    - Peggy Barrett activated Fair Tide's EPIRB at approximately 21:57 on July 15, 2011 after the mast and electrical systems failed.
    - The EPIRB's internal hexadecimal identifier still pointed to the boat named Ardent Star, a beacon that had changed hands three times in four years without updating its internal code.
    - The Coast Guard Fifth District watch center logged the distress signal 300 miles southeast of where Peggy later recorded her position in a paper logbook at 22:12.
    - Peggy Barrett turned 26 in April 2011 and had purchased the 32-foot sloop Fair Tide with Rob Causey in January 2010; the EPIRB housing and certificate matched Fair Tide, though the internal code did not.

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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
  • He Smelled Land: How a Sailor Navigated Six Days Alone at Sea

    He Smelled Land: How a Sailor Navigated Six Days Alone at Sea
    Aug 19 2026
    He Smelled Land: How a Sailor Navigated Six Days Alone at Sea

    The smell of living kelp reached him through diesel, fog and cold after three days alone - proof the coast was near when nothing else would guide him. A Coast Guard report later noted he was not drifting but navigating; how did a 48-year-old marine electrician find shore with no compass, no GPS and one liter of water left?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Roger Thorpe’s routine departure from Newport to the moment his EPIRB signal is received, and through the six-day search that missed him by miles. What choices did he make that kept him moving toward land when the search assumed he was adrift?

    Person: Roger Thorpe
    Date: June 4-10, 2014
    Location: Off the Oregon coast, north of Newport
    Event: Dismasting, abandonment of vessel, six-day solo navigation
    Report: Coast Guard Sector North Bend search-and-rescue report dated July 11, 2014

    - Roger Thorpe was 48 years old and had owned the 42-foot sloop Carla Mae since 2003.
    - He cast off from Newport Harbor at approximately noon on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, bound for Astoria (170 miles).
    - The secondary low hit about eight hours earlier than models predicted; by 11:00 PM winds exceeded 28 knots and seas were 12-14 feet.
    - Roger cut through seven-by-seven stainless steel standing rigging in under 15 minutes; recovered saw blade wear consistent with 14-18 minutes of continuous cutting.
    - The EPIRB signal was received at 02:47 on June 5, 2014, placing him approximately 22 miles west of Cascade Head.

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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
  • The Notebook That Floated Dry While a Sailboat Sank Nearby

    The Notebook That Floated Dry While a Sailboat Sank Nearby
    Aug 18 2026
    The Notebook That Floated Dry While a Sailboat Sank Nearby

    A five-inch waterproof notebook survived two days in the Gulf with its pages perfectly dry while a forty-two-foot sailboat sank and a man died; how could a sealed notebook stay intact when the EPIRB failed to send coordinates and the woman on board drifted alone for nearly a week? Discover the sealed coordinates, a dismasting at dusk, and a search that started in the wrong place - what exactly was written inside that notebook?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the cast-off at six in the morning on May fourth through the squall, the drift, the death of Kevin Dubose, and the discovery by Pamela Jensen - and we return to the central question: can a small waterproof notebook reveal the true last movements of the Pell Marin?

    Person: Kevin Dubose
    Person: Wendy Murphy
    Person: Pamela Jensen
    Event: Dis-masting at dusk on May tenth
    Location: eleven miles southwest of Freeport, Texas

    - The notebook measured five inches by three with a black rubberized cover and rubber band across the spine.
    - Kevin Dubose was fifty-one and owned the 1987 Beneteau thirty-two feet? (forty-two-foot) Pell Marin for six years and had been restoring it himself.
    - They departed Galveston on May fourth with provisions for three weeks and a float plan filed with Al Ferris.
    - The parachute drogue held for roughly six hours then dragged, and the boat was pushed south-southwest at about 1.5 knots for forty hours.
    - Pamela Jensen pulled the notebook from her trotline at 6:20 a.m. on a Tuesday after it had floated in the Gulf for two days with the most recent entry eight days old.

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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
  • Hot Soup on a Ghost Boat: How Lori Survived Four Days Adrift

    Hot Soup on a Ghost Boat: How Lori Survived Four Days Adrift
    Aug 17 2026
    Hot Soup on a Ghost Boat: How Lori Survived Four Days Adrift

    Steam rose from a bowl of hot Campbell's tomato soup on an otherwise empty 38-foot sportfisher found adrift - no lights, engines off, EPIRB unactivated - and no one aboard; how could a prepared, licensed boater vanish from her own vessel leaving a hot meal behind? What single missed detail sent searchers the wrong way and kept Lori Larsen alive for four and a half days?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Lori Larsen's departure from Pelican Reach Marina through the discovery of her abandoned boat and the initial Coast Guard search that used a 48-square-mile drift area oriented southwest; how did one overlooked photograph and a mismatch in the modeled search area change everything?

    Person: Lori Larsen
    Date: April 7-9, 2019
    Location: Pelican Reach / Gulf waters near barrier island
    Vessel: Marguerite Blue, 38-foot sportfisher, twin outboards
    Search area: 48 square miles, oriented southwest

    - The Marguerite Blue left Pelican Reach Marina at approximately 2:00 PM on Saturday, April 7, 2019.
    - A fuel-dock camera captured a degraded image of a figure carrying a soft-sided cooler at about 1:48 PM the same day.
    - Lori made a routine radio check at 2:40 PM and her last logbook entry was at 9:15 PM on Sunday, April 8.
    - Sharon Coleman sighted the drifting boat at 6:47 AM on April 9; photographs show steam rising from a ceramic bowl of Campbell's tomato soup.
    - Coast Guard Sector Sarasota launched a search with a modeled survival window of 2-6 hours and a search area of 48 square miles oriented southwest, despite Lori being in the water since roughly midnight Sunday.

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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
  • Miles Beyond: The Raft That Drifted Out of the Search Zone

    Miles Beyond: The Raft That Drifted Out of the Search Zone
    Aug 16 2026
    Miles Beyond: The Raft That Drifted Out of the Search Zone

    A life raft carrying two women drifted sixty-seven miles beyond the edge of the official search zone, propelled by a fouled sea anchor that cut its drag by 60-70% and a post-frontal northwest wind - how did they survive long enough to be missed? The notebook found later held fourteen entries in two hands, one shrinking and stopping as the days passed; what do those last pages reveal about the final hours?

    In this episode, we follow the seven-day story on the Gulf of Mexico after the Mirabel Clare rolled, tracking the sequence of failures, the supplies that mattered, and the decisions that determined who lived and who was lost. We trace how a worn gooseneck, one emergency insulin dose, and a fouled sea anchor combined to send the raft miles away from any plausible search - and ask how search patterns could miss people adrift at sea.

    Person: Linda Hill
    Person: Renata Figge
    Event: Mirabel Clare sinking on March 7
    Distance: raft found 67 miles beyond search zone
    Item: spiral-bound notebook with 14 entries

    - The gooseneck was noted in the survey as "worn but functional" before the voyage and sheared during a squall on March 7.
    - Wind increased from 14 knots to over 40 knots in under 90 seconds during the squall that capsized the 32-foot sloop.
    - Renata's medications included 14 days of insulin and warfarin stored in a cooler aboard; only one emergency insulin pen and three days of warfarin remained on the survivors.
    - The raft's sea anchor bridle was fouled on the outer grab line, canting it approximately 40 degrees and reducing effectiveness by 60-70%.
    - Cynthia Keller found a bone-dry spiral-bound notebook in a zip-lock bag at Pelican Flats boat ramp on March 19, with entries in two distinct handwriting styles.

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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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    17 min
  • The Paperback Mirror That Caught a Plane and Saved Him

    The Paperback Mirror That Caught a Plane and Saved Him
    Aug 15 2026
    The Paperback Mirror That Caught a Plane and Saved Him

    A single flash of reflected light ended seventeen days adrift and saved a man who had watched his boat sink; that flash came from a mirror the size of a paperback cover tied to a survival vest. How did a tiny engraved mirror, not the EPIRB or flares, become the decisive signal that led a Cessna 208 to him?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a routine Brunswick-to-Freeport run to the moment a charter pilot saw a flash over the Atlantic, and we trace how one deliberate decision-keeping a small mirror and using it-became the central factor in a rescue. What choices and small preparations mattered most in those seventeen days?

    Person: Jerry Porter
    Date: January 30, 2016 (mast loss) / February 10, 2016 (plane sighting)
    Location: 80 nautical miles southeast of Cape Canaveral
    Equipment: EPIRB, handheld VHF (4-day battery), 6 Orion aerial flares, signal mirror
    Vessel: 27-foot sloop named Corda Blue

    - The mast came down at 11:42 AM on January 30 while Jerry was 80 nautical miles southeast of Cape Canaveral.
    - The EPIRB transmitted and was received by COSPAS-SARSAT within minutes, but the computed position was 40 nautical miles northeast of Jerry’s actual location.
    - Jerry had three weeks of food and two weeks of water packed when he left Savannah on January 24, 2016.
    - He carried six aerial flares and a signal mirror clipped to his survival vest with parachute cord; the last flare burned out before the mirror was still in his hand on day four after that.
    - A Cessna 208 charter flew over the Atlantic at 8,400 feet on the morning of February 10, 2016, and saw the flash from the mirror that led to the rescue.

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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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    17 min
  • A Bucket Reaches Shore: The Emily Wilson Survival Case

    A Bucket Reaches Shore: The Emily Wilson Survival Case
    Aug 14 2026
    A Bucket Reaches Shore: The Emily Wilson Survival Case

    A sealed five-gallon bucket washed ashore containing a spiral logbook and a lanyard engraved "E.W. - Choir. Tuesdays. seven p.m.": a tiny brass clue that reopened a closed Coast Guard case. The logbook, the EPIRB activation, and a lone sailor's terse entries describe survival steps taken after a structural concussion at sea - but how did a captain disappear and a bucket find its way to a marina two days later?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events recorded in the logbook and the items recovered ashore to trace what happened to Emily Wilson and her crew after the Meridian Star's accident, and ask how those material clues changed an investigation that had been considered closed.

    Person: Emily Wilson
    Event: Structural concussion and disappearance on January 8, 2019
    Location: Approximately 180 miles south of the Alabama coast (Meridian Star position)
    Date: January 4-9, 2019
    Status: EPIRB activated; bucket recovered at Tanner Creek Marina

    - A white five-gallon plastic bucket with its lid sealed in black electrical tape was found wedged between pilings at Tanner Creek Marina on January 9, 2019.
    - Inside the bucket was a spiral logbook, a compass lanyard engraved "E.W. - Choir. Tuesdays. seven p.m.", and a handwritten entry that ended mid-sentence.
    - The Meridian Star departed Foley on January 4, 2019 with Walter Gibbs (61), Brian Cho (27), and Emily Wilson (54) aboard a 42-foot ketch.
    - At 16:17 on January 8, 2019 Emily wrote of a "deep structural concussion" after which the captain, Walter Gibbs, was gone and the fixed VHF and bimini frame were missing.
    - The EPIRB mounted on the stern rail activated, and the Coast Guard signal showed a position 63 miles different from the Meridian Star's recorded position.

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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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    16 min
  • Lost Chart: How Cheryl Survived Eight Days Adrift and Alone

    Lost Chart: How Cheryl Survived Eight Days Adrift and Alone
    Aug 13 2026
    Lost Chart: How Cheryl Survived Eight Days Adrift and Alone

    A laminated nautical chart found in a roadside ditch held nine days of cramped red-pencil calculations that traced how a 22-year-old crew member kept herself alive after her boat rolled in 14-foot swells; the card was eleven miles from the nearest marina and untouched by water-so how did Cheryl’s survival chart end up beneath a guardrail forty feet above basalt? What did her nine days of dead reckoning really reveal about her location and fate?

    In this episode, we follow the facts of Cheryl Moore’s eight days alone at sea and the chart she used to navigate without GPS, radio, or chartplotter. We map the voyage from Morrow’s Cove to the Cape Weston datum and return to the roadside card to ask whether the official search missed the drift that mattered.

    Person: Cheryl Moore
    Date: December 6-16, 2011
    Location: Morrow's Cove / 61 nautical miles WNW of Cape Weston
    Event: Willa Jean capsized in 14-foot seas on December 8, 2011
    Item: Laminated chart with nine days of red-pencil calculations

    - The Willa Jean departed Morrow's Cove at 9:15 p.m, on December 7, 2011.
    - At 4:37 p.m. on December 8, 2011, the EPIRB registered at 61 nautical miles west-northwest of Cape Weston.
    - The wreck drifted approximately eight nautical miles south-southwest after the EPIRB activated over three hours in heavy seas.
    - Cheryl was 22 years old and had worked at Garfield Marine Supply, walking to her grandmother’s house every Tuesday for two years.
    - A road worker found the laminated chart face up in slush on Route Nine in Tillamook County at 7:40 a.m, on December 16, 2011, eleven miles from the nearest marina.

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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