Episodi

  • Lifeguard Ring Found Miles Inland: The Lady Breen Survival

    Lifeguard Ring Found Miles Inland: The Lady Breen Survival
    Oct 16 2026
    Lifeguard Ring Found Miles Inland: The Lady Breen Survival

    Salt, a frayed rope and the faded stamp LADY BREEN - OCRACOKE showed up forty-three miles from the nearest navigable water, smelling like the ocean and tied to a story of a solo sailor whose log recorded nearly double the expected motor hours. What did a life ring from a thirty-four-foot sloop do on Dunmore Avenue, and what chain of failures turned a routine passage into a near-disaster?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the August departure to the damaged rig and the log entries that don’t add up, tracing the events that left a life ring far inland and a sailor fighting to regain his planned route. How did a turbonada, a failed shackle, and a mast collapse combine to create a survival story that ends with that buoy on a suburban foundation?

    Person: Randy Simmons
    Vessel: Lady Breen (34-foot sloop, built 1991)
    Date: Departure August 13, 2019; mast event early morning August 16, 2019
    Location: Dunmore Avenue (life ring found 43 miles from nearest navigable water)
    Event: Anchor dragged during an unforecasted turbonada around 4:30 AM, August 15, 2019

    - Randy cast off from Dunbar Creek Inlet at 06:40 on August 13, 2019.
    - By the end of August 14, Randy had covered approximately 90 miles.
    - Motor hours logged on the night of August 14-15 were almost double the expected amount.
    - Around 04:30 on August 15, 2019, an unforecasted turbonada struck, causing the anchor to drag and a corroded shackle to give way.
    - Shortly after 07:00 on August 16, the mast came down to starboard and Randy spent about two hours cutting it free with a hacksaw and a rigging knife.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    25 min
  • Dry Life Ring, Missing Sailboat: Who Dragged Celia Dawn Ashore?

    Dry Life Ring, Missing Sailboat: Who Dragged Celia Dawn Ashore?
    Oct 15 2026
    Dry Life Ring, Missing Sailboat: Who Dragged Celia Dawn Ashore?

    A dry life ring stamped Celia Dawn washed up eleven nautical miles inland from Tanner Creek, its junco-stalk waterline absent and the sloop itself last seen sixty-three nautical miles offshore - who or what carried it ashore? The ring bore the boat’s name and no one reported a tow, leaving a single unsettling question: if Celia Dawn did not simply founder, what moved that ring so far from the sea?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from pre-departure checks through a sudden squall and a critical communication failure, tracing the moments that left a delivery crew stranded sixty-three miles from shore and a life ring inexplicably inland. How did missing safety gear, a severed VHF wire, a wrapped propeller and an absent EPIRB converge into a mystery that begins with one dry ring?

    Person: Marie Brooks
    Date: July 9 (departure at 5:40 AM; man-overboard at 2:57 PM)
    Location: Sixty-three nautical miles offshore, Dawson Inlet departure
    Status: Vessel missing; life ring found inland on Tanner Creek
    Topic: Man-overboard, failed communications, missing EPIRB

    - The life ring was found dry by Alan Becker on a Wednesday at 6:40 AM, eleven nautical miles inland from Tanner Creek.
    - Celia Dawn was last making seven knots on a comfortable reach at noon, sixty-three miles offshore.
    - The squall hit at 2:40 PM, increasing wind from 14 knots to over 40 knots in three minutes.
    - Dan Vickers went overboard at 2:57 PM and was in the water for roughly 23 minutes before being recovered with blue lips and a broken collarbone.
    - The VHF radio failed because a corroded wire severed when the boat heeled 40 degrees; the EPIRB was not mounted in its reported stern bracket.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    23 min
  • The Laminated Card That Pulled Her Back From the Sea

    The Laminated Card That Pulled Her Back From the Sea
    Oct 14 2026
    The Laminated Card That Pulled Her Back From the Sea

    A dry index card found eighteen feet from the waterline on Pelago Island led rescuers toward a woman who had spent seven days and nine hours adrift after her thirty-eight-foot sloop sank; how did a bone-dry laminated card survive two inches of rain and an eleven-mile gap from the nearest launch to carry a single line that would reconnect two worlds? Who was the woman it belonged to, and why did that card become the only link between her and the search still one step behind?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a Wednesday night call that ended and a departure from Leland to a mast failure at 3:17 a.m., a failed EPIRB, and a methodical survival that left one laminated card as the last tangible trace; will that card be what brings her home?

    Person: Teresa Gallagher
    Event: Boat sinking and week-long survival
    Location: Pelago Island (card found), departed from Leland
    Vessel: Hollis Mae, 38-foot fiberglass sloop built in 1989
    Time adrift: Seven days and nine hours

    - The laminated index card was found face-up, ink bright, and bone dry eighteen feet from the waterline in wax myrtle roots.
    - Teresa logged roughly 40,000 miles aboard her vessel since 2017 and had been a delivery captain for eleven years.
    - The mast parted at 3:17 a.m., went over the port side in under four seconds, and caused the EPIRB to submerge and fail.
    - Teresa abandoned the Hollis Mae at 8:52 a.m. on June 12 and took a ditch bag with seven liters of water, a few tools, and the laminated index card.
    - Every Wednesday at 11:10 p.m. for eleven years Teresa called her sister Patrice; the last call occurred on the night she departed Leland on June 11.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    21 min
  • The Pink Shoe in the Trotline: The Miracle That Didn't Make Sense

    The Pink Shoe in the Trotline: The Miracle That Didn't Make Sense
    Oct 13 2026
    The Pink Shoe in the Trotline: The Miracle That Didn't Make Sense

    Fear and bewilderment settle faster than cold water - a pink canvas high-top, size seven, appeared on a trotline nine miles from open water after ten days in the tidal current, with a folded white sock inside that stayed clean; how did a child's shoe from a forty-minute ferry crossing end up tangled in hooks, and what did it mean for the missing?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the May 9, 2009 Miriam Grace ferry crossing to Nicole Phillips pulling a pink sneaker from her trotline on May 14, 2009. We trace the ferry's inversion in the Perdido Straits, the people on board, and the shoe that wouldn't make sense until days later - what connects the sneaker to the overturned ferry?

    Date: May 14, 2009
    Event: Miriam Grace ferry inversion on May 9, 2009
    Location: Perdido Straits, between Elba Landing and Tanner's Point
    Person: Nicole Phillips (fisherman who found the shoe)
    Person: Earl Wagner (passenger, age 44)

    - The pink canvas high-top was a child's size seven and contained a white sock folded into itself, found on May 14, 2009 at 5:15 AM.
    - The Miriam Grace was a 212-foot double-ended roll-on roll-off ferry in service since 1988.
    - On May 9, 2009 boarding began at 7:50 AM with 41 vehicles and 87 foot passengers aboard the Miriam Grace.
    - The ferry rolled past point of return and fully inverted by 8:21 AM into 63°F water, with 41 vehicles still in the hold.
    - Earl Wagner, age 44, surfaced holding his daughter Sophie and had lost his son Terrence during the inversion.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    22 min
  • The Logbook That Found Her: Surviving Alone After the Mast Fell

    The Logbook That Found Her: Surviving Alone After the Mast Fell
    Oct 12 2026
    The Logbook That Found Her: Surviving Alone After the Mast Fell

    Her logbook washed ashore before anyone knew she was alive - a thirty-one-foot sloop drifting sixteen miles southeast of Cape Lookout hid a woman who had spent thirty hours sawing through rigging after her mast fell, with the EPIRB and GPS lost to the sea. How did a damaged boat, a single logbook, and a surveyor eight inches off change a rescue that almost never happened?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Teresa McCarthy’s planned solo passage to Bermuda through the squall that tore her mast down, the thirty hours she spent cutting herself free, and the logbook that led searchers to her; how did that notebook become the only clue that kept her from vanishing entirely?

    Person: Teresa McCarthy
    Age: 28
    Vessel: Nora Jean, 31-foot sloop
    Found: April 23 at 09:40, 16 miles southeast of Cape Lookout
    Logbook found: April 22 on a tidal flat in Carteret County

    - The log’s last entry was dated April 18.
    - Teresa had logged more than 4,000 offshore miles on the Nora Jean.
    - The squall occurred the night of April 11 after a barometer drop of 4 millibars in three hours.
    - She spent 30 hours cutting through cable and aluminum after the forestay parted and the mast collapsed.
    - She had 20 liters of water and no EPIRB or GPS after the mast went overboard.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    21 min
  • Twenty-Two Miles Inland: The Cracked Beacon and Lost Crew

    Twenty-Two Miles Inland: The Cracked Beacon and Lost Crew
    Oct 11 2026
    Twenty-Two Miles Inland: The Cracked Beacon and Lost Crew

    An orange EPIRB shell, sun-bleached on one side and vivid on the other, was found balanced on a pressure tank in a yard twenty-two miles from the ocean - its seam cracked and its electronics gone. What linked that empty casing to a forty-two-foot fishing vessel, three missing people, and a last transmission of two calm words: "taking water"?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of discoveries from the Harmon property photograph through the Coast Guard search: who was aboard the Doris Kay, what equipment the vessel carried, and how the last known position shaped the search and drift model. How did that cracked beacon end up so far inland, and what does the debris say about the fate of the crew?

    Person: Marie Green
    Person: Dennis Falk
    Person: Aaron Pettis
    Date: March 5, 2011
    Event: Last transmission - "taking water"

    - The EPIRB casing was found on March 12, 2011 at 6:40 a.m, on Sutter Point Road.
    - The Doris Kay departed Portsmith on March 2, 2011 and was reported sixty-one miles southeast by noon on March 5.
    - The final radio transmission was received at 8:20 p.m. on March 5 and consisted of two words: "taking water."
    - The Doris Kay was a forty-two-foot fiberglass-over-wood fishing vessel built in the mid-1980s with an EPIRB mounted beside the hatch.
    - Searchers recovered a blue foam cushion and a fuel filter housing marked with the Doris Kay's documentation number on March 7.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    21 min
  • Ninety-One Hours: How a Cheap Casio Saved Christine Quinn's Life

    Ninety-One Hours: How a Cheap Casio Saved Christine Quinn's Life
    Oct 10 2026
    Ninety-One Hours: How a Cheap Casio Saved Christine Quinn's Life

    The cold of the Atlantic and a twelve-dollar Casio kept a twenty-three-year-old alive for roughly ninety-one hours after a February capsize; the watch stopped working for everyone but the one person who needed it most. How did a defective seal on a cheap digital watch, a misread weather risk written in a logbook, and search teams looking eleven miles the wrong way combine to stretch survival into four days?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from departure to recovery, following the people aboard the Delia Ann, the evidence washed onto Pelican Flats, and the decisions that set the search off-course - and ask how chance and preparation collided to produce an improbable survival.

    Person: Christine Quinn
    Person: Kevin Pruett
    Person: Mark Avery
    Date: February 8-12, 2009
    Location: Pelican Flats, Georgia

    - The Delia Ann capsized between 0200 and 0300 hours on February 9 in sustained winds of 41 knots and gusts up to 53 knots.
    - Christine Quinn was found after approximately ninety-one hours; her hand was beneath a working Casio still displaying the correct minute.
    - Christine noted a small craft advisory in her personal logbook at 1417 on February 8 with the entry "K says it'll blow through by midnight. I doubt it. Going anyway."
    - The Casio watch was a $12 digital model, pulled from the water and later found running on a sandbar atop an inverted hull.
    - Search assets were deployed looking eleven miles in the wrong direction from where the hull drifted southeast to Pelican Flats.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    21 min
  • The Dry Card on Slip Fourteen: How Two Sailors Vanished at Sea

    The Dry Card on Slip Fourteen: How Two Sailors Vanished at Sea
    Oct 9 2026
    The Dry Card on Slip Fourteen: How Two Sailors Vanished at Sea

    A laminated tide table found dry in a gray fender bag at slip fourteen carried a handwritten distress: "Marguerite, ketch, 42 ft. Cap shroud failure. Two souls. EPIRB activated 12:22 January 5." How did a seaworthy-sounding signal end up as a bottle on a dock, and were its senders still alive when it washed ashore?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a paperboy's discovery at Pelican Flat Marina to the search-and-rescue response in New Orleans, tracing the voyage of the ketch Marguerite, the documented rigging concerns before departure, and the moment the mast failed at sea - and we keep asking whether enough was known, documented, and acted on to save two lives.

    Person: Gail Wilson
    Person: Marcus Webb
    Date: January 5, 2014
    Location: 110 nm SSE of Southwest Pass
    Event: EPIRB activated at 12:22

    - The laminated card was found bone dry inside a gray fender bag at slip fourteen on January 7.
    - Charles Jones, age 14, discovered the bag during his paper route on January 9 and called his mother.
    - Gail Wilson, age 38, had surveyed Marguerite and noted standing rigging last replaced in 2004.
    - The voyage departed Mobile on January 3, 2014, bound for Veracruz, approximately 900 miles.
    - At 11:40 on January 5, the Marguerite's starboard cap shroud failed about 110 nautical miles SSE of the Mississippi mouth, mast coming down in under four seconds.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 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.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    22 min