Rick Rodriguez and Alana Litz
Disaster struck when Rick Rodriguez and his 3 friends were on their dream sailing trip for 13 days. While sailing from the Galapagos Islands to French Polynesia, at least one whale hit their boat and sank it. Rick and others spent 10 hours at sea before being rescued.
Rick recalled to NBC News: "It happened instantaneously, it was just a very violent impact, accompanied by some crazy sounds, the whole boat was rocking, it sounded like something was broken, and we immediately looked to the shore and saw a very large whale bleeding. ”
On March 13, Rick and three friends, Alana Litz, Bianca Brateanu and Simon Fischer, were making lunch when they suddenly felt something hit their Rain Dancer schoon, according to The Washington Post.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Rick said: "The second pizza had just come out, and I was dipping a pizza in some ranch sauce when the back half of the boat rose violently to starboard. ”
Rick and the rest of the crew on the lifeboat
When the ship's alarm sounded and sea began to pour out of the hull, Rick and the others rushed to collect the necessary supplies: food, safety emergency equipment, and bottled water. Fifteen minutes later, they climbed aboard a lifeboat and a dinghy and watched the Rain Dancer disappear beneath the waves at incredible speed.
Then, Rick and others began sending messages for help.
In a message to his friend Tommy Joyce, Rick wrote: "Tommy, this is no joke, we hit a whale and the boat sank... Tell as many boats as possible that the battery is dangerously low. "Tommy is on the same line 190 kilometers from them.
The content of a message Rick sent to his friend Tommy
According to the Guardian, Rick also sent distress messages via VHF radio and distress signals to the global rescue network. After that, 4 crew members waited, turning off their equipment to save electricity.
Fortunately, their messages received quickly. Peruvian officials received Rick's distress signal and notified the U.S. Coast Guard, and Tommy responded with a message reassuring Rick and others that help was coming.
According to the Washington Post, Tommy messaged back, "We found you, man. We've got a bunch of boats coming, and we've come to save you, brother. ”
In fact, there are plenty of ships in the area, from yachts attending the rally to merchant ships called "East Asian Maya". The nearest ship is the 14-meter-long catamaran Rolling Stone, just 56 kilometers from where the Rain Dancer sank. Captain Geoff Stone sent a message to Tommy and Peruvian officials to determine the last known coordinates of the Rain Dancer.
It took Captain Stone and his crew 9 hours nervously to find Rick and the others. Captain Stone later explained that he wasn't sure he could find them on the high seas, saying: "The sea is not scary, but we never conducted a search and rescue. ”
Happily, Captain Stone found Rick and the others and brought them safely on board. In total, the crew of the Rain Dancer spent a total of 10 hours at sea.
The Rolling Stone saved two crew members of the Rain Dancer
According to The Washington Post, there have been 1,200 reports of whale collisions with boats since records began in 2007. However, such collisions usually do not cause serious damage. The last time a whale in need of rescue collided with a ship was in 2009, when a whale sank a 12-meter boat off the coast of California and required the Coast Guard's rescue.
Afterwards, Rick expressed gratitude to the rescuers and sadness for the loss of his boat. He has been living on board since 2021.
"I've been working hard to get here, and for about 10 years I've dreamed of landing in Virgin Bay in the Marquesas Islands on my own boat, and with 1,000 nautical miles to go and my boat will sink," Rick said. We were rescued so quickly and I feel very lucky and grateful that we were in the right place at the right time. ”