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http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sh...ancouver+Island+wilderness/2642899/story.html
Shipwrecked sailor ate lichen to survive Vancouver Island wilderness
By Richard Watts, Victoria Times Colonist
Keith Carver, left, with rescuer helicopter pilot Wayne Goodridge. They are at Port McNeill hospital. Carver was rescued off the rugged shores of the west coast of Vancouver Island March 2 ending a five-day wilderness ordeal eating nothing but lichen. Carver, 56, of Tucson, Arizona, said he doesn’t think he would have lasted much more than one more day had he not been spotted waving his arms to attract the attention of “this beautiful helicopter.”Photograph by: Wayne Goodridge, Wayne Goodridge
VICTORIA — A shipwrecked American sailor was plucked off the rugged shores of the west coast of Vancouver Island Wednesday ending a five-day wilderness ordeal eating nothing but lichen.
Keith Carver, 56, of Tucson, Ariz., said he doesn’t think he would have lasted much more than one more day had he not been spotted waving his arms to attract the attention of “this beautiful helicopter.”
“I just wanted to live, I just wanted to see my wife again and eat chocolate ice cream with her. I’m done with these kind of adventures,” said Carver.
“It was more of an experience than I wanted to have,” he said in a telephone interview from Port McNeil and District Hospital.
Carver said he and a friend first came up from Arizona in mid February to purchase a 40-foot cement sailboat in Anacortes, Wash., intending to sail south to Mexico. The two stopped in Port Angeles and Neah Bay for overnight stays before heading south.
But after travelling only about 110 kilometres they found themselves facing huge storms pushing the boat north. The boat was tossed so severely at one point a screw driver flew across the cabin and embedded itself in a cork board.
“It was like the God Neptune picked up this hull and decided to shake it around trying to shake these two Americans out of it,” said Carver.
Somehow, and neither man knows exactly how, Carver’s friend broke his arm. So after four or five days the two pulled into Tahsis on Vancouver Island and someone volunteered to drive Carver’s friend to Campbell River where he could get help.
Carver then set out alone and in one day of clear sailing reached the Strait of Juan de Fuca. But then storms came back and for days on end pushed him north again.
This time he decided to seek shelter in Port Alice. But before he made it his boat started to fall apart. By Friday night his rudder was wrecked and he could no longer steer the vessel and he decided to abandon his boat.
Carver cut the lifeboat free, tossed in a backpack containing survival gear which almost immediately went missing, and he headed for shore.
Facing mostly sheer rock, Carver said by some near miracle he paddled the life boat onto an isolated little pebble beach, only about five metres wide.
Meanwhile, the storm had smashed his radio antenna so no distress call had gone out. But he had saved a GPS device and figured Port Alice was less than 20 kilometres away, an easy hike, he thought.
Carver said he didn’t come close. “You’ve got some rugged country here.”
“If you are losing strength you can’t make 20 yards in these primeval forests,” said Carver.
So he headed back to the beach, hoping to find his wrecked boat and salvage some survival gear. But there was no sign. He built a big cross to make a signal and concentrated on living, drinking water from a stream and eating a few lichens.
On Wednesday, chopper pilot Wayne Goodridge was ferrying a physician to remote communities.
Goodridge happened to be flying low and spotted Carver waving his arms for help.
Goodridge said it was impossible to land on that particular spot so he had to hover close and his passenger and the doctor performed the tricky operation of getting Carver onto the craft.
Goodridge said Carver was clearly hypothermic and making little sense but he was alive.
The chopper pilot said he thought Carver was lucky to have dressed himself in a wet suit, which kept him warm enough to survive the ordeal.
But he also gave full credit to Carver, who he said managed to perform some masterful sailing, in tough conditions and then managed to keep himself alive.
“It was more than just sailing. He showed just an incredible will to survive and make it here and then stay alive,” said Goodridge.
“He definitely had some strong resolve,” he said.
Victoria Times Colonist
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
Shipwrecked sailor ate lichen to survive Vancouver Island wilderness
By Richard Watts, Victoria Times Colonist
Keith Carver, left, with rescuer helicopter pilot Wayne Goodridge. They are at Port McNeill hospital. Carver was rescued off the rugged shores of the west coast of Vancouver Island March 2 ending a five-day wilderness ordeal eating nothing but lichen. Carver, 56, of Tucson, Arizona, said he doesn’t think he would have lasted much more than one more day had he not been spotted waving his arms to attract the attention of “this beautiful helicopter.”Photograph by: Wayne Goodridge, Wayne Goodridge
VICTORIA — A shipwrecked American sailor was plucked off the rugged shores of the west coast of Vancouver Island Wednesday ending a five-day wilderness ordeal eating nothing but lichen.
Keith Carver, 56, of Tucson, Ariz., said he doesn’t think he would have lasted much more than one more day had he not been spotted waving his arms to attract the attention of “this beautiful helicopter.”
“I just wanted to live, I just wanted to see my wife again and eat chocolate ice cream with her. I’m done with these kind of adventures,” said Carver.
“It was more of an experience than I wanted to have,” he said in a telephone interview from Port McNeil and District Hospital.
Carver said he and a friend first came up from Arizona in mid February to purchase a 40-foot cement sailboat in Anacortes, Wash., intending to sail south to Mexico. The two stopped in Port Angeles and Neah Bay for overnight stays before heading south.
But after travelling only about 110 kilometres they found themselves facing huge storms pushing the boat north. The boat was tossed so severely at one point a screw driver flew across the cabin and embedded itself in a cork board.
“It was like the God Neptune picked up this hull and decided to shake it around trying to shake these two Americans out of it,” said Carver.
Somehow, and neither man knows exactly how, Carver’s friend broke his arm. So after four or five days the two pulled into Tahsis on Vancouver Island and someone volunteered to drive Carver’s friend to Campbell River where he could get help.
Carver then set out alone and in one day of clear sailing reached the Strait of Juan de Fuca. But then storms came back and for days on end pushed him north again.
This time he decided to seek shelter in Port Alice. But before he made it his boat started to fall apart. By Friday night his rudder was wrecked and he could no longer steer the vessel and he decided to abandon his boat.
Carver cut the lifeboat free, tossed in a backpack containing survival gear which almost immediately went missing, and he headed for shore.
Facing mostly sheer rock, Carver said by some near miracle he paddled the life boat onto an isolated little pebble beach, only about five metres wide.
Meanwhile, the storm had smashed his radio antenna so no distress call had gone out. But he had saved a GPS device and figured Port Alice was less than 20 kilometres away, an easy hike, he thought.
Carver said he didn’t come close. “You’ve got some rugged country here.”
“If you are losing strength you can’t make 20 yards in these primeval forests,” said Carver.
So he headed back to the beach, hoping to find his wrecked boat and salvage some survival gear. But there was no sign. He built a big cross to make a signal and concentrated on living, drinking water from a stream and eating a few lichens.
On Wednesday, chopper pilot Wayne Goodridge was ferrying a physician to remote communities.
Goodridge happened to be flying low and spotted Carver waving his arms for help.
Goodridge said it was impossible to land on that particular spot so he had to hover close and his passenger and the doctor performed the tricky operation of getting Carver onto the craft.
Goodridge said Carver was clearly hypothermic and making little sense but he was alive.
The chopper pilot said he thought Carver was lucky to have dressed himself in a wet suit, which kept him warm enough to survive the ordeal.
But he also gave full credit to Carver, who he said managed to perform some masterful sailing, in tough conditions and then managed to keep himself alive.
“It was more than just sailing. He showed just an incredible will to survive and make it here and then stay alive,” said Goodridge.
“He definitely had some strong resolve,” he said.
Victoria Times Colonist
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
