The True Story Of “Adrift” And Tami Oldham Ashcraft’s Survival At Sea
YouTubeTami Oldham Ashcraft and Richard Sharp, just before setting out on their fateful trip.
The last thing Tami Oldham Ashcraft remembered before being knocked unconscious was hearing her fiancé scream.
When she awoke 27 hours later, she was in the cabin of their 44-foot yacht, laying in several feet of water, surrounded by debris. Her fiancé was gone and her boat was badly damaged, the result of an unexpected category-four hurricane.
For the next 41 days, Tami Oldham Ashcraft would be alone, adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, fighting to survive.
Hurricane Raymond, a category-four hurricane, surprised the couple by changing course sooner than they expected. As they were already in the path of the storm, the couple attempted to weather it, donning raincoats and boarding up the yacht. When they did, 40-foot waves and 140-mile-per-hour winds descended on the tiny vessel.
When she awoke, she was surrounded by destruction. The main cabin was filled with water, the masts were broken clean off, and the sails were dragging in the water. Despite that, the ship was miraculously still afloat.
YouTubeTami Oldham Ashcraft after her trip.
Sharp, however, was gone. Tami Oldham Ashcraft didn’t have time to grieve over her presumed-dead fiancé.
Using a broken pole and a storm jib, Ashcraft fashioned a makeshift sail and managed to pump the water out of the cabin. A search of the drier cabin revealed a sextant and a watch, the only tools that had survived, and the ones she would use to navigate to the closest landmass — the 1,500-mile-away island of Hilo, Hawaii.
Though all the odds were against her, Tami Oldham Ashcraft managed to do it.
