An 86-year-old sailor and his dog were pulled off a crippled sailboat about 460 miles off San Diego on 28 October, more than two months after anyone last heard from them.
He had left Astoria, Oregon, bound for Pago Pago in American Samoa, some 5,000 miles of open Pacific. His last check-in was 20 August. A relative reported him overdue on 24 October, and three days later the boat’s emergency beacon started transmitting.
A Coast Guard search plane found Willow Wind with damaged sails. The seas were too rough that night for the cargo carrier Grand Orion to bring the boat alongside, so the crew waited. By the following evening they had both the man and the dog aboard. A Jayhawk helicopter lifted the pair off the ship and flew them to Sector San Diego. Medics found the sailor weak and unsteady, with no major injuries.
Nobody has released the dog’s name. Ten weeks on a damaged sailboat is endurance enough.
What this means for your dog: if your dog comes offshore, plan for the dog separately from the passage. A life jacket that fits matters more than people expect. So does a harness point to clip into, food and water for the planned trip plus a week, and a secure spot below when the weather turns. Seasickness happens in dogs, so ask your vet before you leave rather than mid-crossing. Salt water in the ears is the other thing people forget, and wet ears cause more trouble than most owners expect.
The Coast Guard’s message from this rescue was to carry emergency gear and file a float plan. Put the dog in that plan, with a name and a description, because a stranger on a container ship may be the one handing it down a ladder.