The rescued sailors' story about how they were lost at sea for months is raising questions among the press and maritime experts.
The two Hawaii women, Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava, and their two dogs were found last week some 900 miles southeast of Japan after setting sail from Hawaii on May 3, according to CNN.
Here are some of the questions the press and experts would like to ask the women, who have been unreachable since arriving in Japan.
1. The emergency beacon — Why didn’t the women activate their emergency beacon, which was fully functional throughout their journey?
Appel did release a statement Tuesday saying that the women didn’t activate the beacon because they never felt like they were in imminent danger. But that contradicts other parts of their story, including that they faced extreme weather and a loss of the boat’s power, CNN reported.
2. The storm — Why didn’t the huge storm they claim blew them off course and disrupted equipment in early May right show up on weather radar in the area?
The National Weather Service in Honolulu told CNN there were “no organized storm systems near the Hawaiian Islands on the dates of May 3, 2017” or the next few days.
3. How did six different forms of communication all fail at once? — The pair had a cell phone, satellite phone, the beacon, a radio transmitter, flares, and GPS, but none of it helped them find their way or be rescued for five months, they maintain, according to CBS News.
“I’ve never heard of all that stuff going out at the same time," Retired Coast Guard officer Phillip R. Johnson told CBS.
4. Why did the Coast Guard have contact with their boat near Tahiti in June? — Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Scott Carr told The Associated Press that a vessel identifying itself as the Sea Nymph made contact with the agency in June, said they were not in distress, and said they expected to reach land the next morning.
5. Why did two women who had only known each other for a week take a long sailing trip together? — Appel and Fuiava reportedly only met the week before they set sail with their dogs together, and Fuiava had never even sailed on a boat before, according to CNN.
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