page_title: Rescue of Sea Nymph
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Rescue of Sea Nymph / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava speaking about their time aboard USS Ashland
context_page_description: The rescue of Sea Nymph was the United States Navy's safe recovery of two passengers from the sailboat Sea Nymph, which had been adrift in the Pacific Ocean for more than five months.
  In May 2017, sailor Jennifer Appel and landsman Tasha Fuiava left Honolulu with their two dogs aboard a fully stocked and equipped Sea Nymph. According to the women, on their first night afloat, their boat took damage from a "force 11 storm"; further damage was inflicted by a typhoon, leaving the boat functionally adrift and incommunicado. Tiger shark attacks, a white squall, and Fuiava's inexperience supposedly caused further problems for the four.
  Almost six months after leaving Hawaii, Sea Nymph was spotted by a Taiwanese fishing vessel, and though Appel would later claim the larger boat was attacking theirs, she was able to use their satellite phone to contact the United States Coast Guard for help. USS Ashland arrived to rescue Appel, Fuiava, and their dogs, but left Sea Nymph adrift after determining it to be unseaworthy.
  After their rescue and the media attention it garnered, the two-woman crew of the erstwhile Sea Nymph were questioned about many aspects of their story.
context_section_description: Jennifer Appel (born 1968 or 1969) and Tasha Fuiava (born 1990 or 1991) were residents of Hawaii, and met in December 2016.  Within a week of meeting, they had planned an 18-day trip, sailing to Tahiti— Appel was an experienced sailor while Fuiava was a novice.  Appel wrecked her first boat, a 35-foot (11 m) fiberglass sloop, in 2012.
  Sea Nymph is a 50-foot (15 m) sailboat, and was stocked with two desalinators as well as non-perishables such as "beef jerky, oatmeal, rice, pasta, dried fruits, [and] nuts".  The boat was also equipped with a properly registered, fully operational emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station (EPIRB).
caption: Appel and Fuiava, October 2017
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