Tami Lee Oldham Ashcraft () is an American sailor and author who, in 1983, survived 41 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean. Her story inspired the 2018 film '' Adrift''.

1983 shipwreck

In 1983, Ashcraft's fiancé, 34-year-old British sailor Richard Sharp, was hired to deliver the

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

''Hazaña'' from

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Aust ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The then 23-year-old Ashcraft accompanied him on the crossing. The couple set sail from

Papeete Papeete ( Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The commune of Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivisi ...

Harbor on September 22. On October 12, the vessel was caught in the path of

Hurricane Raymond The name Raymond has been used for five tropical cyclones worldwide. Eastern Pacific: * Hurricane Raymond (1983), tied with Hurricane Kiko for the strongest tropical cyclone of the 1983 Pacific hurricane season * Hurricane Raymond (1989) Hurrica ...

. As the ship was being hit by waves and winds, Sharp sent Ashcraft below deck. Moments later, she heard him scream "Oh my God!" The yacht capsized and Ashcraft was thrown against the cabin wall and knocked unconscious. When she regained consciousness about 27 hours later, Sharp was gone and the ''Hazaña'' was severely damaged: the cabin was half-flooded, the masts had broken off the yacht, and the radio and navigation system were inoperable. Ashcraft rigged a makeshift sail from a broken

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...

pole and a storm

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...

(a triangular sail) and fashioned a pump to drain the cabin. Due to the boat damage and the local wind conditions, she determined that her original route to San Diego was no longer viable and decided instead to make the journey to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

. Without a

radio navigation Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position of an object on the Earth, either the vessel or an obstruction. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination. The basic principles ...

system, Ashcraft was forced to navigate the yacht manually with the help of a

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of cel ...

and a watch. She survived mainly on canned food during this time. On November 2241 days after the shipwreckAshcraft reached

Hilo, Hawaii Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement ...

Bibliography

* 2002: ''Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea'' by Tami Oldham Ashcraft and Susea McGearhart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashcraft, Tami Oldham Female sailors Living people Maritime writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women writers American women memoirists 21st-century American memoirists Sole survivors 20th-century sailors