Fundies Lost at Sea - Sent Home by God - Merge

[jenny_islander]

My favorite summary so far: "Self-righteous family re-enacts the book of Jonah."

Anybody know why they picked Kiribati?

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

For everyone hand-wringing over "my tax dollars", I don't know about you, but I would rather have a real, robust social safety net and accept that some people will always take unfair advantage than one that is so tightly controlled that we end up with hungry kids because their parents make bad decisions. These two dumbasses have kids, so for their sake I'm glad there were resources available for rescue.

I also find it kind of horrifying that if I were stranded in a war zone, I would have to pay my own government for my rescue. Did I understand that correctly??

[GeoBQn]

My favorite summary so far: "Self-righteous family re-enacts the book of Jonah."

Anybody know why they picked Kiribati?

Here is their explanation:

The 26-year-old mother said they wanted to go to Kiribati because "we didn't want to go anywhere big." She said they understood the island to be "one of the least developed countries in the world."

My guess--they closed their eyes, spun the globe, and pointed. The same way I picked places I wanted to go when I was fucking five.

[snarkyjan]

Here is their explanation:

My guess--they closed their eyes, spun the globe, and pointed. The same way I picked places I wanted to go when I was fucking five.

And if they had gotten there, they would have freeloaded off the locals. Who, by the way, are among the poorest on earth.

[curlytoes79]

Oh lord. Any chance they could have scooped the children out of the boat and pushed the parents back out to sea?

[Black Aliss]

A northern Arizona family that was lost at sea for weeks in an ill-fated attempt to leave the U.S. over what they consider government interference in religion will fly back home Sunday.

Hannah Gastonguay, 26, said Saturday that she and her husband “decided to take a leap of faith and see where God led us†when they took their two small children and her father-in-law and set sail from San Diego for the tiny island nation of Kiribati in May.

But just weeks into their journey, the Gastonguays hit a series of storms that damaged their small boat, leaving them adrift for weeks, unable to make progress. They were eventually picked up by a Venezuelan fishing vessel, transferred to a Japanese cargo ship and taken to Chile where they are resting in a hotel in the port city of San Antonio.

Their flights home were arranged by U.S. Embassy officials, Gastonguay said. The U.S. State Department was not immediately available for comment.

Yep. The ebil gummint they were fleeing eventually saved their pathetic hides and they are back in Arizona coming up with Plan B, which we hope doesn't involve sailing and navigational skills, which they seem to lack.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/relig ... at-sea.php

[alchemy]

a great discussion on this can be found at viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18800

[Black Aliss]

whoops, sorry! Must have used the wrong search words when I looked for this one.

[tropaka]

These idiots are going to try again with the same destination:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/c ... ation-refo

An Arizona family that fled the US by boat only to be lost at sea is planning to leave again, once again by boat. Back in August, the Gastonguay family cited “abortion, homosexuality [and] the state-controlled church†as reasons for leaving the US to the island nation of Kiribati. However, the voyage did not go as planned as damage to their boat left them “adrift for weeks.†“They were eventually picked up by a Venezuelan fishing vessel, transferred to a Japanese cargo ship and taken to Chile,†the Associated Press reported.

Sean Gastonguay appeared on TruNews with Rick Wiles yesterday to discuss his plans to leave with his wife and children once again to escape what he perceives as anti-Christian persecution.

He also talked to Wiles about how he believes the Old Testament law should be the basis for taxation and government and discussed how immigration reform will lead to biometric scanning, one of the End Times broadcaster’s favorite conspiracy theories.

[GeoBQn]

I seem to recall some kind of definition for insanity, that it is "trying the same thing repeatedly, but expecting different results." :think:

I wouldn't be surprised if this time, they managed to snag donations for a better boat.

[AnywhereButHere]

These idiots are going to try again with the same destination:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/c ... ation-refo

...

Oh lord. So we should all be keeping our eys peeled for a news story about an Ark being built in Arizona? Because, you know they probably think "well if we had just had a bigger boat..." Although, god knows they won't buy the materials at Home Depot! :P

[tropaka]

I wonder where they got the money for the bigger boat (as the father claims they have - you have to listen to the audio to hear that part)? Also wondering if they're splitting because the "persecution" they're running from includes a whopping bill from the government for their first rescue.

Can't planning an open-ended sea voyage to a depressed country get your kids pulled?

[snarkyjan]

Too bad Kiribati doesn't have a coast guard, to intercept them if they make it there and send their sorry carcasses back home. Barring that, I hope the Kiribatians have the good sense not to let these grifters freeload off them.

[darareaksmey]

If only they were building a spaceship instead of an oceangoing vessel. Then we'd be rid of them for good.

[PennySycamore]

If they're still going to sail there, with their lack of navigation and sailing skills, they could end up in trouble again. Heck, they could get in trouble with a seaworthy power boat. The ocean is so big and the vessel is so small in comparison.

To sail to Kiribati, they would need to have sufficient sailing skills to handle the boat including knowing about the points of sail, proper sail trim and the "rules of the road" of navigation rules, the right navigation equipment -and that doesn't mean just a GPS but some traditional nav expertise too, the proper provisioning, the proper safety equipment, proper charts and so on. You always want to be redundant in your systems at sea and you need to set sail at the right time of year. It doesn't sound like they had any of that the first time out. The size of the boat isn't the most important thing if you have the requisite sailing skills and properly prepare your boat.

ETA: One of the greatest feats of navigation ever was accomplished by Captain Bligh after he was cast off the Bounty. He sailed over 3600 nautical miles with 18 loyal crewmen in a 23-foot launch that was so heavily laden that its gunwhales were barely above water to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. He lost only one man who was killed by hostile aboriginals in Tofua where they had hoped to re-provision. He had no navigation equipment save a quadrant and a compass and his own knowledge from sailing with Captain Cook.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Don't they need to like....legally move to this other country? I'm sure there's paperwork involved.

[jenny_islander]

Don't they need to like....legally move to this other country? I'm sure there's paperwork involved.

Don't be silly. Either the good, saintly Christian brown people will welcome them with open arms and a choir singing Gospel hymns in four-part harmony, or the poor, benighted pagan brown people will welcome them with awestruck expressions and kneel at their feet while they learn to sing Gospel hymns in four-part harmony. Everybody knows that brown people don't have paperwork. They probably can't even read!

But seriously, people who just assume that they can get in a boat and go to Kiribati without first learning deep-water sailing because :special-flake: , and then completely ignore the generosity of the so-called oppressors in getting them home because :special-flake: , may not have thought even as far as what I posted above. The idea that the Kiribati police may arrest them at the dock is just unpossible!

[snarkyjan]

Don't be silly. Either the good, saintly Christian brown people will welcome them with open arms and a choir singing Gospel hymns in four-part harmony, or the poor, benighted pagan brown people will welcome them with awestruck expressions and kneel at their feet while they learn to sing Gospel hymns in four-part harmony. Everybody knows that brown people don't have paperwork. They probably can't even read!

But seriously, people who just assume that they can get in a boat and go to Kiribati without first learning deep-water sailing because :special-flake: , and then completely ignore the generosity of the so-called oppressors in getting them home because :special-flake: , may not have thought even as far as what I posted above. The idea that the Kiribati police may arrest them at the dock is just unpossible!

I'm rooting for the Kiribatian cops.

[Isis]

If they're still going to sail there, with their lack of navigation and sailing skills, they could end up in trouble again. Heck, they could get in trouble with a seaworthy power boat. The ocean is so big and the vessel is so small in comparison.

To sail to Kiribati, they would need to have sufficient sailing skills to handle the boat including knowing about the points of sail, proper sail trim and the "rules of the road" of navigation rules, the right navigation equipment -and that doesn't mean just a GPS but some traditional nav expertise too, the proper provisioning, the proper safety equipment, proper charts and so on. You always want to be redundant in your systems at sea and you need to set sail at the right time of year. It doesn't sound like they had any of that the first time out. The size of the boat isn't the most important thing if you have the requisite sailing skills and properly prepare your boat.

ETA: One of the greatest feats of navigation ever was accomplished by Captain Bligh after he was cast off the Bounty. He sailed over 3600 nautical miles with 18 loyal crewmen in a 23-foot launch that was so heavily laden that its gunwhales were barely above water to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. He lost only one man who was killed by hostile aboriginals in Tofua where they had hoped to re-provision. He had no navigation equipment save a quadrant and a compass and his own knowledge from sailing with Captain Cook.

I read a book on Bligh a few years back and was just in awe at his leadership and sailing skills.

Can't believe these idiots are trying this yet again.....

[countressrascal]

Maybe they can recruit Doug the Tool to go with them. He could get some of his Manly Men to go and he can bill it has a some type of adventure. I have a long list of people that I would like to see partake in this, clean up the gene pool.

[misslady]

I just can't get past the face of the older girl in the picture on the Friendly Atheist (and probably other places, that's where I saw it.) She looks scared out of her mind. Those poor babies.

[theologygeek]

Too bad Kiribati doesn't have a coast guard, to intercept them if they make it there and send their sorry carcasses back home. Barring that, I hope the Kiribatians have the good sense not to let these grifters freeload off them.

I was just reading about this place. It seems that their President is making everyone evacuate the island and move elsewhere. I wonder if the boat family has a crazy idea that they will be living on a deserted island.

[PennySycamore]

I was just reading about this place. It seems that their President is making everyone evacuate the island and move elsewhere. I wonder if the boat family has a crazy idea that they will be living on a deserted island.

Oh, but they won't be living on a desert island for long! They're be living in the middle of the ocean when the rising seas begin to cover Kirabati. That's why their president is urging people to emigrate to drier land.

[spinsterwv]

In this one conversation they complain about illegal immgrants to the US and the talk about ilegally immigtaing to the islands. :think:

[PennySycamore]

I see they are building a bigger boat. Size isn't everything. One of the most experienced cruising couples in the world are Lin and Larry Pardey who have spent a good bit of their married life sailing the world's oceans. Lin and Larry tend to be low tech in their approach to sailing and their sailboat and they tend towards a fairly small boat -under 30 feet in overall length.