I'm going to the movies this week to see Adrift, the new movie about Tami Oldham. She wrote the book, Red Sky in Mourning. A real life adventure of being pitch poled from a hurricane in the south pacific ocean, jury rigging her sailboat and sailing it to Hilo Hawaii. Her story is moving, tragic and a testimony for what it takes to survive the savage sea.
I met Tami in Friday Harbor the fall of 1987. She was looking to finally buy a sailboat after healing from this traumatic event in her life. She bought my Sabra, a Swan 36 and later sold it to a lady in Port Townsend. We've lost track of Sabra.
I'll let you know what I think about the movie. I hope the film makers do it justice as the last boating movie I saw was Robert Redford's All is Lost, and it was a failure.
P.S. I saw the movie and thought it was really great; the hurricane scenes were terrifying, the sailing and sunsets were beautiful and many of the true facts were presented. It was portrayed as though her fiance survived the hurricane but later suggested it was her hallucination. Much of this segment was given more time than showing what Tami did to survive on her own. The other scenes not were not authentic was her diving off the boat to spear mahi mahi fish. One would never dive off your vessel to fish. You'd throw off your fishing line.
In a interview with Tami, she loved the movie and was pleased to have it finally made. Her dream came true. She was asked about the segment of her fiance living and she said she talked with him every day and he answered her. It was as though he was still alive. She seemed pleased.
Congratulations, Tami on a job well done.
