COPING ON LAND AFTER SURVIVING AT SEA
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Book details woman's journey after South Pacific hurricane devastated her life and love
By Julie A. Jacob
Special to the Tribune
March 19, 2003


In September 1983, 23-year-old Tami Oldham Ashcraft's future seemed as idyllic as the South Pacific islands she and her fiance, Richard Sharp, had been cruising for the past six months. The couple, both avid sailors, had decided to take a break from pleasure sailing in Sharp's 36-foot sailboat, Mayaluga, to take a job delivering a 44-foot yacht, Hazana, from Tahiti to San Diego.

But Ashcraft's dream of a happy future with Richard was destroyed when they got caught in a hurricane less than three weeks into their journey. Unable to outsail the ferocious Hurricane Raymond, Sharp and Ashcraft fought desperately to keep Hazana afloat in the 40-foot waves and 140-knot winds.

On Oct. 12, shortly after Sharp told her to go below deck to rest, Ashcraft heard Sharp scream and was knocked unconscious as she was thrown against the cabin wall when the boat capsized. When she regained consciousness a day later, the storm was over. Scrambling above deck, she discovered Sharp's safety line dangling over the end of the boat, but he was gone. Ashcraft surmises the waves and wind were so powerful that Sharp was jerked out of his safety tether and swept overboard. The cabin was half-filled with water; everything in it was smashed or scattered on the floor. The masts were broken off and the waterlogged sails floated uselessly in the water. The engine, radio, electronic navigation system and emergency position-indicating radio device were broken.

Alone, terrified, injured with a bad cut on her head, and grieving for her fiance, Ashcraft nonetheless managed to rig a makeshift sail from a broken spinnaker pole and an extra storm jib and pump the water out of the cabin. Navigating manually using just a sextant and watch, and surviving on peanut butter and canned food, she sailed 1,500 miles in 41 days to reach safety in Hilo, Hawaii.

She recounts her terrifying ordeal in her memoir "Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea" (Hyperion). She self-published her book in 1998 after several publishers had rejected it. After a literary agent discovered her book, it was published last year by Hyperion Press after an intense bidding war among the same publishers who had originally turned down her manuscript. Her book is now available in 15 countries and eight languages.

Ashcraft, now married with two children and living on San Juan Island, Wash., spoke about her ordeal on a recent visit to Chicago.

Q. Why did you decide to write this book and why did you wait so long after your ordeal to start writing it?
A. I've always wanted to write my story, but it took me years to move on from being totally consumed by it. It took me six years even to read a book again because I had a major head injury.

I held so much of this in for so long. I just put it on the back burner. I grieved for so long, and I just wanted to erase it from my mind and move on. But my life moved on and I got married, and while I was having my first child I decided that it was time to write the book. I had always wanted to write it. I couldn't believe how much I was still holding around in my head, and just purging it like that really helped me to get past it all. Now I choose when to think about it, instead of it being always there.

Q. Did anyone ever suggest that you receive counseling to deal with your trauma?
A. No one ever suggested it, but I wish I had because I definitely had some severe post-traumatic stress syndrome. I really wish I had taken the time to do that. I'm fairly headstrong, so I'm always, `Oh, I can get through this on my own.' Now looking back, at times I really needed some professional help.

Q. What was the hardest part of your ordeal?
A. Definitely the hardest part was dealing with Richard being gone. There were times I didn't even want to live anymore because I didn't know how I was going to go on. I was never going to fall in love again.

But, actually, while I was in the survival mode, the grief was fairly low. It wasn't as intense as when I got to shore and the survival was over, and I could see people together and everything kept reminding me of him. I just really had a hard time. But that survival instinct [while at sea] just kicked in. It helped me to focus, to keep myself on track.

Q. In the book you talk about an inner voice that guided and helped you. What do you think that inner voice was?
A. I think it was my inner spirit, quite frankly. It was my spirit. People want to convince me it was God, but I don't know. I think, personally, it was my inner spirit.

Q. You got right back into sailing after your experience. How did you find the courage to sail again?
A. I just love it. I'm passionate about it. I kind of parallel [the hurricane] to being in a car accident. You get back in the car or, like they say, back on the horse. I couldn't wait to get out of the States and get back to some tranquility and get back to the water again. But it definitely made me a lot more cautious.

Q. You mentioned the movie "A Perfect Storm." Was it an accurate depiction of a storm at sea?
A. There wasn't enough spray and the wall of water was a little hokey, but I really thought the scene where the boat capsized was very realistic.

Q. How did this experience change your life?
A. In the most profound way, it made me really appreciate life. I really try to live in the now and absorb as much as I can and be happy. ... My family is really great, I'm involved with my kids. And it really made me prioritize, which is something I learned.

Q. What advice would you give to other women facing obstacles in their lives?
A. One second at a time. Just get through one thing at a time and remain focused and determined and keep going. I really had to keep determined that I wasn't going to die. Determination, and being adaptable to change because things were coming at me that I wasn't normally used to ... I did pull on my resourcefulness, too.

Q. Anything else?
A. My main message is that knowledge is key for any kind of extreme sports that women get involved in. Before you go, check out gear, try to go to classes and become passionate in what you want to do.

Q. What is the pendant that you are wearing?
A. It's a sextant. It reminds me of how I got home.Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune