Resta con me

by Tami Oldham Ashcraft, Susea McGearhart, Seba Pezzani (Translator)

Giovani, innamorati e con un roseo futuro di fronte, Tami Oldham e il suo fidanzato Richard Sharp hanno trascorso alcuni mesi a visitare le isole polinesiane a bordo di una piccola barca a vela. Sono skipper provetti, e la proposta di portare l'Hazana, un modernissimo yacht a vela, fino al porto di San Diego è per loro un'occasione imperdibile che accettano con entusiasmo. Quando salpano da Tahiti il cielo è limpido e azzurro, ma a poco più di due settimane dalla partenza scoprono che un violento uragano sta facendo rotta su di loro, e avanza così velocemente che non c'è modo di sfuggirgli. È una delle tempeste più violente della storia, e i due giovani si ritrovano ad affrontare pioggia battente, onde alte come grattacieli e venti che soffiano a quasi 260 chilometri all'ora. Tami scende sotto coperta, e proprio mentre si sta assicurando con una cima sente Richard gridare.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Adventure, Survival, Travel, Audiobook

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about my husband's family's boat. Before they owned Hazana it belonged to an English couple. The couple hired two young sailors in Tahiti to sail Hazana to California for them. During the trip the young couple got caught in Hurricane Raymond. This book follows their story. It is an amazing story of love and survival. I am glad to have an inside look at the history of Hazana.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't until the 2018 movie that I first heard about Tami Oldham's miraculous survival tale, the film inspired me to get the original memoir.

This short read details every aspect of her 41 day journey as she battles testing conditions to reach safety, the fact that her fiance Richard was lost after the yacht hit a hurricane showed Tami's task even more difficult as she tussles with her emotions.

A simple gripping survival tale that delves more into the technical aspect of survival.
I wouldn't mind rewatching the film again to see how close they stuck to the facts!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded to 4

This was a really sad read for me. This is a true survivor story of Tami Oldham who survived 41 days alone at sea after her boat was caught up in hurricane Raymond, which not only damaged the boat, but also killed her fiance Richard Sharp.

This book deals with her coping up with the shock of Richard's death and being alone in the middle of the endless blue ocean. I think she was really brave considering her age and the emotional situation she was in. This story is heartbreaking. I wish she wrote a bit more about their relationship. From this short book, Richard's character is not portrayed in depth. This is the only book through which people can know and remember about that person. I wish this book had more depth.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a life! Tami Oldham and fiancé Richard Sharp lived their dream....both free spirits....both young and adventurous....doing what they loved best....spending time together and sailing the pacific....until disaster hits with a vengeance.

Two weeks into their last voyage together....Tahiti to San Diego, they met up with catastrophic hurricane Raymond, and ADRIFT is Tami's emotional story of loss and survival.

41 days at sea alone in a nearly demolished boat with little hope for rescue, a shocked and distraught Tami uses her experience and navigation skills to find her way while recounting her life and love for Richard.

Short read, but disjointed in the narration and a bit techie at times. Still plan to see what they do with the movie and whatever it turns out to be, we have here a brave young woman.

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was a very quick read. Finished it in a day or 2. This book was on my wish list for quite a long time and finally bought it.

I like to read survival stories and there are very good ones out there like Adrift by Steve Callahan and Jungle by Joshi Ginsberg (I hope I wrote the correct names) They are excellent.

First of all this is about survival on the sea but it is indeed more an emotional story cause this lady had enough supplies to last her for a long time.

I am not going to say what happened but I will say what I liked.

I liked that this is not another book where the person in need finds God and the whole book is about that. What I also liked that she was not shy to tell us how stupid she acted and how she swore. it did feel honest to me.


What I did not like was that it was so short, that she jumped from what was happening on the boat to how she met her boyfriend and such but that is still not a problem.
What I really disliked is the way she spoke about Richards family especially his parents. In the beginning of the book she says something mean about his parents, and I immediately thought, hey why did you have to do that?
It felt mean and unnecessary. My feelings were right cause in the end she wrote about his parents who are English....That they were cold because they did not show their emotions in front of her"That pissed me of to no end.

American people are known for letting their emotions out and say quite quickly and easily to others that they love them which is fine.
A lot of British meanwhile were brought up with the stiff upper lip. You do not show your emotions in public.
Apparently she expected to be hugged plus that there would be lots of tears and she was also saying that it was weird that his parents did not cry. (This was quite a while after the accident by the way) and to me she suggested that his parents were very cold which I am sure they were not.

I can't stand people that judge so quickly. If you loved him so much you could have shown a bit more respect to his parents Tami!!!

Later she wrote how pissed she was that Richard's brother in law did not want to sell his boat or the price she wanted so apparently there is some bad blood there.

Now what to give this book. How many stars. This story would be interesting no matter who wrote it and it could have been much better. Plus adding the false attacks I am not giving it 3 but 2 stars. it is just okay. Nothing much,

[A Turtles Nest Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written story of inspiration and never losing hope. A prime example of finding the good even in the bad. Mrs. Ashcraft is an incredibly strong and brave woman and I hope her story touches others as it has touched me.

[Juliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closer to 2.5 stars. I saw the movie and wanted to read the book to see what was left out. Honestly, I feel like the movie is better than the book. At least, it adapted the material in a good way.
While I liked the book, I think it suffered from editing and a lack of intensity. Tami kept hearing a voice that kept her alive but I don't think she necessarily translated that onto the pages well. She talked to herself throughout the book and italicized the voice. It didn't seem as smooth as I would have expected. I've read other memoirs and accounts of survival and they felt more professional than this one. It was like she was writing down whatever came to mind at that moment and A LOT of her thoughts were in all caps. It got a bit old. It was also a bit schmaltzy at times but I understood that because she couldn't properly mourn for the loss of Richard since she was trying to keep herself alive.
The last days, her being rescued, and the aftermath are probably what I found the most interesting because it was better written. Having to read about her talking to each person and breaking the news of Richard's death as well as how she survived was good. How she adapted back into the real world was interesting too. She spent two days at a hair salon getting her hair detangled. Yikes! I always wonder about the little things like that and it's so rarely written in books.
I would probably recommend the movie over the book.

[Leftbanker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll start off with praise for the book. The story is simply amazing and the woman will go down in history as one of the most tenacious survivors at sea. Just her navigational skill is something to be admired by 21st century sailors who rely on the whims of the electronic world.

She was a little slow to get moving in the metaphorically correct direction, i.e. getting her act together and getting the boat in order. I can’t believe that she would have had a water shortage in such a luxury yacht like the Hazana (by the way, I think it's hazaña, not hazana – Spanish for fate, deed, or exploit, at least I read the boat spelled that way before ). The same would go for food. If she ran low on food that was from poor planning before setting out on a trans-Pacific voyage. Even considering that some food would have been lost, she still should have had plenty.

I’ve never been in a really bad storm at sea, at least not in such a small sailing vessel, and nothing like the storm she faced even in a big passenger ship. I can’t even imagine how terrifying that must have been for them. At the end, she said the boat was totaled by the insurance company, but I’d wager someone got it back in ship-shape in no time at all. What a fine bit of advertising for that ship maker.

I watched the movie first, and it wasn’t bad at all. In the movie as well as the book she didn’t seem too concerned with bailing the boat out. Just to have something to occupy my time I think that I would have been pumping my brains out as well as cleaning up that cabin to have a more comfortable time of it. The whole bit about rationing water is also lousy information in a survival situation. I was taught at the USAF survival school in Spokane, Washington, to ration your sweat, not your water, meaning to take it easy during the daylight hours but drink as much water as you need. Drinking a cap-full of water every two days like they do in the movies will just dehydrate you faster.

So in the end she had enough water, and should have had even more—a boat that size must have a few hundred gallons of fresh water. Rich people probably expect to have two fresh water showers a day in such a luxury craft.

Just compare this true story to the fictional account in the Robert Redford film, All is Lost. He was a total idiot who brought on all of his problems. He was in the modern era of communications, yet he didn't have a simple two-way radio. I don’t know why she wasn’t able to communicate with her radio, but she did well under extremely bad circumstances.

The down side of this book, and it was a big side to the story, was her dumb romance to the dead guy. It just went on and on and was boring or worse, stupid at every turn. And what if she just made it all up? Like when he proposed to her? She is the only one who can back up that story. What if they had a huge fight on the first day of the voyage and she hated his Limey guts? It would have been a better book for me.

Of course, there is no way of ever knowing, but you have to wonder about the fate of Richard. How did he lose his tether? Did he drown immediately or did he bob around for a few hours dog-paddling in those terrible seas? I never feel sorry for people who die doing things they love. Sailing across the Pacific in a sailboat, even one as big and majestic as Hazaña, is inherently very dangerous. It’s the same for mountain climbers. People die doing that all the time and you can’t be expected to feel sorry for them. If they wanted to live longer, they would have avoided such dangerous hobbies. I’d rather go out like Richard, or fall off a 1,000 feet shear mountain face than die in a car accident—the most meaningless way to die imaginable.

Some of the technical aspects of sailing weren't written very clearly, at least not in my opinion, and I know my way around a sailboat.

*It was difficult for me to even find this book for review on Goodreads. My version was re-titled “Adrift” as part of the movie tie-in. She wasn’t adrift as she rigged a sail. Another book recounting this story is called “Lost at Sea” and she certainly was never lost.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una totale e completa delusione 🤦🏻‍♀️
Questo libro è stato una delusione su tutta linea: stile e terminologia noiosa e difficile da comprendre, a meno che non siate tipo capitan Findus, non capirete una beata mazza di tutto il frasario marittimo... poi lei è uno spirito libero e bla bla... ma a me è sembrata solo una spocchiosa piena di se. Lui è tipo un pezzo di scenografia che, se non fosse per i continui flashback, avrei dimenticato subito. Sin da subito è chiaro che nel film il regista userà un altro espediente per raccontare tutto... perché nel libro è tutto fumoso e terribilmente noioso.
Sono certa che il film sarà molto bello a differenza del libro che è stata una palla atomica.
Bocciato!

[leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

ended up rewatching the film adaptation of this story, and had realised i’d never read the book. honestly an incredible story of bravery and strength, and i can’t believe tami was my age when this all happened.

[HippieWitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a heart breaking story but inspirational to read. Can't wait to see the movie

[Mareth Collins-wooley · Rating 1 out of 5]

unbelievably boring for a survival story, and reads like it was written by a high school student from an underperforming school. Unreadable.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Sky in Mourning is often cited in the survival literature. Tami Oldham Ashcraft tells her own story of sailing from Tahiti to San Diego and capsizing in a hurricane. Her boyfriend is lost at sea and she awakes alone after being unconscious for 27 hours. She has the sailboat, a good amount of fresh water, canned food and other provisions, so more than many survivors. Her story is much more the story of the emotional survival for 44 days as she pilots her mastless, broken craft to Hawaii. She does an excellent job of detailing the emotional roller coaster of survival which rings very true to me. She was/is an excellent and experienced sailor and a strong person but still undergoes terrible doubts and fears.

[mona aghazade · Rating 4 out of 5]

این فیلمنامه که بر اساس داستان واقعیه پیشنهاد همکارم بود از انجا که من داستان های واقعی رو دوست دارم و گفت یه چیزی تو مایه های life by pie ترجیح دادم بخونم و بعد فیلمشو ببینم
وقتی نقد هاشو خوندم دقیقا دیدم نقد خوبی شده اینکه خیلی کلیشه ای بود اما وسطاش خوب بود و اگر 4 دادم به خاطر اونه
موضوع از این قرار بود که یه دختر با یه پسر دریانورد اشنا می شه و قراره باهم باشن و به منطقه ای سفر کنن ( البته خیلی کلی دارم می گم ) که کشتی با طوفان برخورد می کنه و واژگون می شه و پسره میمیره
دختره بعد از به هوش اومدن پسره رو پیدا می کنه و باهامن
تا اینجا ها مسخر بود
نکته اینجا بود اخرای فیلم می فهمیم دختره دچار توهم شده و اصلا پسره نبوده
41 روز رو آب تا به خشکی می رسه

[Kristy Drážovská · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5* Bolo to dobré. Tým, že je to skutočný príbeh napísaný ešte k tomu osobou, ktorá si to reálne prežila, sa kniha hodnotí ťažko. Je to skôr výpoveď, než nejaký román, takže treba sa na to dívať z viacerých hľadísk, no mne sa to páčilo. Jediné, čo mi dávalo zabrať boli námornícke termíny a podobne... Ja hlúpa som si slovník a vysvetlivky všimla, až na konci. Ale inak nemám, čo vytknúť. Úplne super bolo, že knižka obsahuje aj fotografie, čo mi viac dotvorilo celkový obraz a je to príbeh, ktorý vás ozaj dokáže nakopnúť a inšpirovať.

[MM Suarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Life is like sailing, love. It’s upwind and downwind.”

First I have to say that the author's survival story is nothing short of miraculous and indeed a great feat of valor and skill, definitely five ⭐'s. I can't say the same for the way the story is written, I did not like the writing at all, I found "the voice" thing irritating and her responses to the voice whiny and annoying, and to make it worse I started out listening to the Audible version, which was intolerable, the narrator was awful, and in some parts sounded like a bratty teenager. I quickly changed to the Kindle book. I also didn't care much for the romance parts inserted in the story, I don't think they added much value overall . Anyway, all that aside, if you like survival stories this is worth a read, just stay away from the Audible!

[Daramegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taková sonda do duše ženy, která se ocitla sama na místě, kde by se žádná samotná žena ocitnout nechtěla. Styl psaní autorky, i samotný životní příběh Tami se mi líbil, žádné drama, ale přitom to bylo zajímavé a barvitě popsané, takže jsem si dokázala vše představit. Více bude v nejbližší době na www.chrudimka.cz :)

[P.C. Parn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in a used book store and picked it up on a whim. It only took me an afternoon to read, and I greatly enjoyed it. Red Sky in Mourning is nineteen-year-old Tami Oldham's nonfiction account of her life as she sets off from home and begins to sail the Pacific Ocean, or at least part of it does.

Red Sky in Mourning can be divided into two tales. There is that of before the hurricane, and that of the aftermath of the hurricane. Oldham and her fiance were sailing a yacht across the Pacific Ocean when they were struck by a hurricane. In that storm her fiance was thrown from the boat, never to be seen again. Oldham was forced to navigate by sextant to Hawaii, quite a feat for anyone, especially an injured nineteen-year-old girl alone on a limping yacht.

Oldham, with the help of her co-author, Susea McGearhart, weave Oldham's and her fiance's, Richard, past into the current narrative of Oldham's struggle to survive and make it to Hawaii. Having read other survival stories, Oldham certainly ranks up there as not only a surviver, but one who took command of her situation relatively quickly, set a goal, and worked to executing it in an efficient and impressive manner . We can all learn something from Oldham's mental and physical fortitude.

I recommend this read.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully tragic tale of two free spirited young people who dreamt of sailing the world together. The story is told by Tami, who survived a devastating hurricane that claimed the life of her fiancé and left her alone at sea for more than forty days. It’s a testament to her will to survive and her decision to learn to navigate that makes this story so amazing.

Tami tells of her time travelling alone, and later with Richard, in wonderfully exotic places before they were commissioned to deliver a boat called Hazana to San Diego, a trip which they anticipated to take a month. After Richard is tragically swept overboard, Tami awakens to find herself alone and with limited food and water. How she navigated the ocean alone from then on is incredible. Few people in her situation would have survived.

I read this after catching the film adaption “Adrift” on Netflix, which I also recommend.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is such incredible story, but I think the movie was better. This book was poorly written and the amount of sailing jargon used made it really difficult for me (as a person who’s never been sailing) to understand what was happening. On a personal level, even though this is a memoir and I respect that this depicts the author’s real experiences, I found it hard to connect with her religious outlook.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an inspiring true story. I picked up the book after enjoying the movie. The perspective of the movie was different, but the story was told equally well in both.

[Nikita]

this story is depressing af, I am so sorry that this woman had to go through such a traumatic experience, what a blessing she didn't die.

I was a little bit SHOOK because this book did NOT have the twist that the movie adaptation has. as a novel, the lack of the twist made it a little less interesting BUT I went into it with the wrong expectations, this book is a MEMOIR and not a dramatized version of this woman's trauma... god bless this woman fr

[J.H. Moncrieff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good survival story. The author had to survive on the open sea for forty-one days after a freak hurricane cripples their boat and her fiancé is swept overboard. The author herself was gravely injured.

One of the things I loved about this book is Tami's independence. When she starts working on boats, she insists on learning how to navigate, even with a sextant, and this knowledge definitely played a big role in solving her life. She knew more and had more experience with boats than most of the men she sailed with. I could identify with her desire to live life on her own terms and not stay settled.

At times, I felt she was a bit immature or silly, but I was reminded with a shock near the end of the book of how young she really was when all this happened--she was still in her early twenties. The fact that she was so accomplished and competent, and was able to keep her wits and stay strong in that situation, is nothing short of remarkable.

I also loved that the book doesn't end with her rescue. We rarely get to see the epilogue of these stories--the press attention, the survivor's guilt, the scrutiny, the PTSD, etc. Tami takes us through it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and it was fascinating to read about how she was treated as a lone female survivor.

[John Branney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This lady went through a tragic ordeal that most of us will never experience. However, I believe the author 'missed the boat' when she wrote this, figuratively speaking of course. The author struggled to adequately describe the unbelievable trauma and psychological drama she experienced during those thirty some days she spent bobbing like a cork, hoping to be rescued. Although she wrote about almost committing suicide, I did not feel that before her suicide contemplation, she adequately described her loneliness, despair, and desperation.

I thought the author's approach of describing the traumatic event and then flashing back to a previous event with her boy friend was confusing. I found myself skimming over the sections about her boyfriend and her, just to find out what was happening on the boat.

I would have liked the book better if the author would have described her ordeal more thoroughly, not just about keeping the boat afloat, but how she dealt with the ordeal, both psychologically and emotionally.

The book is very short and can be read in less than a day, which is also unfortunate. Not many people have experienced what the author went through and I believe her ordeal deserved a more detailed description. Perhaps a ghost writer could have helped this author dig deeper into her mind and soul to better describe the loneliness and desparation of the untenable situation.

Is this woman, brave? Absolutely! Most of us would have fallen apart under similar situations. Would I read this book again, knowing what I know now? No, I would not. I believe the author emotionally cheated herself and the readers by not writing a deeper story that better described the horrific and traumatic ordeal she ultimately survived.

[Patty Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

We saw the movie, “Adrift”, and I wanted to read the book after finding out it was based on a true story. Her bravery and perseverance despite what happened and how long she was at sea was inspiring to read!

[Pocket Full of Pages · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such an inspirational story about endless love and measures beyond extreme. This beautiful story left us in tears. Review to come very shortly <3

[Stephanie A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not unlike Jungle, the movie was phenomenal, so I was excited to find out it was based on a memoir. Also like Jungle, the movie sticks pretty close to the text (despite the major change of including Richard after the storm -- because they didn't, really! I'm glad that was a fake-out, since I did not question his reality for one second and it was such a good sucker punch when he faded out and it highlighted that she really had done this all alone), so I definitely recommend going book first.

Even with a glossary and some terms explained along the way, most of the technical details went over my head since I've never been on a sailboat, but this young woman's accomplishments in keeping herself alive for 41 (!!) days on a wrecked-out yacht in the Pacific are nothing short of astounding. From rigging a replacement mast and sail when the main ones are snapped off, to navigating by sextant because nothing else was operable after the storm damage, I was amazed by how much she knew or figured out how to do to get herself safely to shore. With a head injury, no less!

One thing the movie doesn't convey is the way Tami described The Voice that kept her going, alternately giving her practical advice, comfort and reassurance, or "slapping her with logic" at every opportunity when she wanted to give up or seek immediate gratification at the possible expense of long-term survival. It gives the story more spiritual depth, though other than saying it sounded like different people at different times but "mostly sounded like me," and asking it once if it's God or a guardian angel ("something like that"), she never pins down a concrete belief for where it's from.

The writing itself is earnest and heartfelt, and pays loving tribute to her passionate if tragically shortened relationship. To quote Shailene Woodley, it's "as much a love story as it is a survival story," and that definitely comes through in the flashbacks set against lush tropical settings. The book also answers plenty of questions about what happened in the immediate aftermath and the next 15 years of her life, so a very satisfactory read all around.

[Mandy Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can imagine that all the details about the boat and the sailing, can mean a lot to people who sail. But she lost me in all those numbers. But nevertheless, it is a must-read. This book made me cry a couple of times. I really felt bad for her that the parents of Richard weren’t really open towards her and that the brother-in-law didn’t include her for Richard’s boat. But I guess you can’t really know from Tami’s perspective how his family mourned.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an unbelievable ordeal! As the days turned to weeks, early optimism turned to desperation and survival, but finally, I have finished this book. Coincidentally, the author had quite an ordeal too. If you are a fan of rolling your eyes at the over-dramatization of youthful romance and post-facto self pity, this book is for you.

To be fair, Tami is a survivor. No doubt about it. She endured 41 days by herself in the Pacific Ocean on an almost useless hull of a boat. Her days were filled only with pain, hunger, and loneliness. The latter admittedly necessitates a certain amount of self-involvement, but this book spent far more time on immortalizing a budding young romance and dialoguing the weaker part of the author’s mental state in the process. Kudos for the transparency I suppose, but honestly I would’ve loved to have heard about the strength and fortitude of an amazing woman who defied the odds through love and determination. Instead, it came across as a whiny young woman’s plea for attention, whether accurate or not.

I listened to the audiobook version, which in this case was read by the author, who’s voice is clear and attractive, not unlike Jenna Fischer’s. Sometimes an author’s reading works fantastically, but not so in this case. While I imagine hearing her tell the story at a cocktail party would be infinitely better, the audiobook version conveys almost no emotion. When you couple this with the the book’s emotionally-laden woe-ism, it makes for a proverbial sail through the doldrums. Actually, now that I think about it, if the author intended to put you into her state of mind as she endlessly slogged on in that boat, this may be the most brilliant writing I’ve ever experienced.

[Nanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast moving story about a young couple enjoying their sea adventures across the South Pacific making money along the way, that is, until the sea churns up its ugly head. It is stories like these that convince me sailing on a yacht across the vast oceans is not my cup of tea. Weather on land can be scary enough, experiencing it over the ocean makes it even scarier, especially knowing what type of animals live in the water, YIKES! The emotions Tami lived through this ordeal are incredible. I am not sure how many others could live through 41 days out on the open ocean in a boat that has been extensively damaged, with very little food and drinkable water on board. I cannot even imagine what that must have been like, let alone having read about it. I have tremendous respect and admiration for Tami. What she had to survive through in a boat that she was not even very familiar with, having both she and her fiancé deciding to transport the yacht, Hazana, from Tahiti to San Diego for a couple needing sailors to do it for them. I can already see there are differences between the movie and the book. I think this is one story worth the read. 4.5*