The Uncharted Current That Took a 42-Foot Boat and Brother

The Uncharted Current That Took a 42-Foot Boat and Brother A bone-dry life ring on a sandbar pointed search teams fourteen miles away from where it should have been - and a Coast Guard coordinator found a calculation on a paper chart that "should not have been possible." This episode centers on an invisible, seasonal tidal lateral current that appears four to six times each December and had never been mapped or named - how did it pull a forty-two-foot motorsailer off course and leave one passenger missing? In this episode, we tell what happened on the night of December 17, 2011, describe who was aboard the Candela Marie, and follow the photograph and chart calculation that changed the search. How did an uncharted underwater current and a failed VHF antenna combine to turn a routine twelve-mile crossing into a disappearance? Person: Lori Sullivan Person: Derek Pollard Person: Person: Nathan Pollard Date: December 17, 2011 Vessel: Candela Marie (42-foot motorsailer) - Departure logged at 4:47 PM from Port Serrano for a routine twelve-mile crossing expected by 6:30 PM. - Life ring from the Candela Marie was found dry on a sandbar thirty-six hours after the vessel vanished. - Lori Sullivan had completed more than forty trips on the exact route and kept a laminated tide table on the binnacle. - The seasonal tidal lateral current occurs four to six times each December and was documented by a University of Miami survey two years after the incident. - The primary VHF radio antenna had been reported loose twice previously and was not repaired before the crossing. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].