Much is being made of Richard Van Pham, the 62 year-old who was rescued after drifting around the Pacific for 3 1/2 months on his 24-foot disabled sailboat. And while it is a remarkable story of survival by Van Pham, the developing story surrounding it is laughable.

A movement is afoot to garner enough "donations" to buy this guy a new boat. Hell, there is even one guy who just wants to give him a boat outright.

What?

Van Pham is a Vietnam native who is a legal U.S. resident with a green card. He has been described by the San Diego Union-Tribune as being indigent. He left for Catalina Island from Long Beach with a poorly equipped boat that apparently didn't even have a working VHF radio. So because he is poor, an immigrant, and a bad sailor (although apparently an expert in barbequing seagulls), he should be given a new boat?

Go NAVY

Latitude 38 on-line reported that there is a cry to give him money, and we're not surprised. After all don't they treat their homeless better in 'Frisco than the people who actually work for a living? Here is a quote from one of the knuckleheads up there: "Van Pham is a hero to all of us who have ever sailed offshore in bad conditions and made it home. Is there a way that Latitude could assist by setting up a trust fund to buy this fellow a new boat?"

Hero? Trust fund? For taking some piece of shit out in the ocean and getting his ass in a sling? I've got compassion for my fellow man, but do we now bail out every dumb ass indigent who makes poor decisions? How about the bum who burns down his cardboard shanty with a crack pipe? Do we now call him a hero and set up a trust fund? Maybe give him a new house?

Here's what another moron quoted in the L.A.Times said, "He's someone who is really a role model." A role model? For who? Other aspiring indigents? Apparently identification cards that Pham carried show that he had bounced around downtown Los Angeles and MacArthur Park since 1998, living the life of a drifter. This is a role model?

We're calling bullshit on much of this story. He claims he went to sleep at night on the way over to Catalina and then when he woke up in the morning, he found the mast had fallen over? That's total crap. First, you don't go to sleep and wake up in the morning if you are sailing over to Catalina by yourself. And, don't you think if the rig came down in the middle of the night, it might wake your sorry ass up? That this guy is a sad case is undeniable, and I understand compassion, but this story stinks somehow. And the fish who are biting at it by giving him money and (gag) a boat make it even stinkier.

So how about this as a solution: Instead of giving this "hero role model" a new boat, how about we just ship his ass back to 'Nam, where he came from? I think he'd fit right in with the Yachting crowd over there. Somehow, I don't think he'd be thought of as such a "hero."

09/29/2002