Castaways recall harrowing voyage
May 18, 2005, 7:58 PM EDT
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale about a fearless crew stranded on a deserted island, contemplating the culinary merits of seabirds and casting distress signals as one of them swam away for help -- only to get stuck on another isle.
"I think about it now, it was like Robison Crusoe in New York City, but at the time, I was enjoying it," Alexey Zharov, 17, the swimmer, said Wednesday, after the three were rescued from the tiny islands near Floyd Bennett Field.
Their first mistake may have been setting sail on a tiny ship without a working radio.
Or maybe it was igniting their emergency flares for kicks.
But that was Monday night, well before the tale of the fateful, day-long trip of three boaters concluded with police helicopters swarming overhead in Jamaica Bay.
None of the castaways was seriously injured. Nor were they taking the incident seriously, for that matter.
It all started Monday at 7 p.m., when the sailboat's owner and captain, Roman Gadzhilov, 25, of Midwood, set out from the Kings Plaza Marina with two first-time sailors: Alex Glubochansky, 32, of Washington Heights, and Zharov, also of Midwood.
They lugged aboard a pair of 2-gallon gas tanks -- enough for four hours -- Glubochansky's saxophone, Zharov's guitar, a bottle of Meyers rum and enough food to last a three-hour-plus "pleasure ride."
At sunset, they made trips from the northern tip of the airstip to the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and back. "We were playing music, were were having a little alcohol, were were going to sea. It's always fun," said Glubochansky, a musician.
In a moment of celebration, Zharov, a home-schooled student, shot the five flares they had on board into the water. "Don't shoot them up, because somebody might think that we're in danger," Zharov recalled one of his buddies telling him at the time.
At about 10:30 p.m., they headed home, aiming the 25-foot Defoe sailboat toward a cluster of uninhabited islands just east of Floyd Bennett Field, where they planned to make a right turn back to the marina.
That's when a perfect storm began to brew.
"We ran out of gas, and at the same time, the wind started blowing us," recalled Gadzhilov, who now sports a black patch he must wear for a small eye injury he received after the winds sent a pole his way.
Those winds carried them farther north. Around midnight, they found themselves somewhere among the islands in the basin. They decided to sleep.
Morning came, and with it a disturbing discovery: The boat had drifted too close to one of the islands and was now stuck in shallow water.
There was a radio on board, but it was not configured. Their soaked cell phones were inoperable. With no drinking water, they finished off a can of tuna fish and a can of potatoes and beef, and they began to pray.
Encouraged by the sight of distant buildings, Zharov decided to swim a mile to the next body of land. He found out it was also an island, and he ended up there alone all day.
"I'm going to eat you guys if I don't get out of here," he remembers telling a pair of birds.
Just as their relatives were getting ready to file missing persons reports, police officers doing a training run in a helicopter spotted them; Gadzhilov had been using a small mirror to make reflections from the sun.
They soon found Zharov on his own island, and all three hunry voyagers were taken to Kings County Hospital and treated for dehydration.
Gadzhilov said he was more rattled over not being able to pay the $3,000 towing fee for his boat than about the misadventure.
"It's not the end of my life," he said. "I'm planning to get a bigger boat."
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Photos:
Alexey Zharov (Newsday photo/Robert Mecea)
May 18, 2005
Roman Gadzhilov Partinazov (Newsday photo/Robert Mecea)
May 18, 2005
Sasha Glubochansky (Newsday Photo/Robert Mecea)
seabirds and casting distress signals as one of them swam away for help -- only to get stuck on another isle.
"I think about it now, it was like Robison Crusoe in New York City, but at the time, I was enjoying it," Alexey Zharov, 17, the swimmer, said Wednesday, after the three were rescued from the tiny islands near Floyd Bennett Field.
Their first mistake may have been setting sail on a tiny ship without a working radio.
Or maybe it was igniting their emergency flares for kicks.
But that was Monday night, well before the tale of the fateful, day-long trip of three boaters concluded with police helicopters swarming overhead in Jamaica Bay.
None of the castaways was seriously injured. Nor were they taking the incident seriously, for that matter.
It all started Monday at 7 p.m., when the sailboat's owner and captain, Roman Gadzhilov, 25, of Midwood, set out from the Kings Plaza Marina with two first-time sailors: Alex Glubochansky, 32, of Washington Heights, and Zharov, also of Midwood.
They lugged aboard a pair of 2-gallon gas tanks -- enough for four hours -- Glubochansky's saxophone, Zharov's guitar, a bottle of Meyers rum and enough food to last a three-hour-plus "pleasure ride."
At sunset, they made trips from the northern tip of the airstip to the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and back. "We were playing music, were were having a little alcohol, were were going to sea. It's always fun," said Glubochansky, a musician.
In a moment of celebration, Zharov, a home-schooled student, shot the five flares they had on board into the water. "Don't shoot them up, because somebody might think that we're in danger," Zharov recalled one of his buddies telling him at the time.
At about 10:30 p.m., they headed home, aiming the 25-foot Defoe sailboat toward a cluster of uninhabited islands just east of Floyd Bennett Field, where they planned to make a right turn back to the marina.
That's when a perfect storm began to brew.
"We ran out of gas, and at the same time, the wind started blowing us," recalled Gadzhilov, who now sports a black patch he must wear for a small eye injury he received after the winds sent a pole his way.
Those winds carried them farther north. Around midnight, they found themselves somewhere among the islands in the basin. They decided to sleep.
Morning came, and with it a disturbing discovery: The boat had drifted too close to one of the islands and was now stuck in shallow water.
There was a radio on board, but it was not configured. Their soaked cell phones were inoperable. With no drinking water, they finished off a can of tuna fish and a can of potatoes and beef, and they began to pray.
Encouraged by the sight of distant buildings, Zharov decided to swim a mile to the next body of land. He found out it was also an island, and he ended up there alone all day.
"I'm going to eat you guys if I don't get out of here," he remembers telling a pair of birds.
Just as their relatives were getting ready to file missing persons reports, police officers doing a training run in a helicopter spotted them; Gadzhilov had been using a small mirror to make reflections from the sun.
They soon found Zharov on his own island, and all three hunry voyagers were taken to Kings County Hospital and treated for dehydration.
Gadzhilov said he was more rattled over not being able to pay the $3,000 towing fee for his boat than about the misadventure.
"It's not the end of my life," he said. "I'm planning to get a bigger boat."
---
Photos:
Alexey Zharov (Newsday photo/Robert Mecea)
May 18, 2005
Roman Gadzhilov Partinazov (Newsday photo/Robert Mecea)
May 18, 2005
Sasha Glubochansky (Newsday Photo/Robert Mecea)
