Adventurer rescued after broken solar panels stranded him in Pacific for 45 days

An adventurer attempting to sail across the world in a 23-foot rowboat had to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after he ran out of power and became stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for 45 days. 

Aaron Carotta, a 45-year-old from Louisiana, began his multi-year, globe-sailing trip in February, setting sail in his 23-foot row boat from Panama. 

In mid-May, however, things started to go south: his solar panels powering his onboard battery broke. He managed to fix the problem temporarily and uploaded a final video to Facebook.

However, the battery eventually died. He was left with only his cellphone, a GPS tracker, and an emergency satellite beacon. 

Instead of launching the emergency beacon, Carotta kept navigating and drifting as he believed he was on track to hit French Polynesia a few weeks later and decided not to trigger an international rescue effort. 

The situation became even more dire when a massive wave flipped his rowboat, forcing him to take refuge in a life raft that was leaky amid shark-infested waters as he began to feel the effects of hypothermia. 

More than 80 days after he embarked on his journey, Carotta spotted a U.S. Coast Guard airplane. He immediately activated the emergency satellite beacon, which led to his rescue. 

“It was a sight for sore eyes,” he said in an interview the day after he was rescued. 

Carotta was located about 1,400 miles northeast of Tahiti. A day after his encounter with the Coast Guard plane, a merchant ship that had been alerted of his position hoisted him onto the ship. 

Carotta’s adventure began in 2008 after he was diagnosed with cancer and began trying to live a more meaningful life.

After beating cancer, he spent around six years traveling to several countries and doing charity work before he began embarking on ambitious water-based expeditions. One of his trips was a 5,000-mile solo canoe trip from Montana to Florida. 

“While I can’t quote scripture verses, offer a homily to a parish, or claim a perfect past,” Mr. Carotta wrote Tuesday on Facebook, from Honolulu, “I hope this story of a simple effort with human power demonstrates a true effort to a purposed life, one others can try themselves in their own life, with their own ocean and boat.”