Son finds his estranged father after incredible maritime rescue off Hawaii

For close to ten years, Zakary Ingraham had been searching for his estranged father, to no avail. But what Ingraham didn't know when his phone rang on December 1st was that the US Coast Guard had also been searching for him -- although just recently --  and that he was presumed dead, lost at sea.

"I can't believe this," he recalled, speaking with As it Happens host Carol Off. "This is the first time that I'm hearing about my Dad."

Ingraham had grown apart from his father as child, after his parents separated. Now a grown man in Missouri, with an eight-year-old son of his own, Ingraham had struggled to find a number or email address for his father, Ron, who was living on a sailboat in Hawaii.

Then came the call from the Coast Guard: It had received a distress call from his father off the coast of Hawaii on American Thanksgiving, November 27th. But the signal soon went dead. After searching for five days in rough seas, the Coast Guard told Ingraham they were calling off the search because his father and his boat were most likely at the bottom of the ocean.    

"Can you extend the search?," Ingraham begged the Coast Guard. "I really don't think he's gone." Ingraham explained that his father had been sailing and fishing off Hawaii since before he was born, and that he knew the waters like the back of his hand. "This is not an ordinary guy you're looking for." 

It turns out, he was right. The Coast Guard did call off the search. But after surviving adrift at sea for 12 days, Ron Ingraham -- and his boat -- were spotted by a US Navy vessel last Tuesday. The 67-year-old was dehydrated and weak, but still very much alive. 

The next day, Zakary and Ron Ingraham spoke over the phone for the first time in years. "We didn't miss a beat, man," says the younger Ingraham. "What's up son? Hell of a week." 

Ingraham says he's planning to fly to Hawaii as soon as he has enough money. In the meantime, he's raising money to help his father repair his boat, which was damaged by a rogue wave.

"Man, I don't know. He's just a really tough dude. I don't understand it. Twelve days is a really long time."