Tiny-Ass-Boat. Which got H&G (Hell and gone) away from the unstable island… or atoll… whatever. And Thanks Cal, for that dose of the Obvious…
Now what are the chances that Ol’ Cal will make a circuit of the island to check for survivors? He already saw his retirement plan get wiped out… With Mark and Abbey (hopefully, or not…) bobbing in the sea, they will last only so long without a little help…
The Daily Trail 
It seems that Abbey’s boat is only 12′-15′ in length, and it might even by a flat-bottomed skiff (a notoriously unsteady design). No way such an unseaworthy craft headed out over miles of open ocean unless the operator was a fool, an idiot, or a brilliant sailor. And the odds against Abbey being one of the latter approaches zero when you examine the complete lack of basic safety, navigational and operational equipment on board..
Who in hell is crazy enough to take to sea in such a craft with no life vests, no radio, no emergency beacon, no rope, no sea anchor, no fuel, no paddle, no bailer, no lights, and no food or water? My Coastie brother would cringe, knowing it is nearly inevitable that peril and perhaps death awaits those who put themselves in such a situations. But wait, that’s apparently the raison d’etre for Mark and most other characters in the Trailverse.
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Richard Bryant makes great points about the seaworthiness of Abbey’s vessel, so let’s briefly examine its range.
Since there is no fuel tank visible, we can assume Abbey left with one five gallon tanks that would fit under the rear seat. Then let’s assume it’s a new, efficient 15 hp four cycle motor depicted that would burn 1 gallon per hour, propelling the vessel at 23 mph. A prudent margin of safety would require the outbound trip to only use 1/3rd of the fuel, so she would gone no more than 38 miles from her starting point. So Cal has about 90 minutes of extra fuel to futilely search for two dark heads bobbing in the 1 foot swells before he needs to head for home.
Of course this unexplored island less than 40 miles from civilization is exploding, so television choppers and vulcanologists should be on scene soon.
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Excellent points, guys! Where’s the tsunami, I wonder?
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Omigosh! How could Dennis miss the 12-13/16 installment? The action is burning up!
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Sorry campers! On the road a couple nights. I will look into it this evening!
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