Is 'Adrift' based on true story? Here are scary details about upcoming film

The 2018 American romantic-thriller film Adrift had left many fans in awe of its incredible story. Helmed by Baltasar Kormákur, the film starred Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin in the lead role. The actors’ portrayed the couple Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp, a couple who are adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean after a massive hurricane hits, while they are on their way to Hawaii. The couple is stuck in the ocean amidst the ferocious hurricane with a damaged boat and no radio. Read on to find out, “Is Adrift based on a true story?”

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Is Adrift based on a True Story?

Adrift (2018) is indeed based on a true story. The film is an adaptation of the 1998 book Adrift: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea written by Tami Oldham Ashcraft herself. In September 1983, the future looked bright and beaming for Tami Oldham Ashcraft, a 23-year-old American girl. She and her fiancé, Richard Sharp, had been sailing for the past six months.

Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp had decided to take a break from sailing in Sharp’s 36-foot sailboat. The couple decided to take up the job delivering a 44-foot yacht from Tahiti to San Diego. At first, this looked like a pretty good business deal, but it soon turned into the most fatal experience of their lives. 

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What had happened in Adrift?

Within the first three weeks of their sail, the couple was ambushed by the weather. A late-season storm had arrived which turned their lives upside down. Richard did his best to keep the yacht from sinking. But they were soon confronted by 40-foot waves and 140-knot winds, it was clear that they had come face to face with Hurricane Raymond, a category 4 hurricane which was one of the largest in the Pacific Ocean. As the couple desperately fought for their lives the hurricane showed no signs of abating. 

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When Hurricane Raymond hit, Sharp insisted Ashcraft get down below deck as he secured himself with the safety harness. But the boat capsized, throwing Ashcraft against the cabin wall. The sailor woke up 27 hours later, only to find that her husband-to-be had gone missing. The 23-year-old Tami was left alone after one of the worst hurricanes in history.

In her book, Ashcraft revealed that the winds were too strong and had yanked her fiance off of the boat. Left alone and scared, Ashcraft went through the greatest loss of her life in the midst of an apocalyptic storm. As she was grabbing on to her own life, she did not even have the time to mourn her lost love. In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Tami Oldham Ashcraft revealed that the hardest part of it all was losing Richard.

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How did Tami survive?

Ashcraft had woken up to an entirely broken, smashed and scattered yacht, the cabin was half-full of water. The masts were broken and the sails were completely waterlogged, floating around uselessly. Ashcraft also discovered that the navigation system, and the emergency position-indicating radio device, were also broken. Hence, leaving her with no means of contacting the shores of Hawaii. Alone, scared and terribly injured Tami had to find a way to get to Hawaii. However, what happened in the next 41 days is a true testament to the human spirit of survival.

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The Next 41 days in Adrift True story

Tami used a makeshift sail from a broken pole and made a pump to keep the cabin from flooding. She was only left with a sextant, which is a navigational instrument. She also had a watch to help her navigate the 1,500 miles to Hilo, Hawaii. But, she was suffering from hunger, a head injury and a severely damaged boat. As per the book, Tami has kept the triangular-shaped sextant to this day and wears it around her neck. It is encrusted with a diamond, as a pendant. She claims that the sextant saved her life. 

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In her interview with the Chicago Tribune, Tami explained how she had survived on peanut butter and canned food which ranged from fruit cocktail to sardines for the next 41 days. Tami claimed that there was no time to grieve, she had to find a way to survive. She reached the point of a mental breakdown, but her body could endure far more than the mind. 

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In the midst of the storm, Tami remained catatonic for two days, as she mourned her fiance and was weakened by her own blood loss. Being along on the boat became solitary confinement and she revealed that her inner voice had kept her on track. But, she did reach the point of a mental break down.

Tami stated that she took a rifle that was on board, loaded it and put it in her mouth. But, something inside of her stopped her from doing so. A few days later, a 300-foot Japanese research ship saw her boat near the entrance of the harbour. 41 days from when the hurricane had struck, she was finally pulled into the Big Island’s Hilo Harbour.