Spooky Sailing Stories: Tahiti Ouija

by Jim Tolpin

A young Californian couple, back in the late 60s, set out to sail the South Pacific in a Tahiti Ketch. They did have some sailing experience but they felt they could also use some advice. Just for fun, really, they took along a Ouija Board as a “consultant.” (The board works by having the participants rest their hands on a movable indicator that slides along the board, briefly resting on letters of the alphabet and numbers...eventually creating a message).

To their surprise and delight, they found the board gave rather accurate advice about which sails to set for certain developing conditions; how much rode to let out for specific bottom conditions, and even how close to point the boat to the wind to most efficiently make a waypoint. They found themselves consulting the board more and more often and continued to find it surprisingly helpful.

About twenty days out, weather conditions changed and they sensed a storm was brewing as the seas started building, but were unsure of how far away and in which direction the disturbance was. Having gone out of range of weather reports they decided to ask the board which heading they should steer to avoid the storm. It gave them a numerical bearing and, having little other data to consult, they decided to take its advice. At first it seemed the conditions were moderating, but soon a huge storm front appeared on the horizon and was quickly approaching. They ran below to secure gear and batten the hatches and portholes. They were about to pick up the Ouija board to stow it when they realized they had one more question for the board: “Are you trying to kill us?” As they laid their hands on the indicator it immediately spelled out “YES.” At that they immediately threw it overboard!