Posted on 06/11/2010 8:18:57 AM PDT by Patriot1259
Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old attempting to sail around the world, was feared missing at sea yesterday, but has now been found alive and well.
Sunderland had sent out numerous distress signals after her yacht, “Wild Eyes”, was pounded by huge waves in the Indian Ocean some 2,000 miles off the south African coast enroute to Australia.
Word of Abby’s rescue was first posted on her blog by her parents:
We have just heard from the Australian Search and Rescue. The plane arrived on the scene moments ago. Wild Eyes is upright but her rigging is down. The weather conditions are abating. Radio communication was made and Abby reports that she is fine!...
(Excerpt) Read more at thecypresstimes.com ...
But I still think both she and her parents are nuts.
Thankfully she is safe. We should all aspire to have such skills as the understanding of the sea. She’s a true seaman and the best of the best.
Good news. Now, go home, grow up, head out again when you’re 18.
This girl has a lot of guts. Maybe she should run for something. LOL
I know that if you get lost in the mountains now, you have to pay for search and rescue.
What’s this gonna cost her family?
She's not a regular 16 year old. Her seamanship skills are top notch and she is the best of the best.
Great news.
The seas are full of the bones of very capable sailors..sometimes it’s just the end.
Clever alliteration of the day ping!
>>But I still think both she and her parents are nuts.<<
And, based on how people have to pay for their own search and rescue these days, maybe broke as well.
Yeah, at 18 those 50 foot seas will be less mean! Abby is the best of the best in seamanship skills.
>>She’s not a regular 16 year old. Her seamanship skills are top notch and she is the best of the best.<<
For a 16 year old, you mean.
The Aussies are doing it at no charge. They only ask that if one of their sailors go down that we would offer help in return. Seems fair to me.
At 18 she would be an adult. In the meantime, her parents have a responsibility. That responsibility includes making good decisions that a minor may not be mature enough to make.
If 16 is the age this time, then next time it is 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10...
She sails solo swells by the seas shores
No. I meant what I said as I wrote it. She top notch on any level. Sheeze... she kept her boat afloat in 50 foot seas as it was trying to capsize. She's top notch on any age level.
My old manager took his 60’ sailboat to the pacific back around 1996 and he and his wife have been living that dream ever since. One of their friends lost his wife during a rescue operation from their sailboat in the pacific when she fell between the boat and the freighter that was rescuing them (very bad storm, and their mast snapped off).
She simply fell in and didn’t come back up.
Hard to say. I wasn’t there.
Just a bump on the road..she’ll be back. Learn from experience and get back up there.
My concern is her vulnerability to pirates and other vermin. She would’ve been a prize catch for them. Thank God she’s safe.
So, if one of our reckless millionaire brats needs rescuing, the Australian government foots the bill. So then (tit for tat), if one of their millionaire brats needs rescuing, the American people has to pay up.
Yeah, that seems fair to me /sarcasm.
Regards,
They plotted her course to avoid the piratee areas.
Imaginary line? Really... Ok, where is the real line?
Abby doesn't seem like a brat to me. One of the few skilled 16 year olds I have ever read about. And if you have a problem with the Aussies not charging her, then guess what, take it up with the Aussies. Screaming at me won't do squat! lol!
Skill level and maturity.
They asked Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. He answered: “Because that’s where the money is”. Ditto this chick, her parents, and the pimping mom of the girl that some film director allegedly raped once, among all others. Cultural heroes all of them, with lame excuses such world records in some meaningless pursuit! I’ll go with Willie Sutton.
Yep, pretty much like her 17-yr-old brother, who has also sailed 'round the world.
Sound to me like it's more a matter of luckmanship that she's alive.
Her parents really should have sent a man along ~ an experienced man ~ to do the heavy hauling, pulling and other stuff. Leave the girl to prepare meals and make up the beds or something.
ping
Both of which are subjective. In most countries you aren’t even allowed to drive a car at 16, let alone circumnavigate the globe.
Rescue operations at sea, for reckless behavior like this, jeapordizes the lives of Coast Guard, etc.
You had better have your heavy flame suit on after typing that line!
Rarely are experienced hikers injured or lost and if they are they usually handle the situation like a pro. It’s the week-end hiker, hunter, boater, etc. with little experience or muscle to handle the mistakes they often make.
Could this whole “lost” thing be a PR stunt?
I hate to be cynical, but I recall the balloon-boy stunt got national headlines.
“A man who’d go to sea for pleasure, would go to hell for a picnic”
Really relieved she is well.
I was just thinking, there is no way I would allow a child of mine to take that big a risk.
It’s really not all THAT hard. Some things take more guts than skill. Not that they are not skilled, but skill is only a part of the equation.
Luck is a major part as well.
So is experience, and a 16 year old, no matter what percentage of their life was spent in training or on the boat, simply does not have the depth of experience to be called “the best of the best” at that age.
Now, she may be destined to be the best of the best. We’ll see if her luck holds out. ;)
“No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.” - Samuel Johnson
I may question the judgment of ANYONE who takes on such a voyage solo, but reports indicate she's as competent a sailor as anyone else. Furthermore, what makes you so certain a man would be able to lift & remount a mast & sails in rough waters?
This young lady should be an inspiration to all members of the human race. Her exceptional courage and determinaton will forever be admired.
She still doesn’t have the upper body strength necessary to pull her broken mast back on board (to say nothing of remounting it), or even to pull her sails into the boat.
Her parents really should have sent a man along ~ an experienced man ~ to do the heavy hauling, pulling and other stuff. Leave the girl to prepare meals and make up the beds or something.
HA HA HA HA HA....well played stout yeoman!
Really big guy ~ very strong ~ very experienced in the use of winches.
We have a 40 ft Yorktown and I can gurantee you that if we lost our mast noone could get it back up.....period, let alone remount it.
That statement came from someone who knows absolutely nothing about sailboats.
Not at all! She was taking advantage of the strong westerlies and the SW winds of the northern Indian Ocean while avoiding the NE winds from Nov - April and the cyclone season. From May - Nov is exactly when to make that passage.
I don’t see anything wrong with her age or parents. Sixteen year olds can do plenty and are often called upon to do things we wouldn’t want adults doing such as fighting wars. My wife and I wouldn’t want such for our daughter but that’s us.
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