Posted on 06/10/2010 10:19:33 AM PDT by ml/nj
A rescue effort has been launched in hope of finding Abby Sunderland, 16, who set off her emergency beacon locating devices from the southern Indian Ocean early this morning.
Sunderland, who had been attempting to sail around the world alone, endured multiple knockdowns in 60-knot winds yesterday (Thursday local time) before conditions briefly abated.
However, her parents lost satellite phone contact early this morning and an hour later were notified by the Coast Guard at French-controlled Reunion Islands that both of Sunderland's EPIRB satellite devices had been activated.
One apparently is attached to a survival suit and meant to be used when a person is in the water or a life raft.
Abby's father struggled with emotions and said he didn't know if his daughter was in a life raft or aboard the boat, or whether the boat was upside down.
"Everything seemed to be under control," Laurence Sunderland said. "But then our call dropped and a hour later the Coast Guard called."
Abby is hundreds of miles from land. The rescue effort is being coordinated by the Reunion Islands and Australia. Sunderland had been sailing in 50- to 60-foot seas and it was dark when the EPIRB devices were activated.
The Sunderlands are asking people to pray for their daughter, a high-school junior from Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Abby was for several months one of two 16-year-olds attempting to sail around the world alone. Australia's Jessica Watson completed her journey last month, just days before turning 17.
Abby's brother Zac, who graduated from high school, completed a solo-circumnavigation last summer at 17.
The timing of Abby's trip was criticized by some because it was placing her in the middle of the Indian Ocean when the stormy Southern Hemisphere winter was at hand.
ML/NJ
parental neglect
The EPIRB will give a pretty good indication of her situation. They can tell by its GPS track if the boat is sailing, drifting, etc. Or if she’s in a raft or treading water. (Hopefully not.)
God please keep this young lady safe. Amen
I guess that could be a problem.
Starting out on a dogsled trip to the North Pole in October isn't exactly a good career move, either.
Not in my books. Prayers up.
Prayers.
Remember Jessica Dubroff?
Heavenly Father: we pray to you for those on the perilous ocean that you will embrace them with your mighty protection and grant them success in all their rightful undertakings. Grant them in all hours of need to see that they have a God who remembers them, and grant them grace in the hour of danger to commit their souls into your hands. O Lord Jesus Christ, who can rebuke the storm and bring it to silence, and lay the roaring waves to rest, show them who call to you out of the deep that you hear their prayer and will save them. And finally bring us all to the only safe port. Amen.
Prayers for her safety.
I do but that was in a airplane what could go wrong on a sail boat
Prayers for Abby
Funny remark from someone whose tag line is “Political Correctness Kills”.
ROFL. Was that a joke?
I wouldn't attempt that in anything less than a destroyer....
I too have been following her daily progress on her blog. Her last entry mentioned foul weather, but nothing like what this article mentions.
Prayers up for sure!
Yes
“Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous but like the sea, is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.”
I wonder if the parents or the “teen sailor” ever considered pirates.
Prayers for Abby.
Thank goodness. I couldn’t imagine a Freeper posting a serious comment like that. LOL.
Absolutely nothing.
Ignoring the dangers of bad weather and bad people is not a survival trait.
Remember that true adventures carry the very real risk of dying.
When she is hopefully rescued,I would bill her parents for every cent of the rescue costs.
I admire her courage, however adrenaline junkies are always doing crazy things like trying to sail around the world solo. When they get into trouble, some poor SOB from a rescue agency has to rappel headfirst down to a rolling deck in pitch darkness to save them.
How about we limit rescues to people who got in trouble through no fault of their own?
I Don’t think she is going though the Caribbean
On the nose.
rappel headfirst
I don’t think so !!!
Jessica Dubroff, part II.
I hope she’s fine but you’re right. This is a case of the parents blowing it.
Rescue but bill for services.
Oh, please. Being a responsible parent is not the same as being “politically correct”.
Amen.
Yep. You said it well. What was the big rush? For fame, a book? Chuckleheads for parents. She could have done it when she was 18, as an adult.
Any kind of criminal. You don't think there are child molesters on boats?
Yes
If she were my daughter:
“Sorry, honey. I know that you are an excellent sailor. But you are not cirlcing the globe by yourself on my watch.
“Perhaps we can arrange a group to go with you. When you are 18, you are free and clear to do as you wish”.
I agree.
You brought up something that I think is worth highlighting. It costs a lot of money to rescue these daredevil people and I think they should have to pay for it.
How so? What does one have to do with the other?
Absolutely
I’ve done it plenty of times when I was flying for the USAF Air Rescue service. Our UH-1N’s didn’t all have winches. It gives you better 360 visibility in low light conditions and unencumbered use of your dominant arm.
True. Profoundly irresponsible parents. Prayers are up for sure as God is sovereign.
Yes. They have. Her route was chosen to mostly avoid routes with a lot of shipping. Her brother did go through areas where there was a greater fear of piracy. There were times when he would not report his position for days because of this fear. He was armed. I assume she is too.
ML/NJ
>>> Rescue but bill for services.
Amen - including every idiot that ventures out into an Iowa winter storm and gets their stupid arse stuck in a snowdrift...they need to get more than the tow bill.
Great idea.nobody is entitled to climb MT.Everest or sail around the world with the guarantee of a taxpayer-funded rescue.
I wonder what the annual budget for MT.Hood rescues is?
Wrong. Just because most of the 16 year-old young people that you know are not mature enough to handle this doesn’t mean that they all are. You have no idea of her maturity. I know many 16 and 17 year old young people that I would gladly trust with my life. Not all of us are raising children. A lot of us are raising young adults.
BS
She is young, but an experienced sailor in her own right. Whatever trouble she finds herself in at the moment is not dependent on her age.
Jessica Watson from Australia just finished her solo circumnavigation days before turning 17.
Who am I to step on someone's dream? A ship in a harbor is safe; but that is not what ships are for.
This is why so many playgrounds don't even have swings anymore! Someone might get hurt! Pathetic.
Godspeed, Abby.
Was it you who kept us abreast of Zac’s progress? It’s been a while, I hope I got that right, and I hope I spelled your screen name correctly. :)
ML/NJ
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