Posted on 06/10/2010 12:08:52 PM PDT by Dallas59
Sunderland, who had been attempting to sail around the world alone, endured multiple knockdowns in 60-knot winds Thursday before conditions briefly abated.
However, her parents lost satellite phone contact early this morning and an hour later were notified by the Australian Coast Guard that both of Sunderland's EPIRB satellite devices had been activated.
One is apparently is attached to a survival suit or a life raft and meant to be used when a person is in the water or aboard 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 nearest ship was about 400 miles away. The rescue effort is being coordinated by the French-controlled Reunion Islands and Australia. Sunderland had been sailing in 50- to 60-foot seas and it was dark when the EPIRB devices were activated.
(Excerpt) Read more at grindtv.com ...
i thought that one was barred from going? not sure mind you but i thought that is what made the headlines
What happened to the 13 year old that wanted to do that, or is this her?
Her brother did it when he was 17.
And an Aussie girl just completed her journey at 16 a few months ago.
Abby would have been the youngest by a few months. But she would not have been the only teenager to do this.
Godspeed, kiddo.
You have Abby mixed up with Jessica Watson, the 16 year old Australian girl who successfully completed her solo around the world trip by sailing into Sydney Harbor in May.
Abby was on her way to Australia from South Africa this past week.
The Indian Ocean and anywhere near the tip of Africa are dangerous. They are all dangerous. I do not care how good a sailor she is. Man, woman, child - whatever. One mistake and the ocean will kill you and even no mistakes and it will get you.
“Abby was on her way to Australia from South Africa this past week.”
Not a good place. Very dangerous.
Navy Hymn
Mums and daddums should be dragged from their home and horse-whipped.
The sponsors of this debacle:
http://www.shoecity.com
http://www.ssaquafriends.com
http://www.kptmovies.com
http://www.ukhalsey.com/
http://www.mountainhouse.com/
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http://www.oakley.com/
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http://www.organicfoodbar.com/
http://www.patagonia.com/
http://www.navitasnaturals.com/
http://www.twomomsintheraw.com/
http://www.sproutliving.com/
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http://www.essentiallivingfoods.com/
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Where can we find current Search and Rescue (SAR) about her? Any one know where the Rescue Coordination Center is working this case?
Sadly, if she is lost, they can still do that.
Oh, what if this was planned?
Update:
California teen girl in trouble on solo world sail
By JOHN ANTCZAK (AP) 51 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES A 16-year-old Southern California girl attempting a solo sail around the world was feared in trouble Thursday in the frigid, heaving southern Indian Ocean after her emergency beacons began signaling and communication was lost.
Abby Sunderland’s family was talking with U.S. and international governments about organizing a search of the remote ocean between southern Africa and Australia, family spokesman Christian Pinkston said.
Conditions can quickly become perilous for any sailor exposed to the elements in that part of the world.
“We’ve got to get a plane out there quick,” said Pinkston, who was in close contact with Sunderland’s family in Thousand Oaks.
“They are exhausting every resource to try to mobilize an air rescue including discussions with the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and various international rescue organizations,” he said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iNcCJg-kSyZBjLhEB3fRtcYzaQOgD9G8JCQO0
Yep.
It seems to me there was a boy who did it when he was a teenager back when I was also a teen, about 35 years ago. His story was in National Geographic. Or do I have false memory syndrome?
Could not imagine circumnavigating the globe alone. When I fly over it, it looks enormous.....would never want to be alone in a boat in the middle of it.
Robin Lee Graham in 1965, at the age of 16, left on a five year round the world trip on the Dove.
Adventure = Bad things happening to someone else 1000 miles away.
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