Abby in the Indian Ocean.
Posted on 06/10/2010 4:35:46 PM PDT by jimbo123
The engineer behind Abby Sunderland's solo trip around the world says he believes the 16-year-old Thousand Oaks sailor is "alive" and "most likely floating" in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Speaking to a throng of reporters outside the family's home, Jeff Casher said he spoke to her at 3:45 a.m. Thursday, then lost contact after she went to check on some equipment on her boat. About an hour later, she apparently activated her emergency beacons – devices that sent automatic alerts to the Coast Guard and her family.
Casher said the family is looking at three possible scenarios. Either the boat's mast came down, giving her no ability to sail the vessel; the keel hit something and possibly flipped the boat upside down; or she may have broken an arm or leg while being whipsawed about in violent waters.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
Australia has sent a Qantas Airbus to search for her. The plane is probably over the area right now.
I didn't have the mental horsepower to keep up with them, though. But they didn't know much about Gaelic literature, either.
This isn't greatness. This is indulging a kid in a fantasy that could kill them. She is now alone in the middle of an ocean. Where's the greateness? A kid WANTED and they said "OK".
Not likely. Shark hazard is higher in warmer water. Shark hazard is extremely low when the survival exposure time is less than two hours.
She has a dry suit, survival suit, liferaft, and beacons, etc., to mitigate some of that.
After several months at sea alone, this young lady undoubtedly knows more about God and faith than 99.999% of all the religious nuts on dry land.
Isn’t the Indian Ocean the location that all those pirates troll? There are so many dangers for a young person to find themselves in. I will pray for her. I hope I am wrong about the pirate situation as well.
Update:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/teen-solo-sailor-feared-lost/story-e6frf7lf-1225878265069
Abby Sunderland’s father fears the worst as search commences for missing teen solo sailor on the Indian Ocean
On another thread, I read that her water-activated emergency beacon had not activated, just the manually operated ones. If true, she’s still on her craft, and on the surface.
“Striving for greatness is so dangerous! Plus, it gives all the mediocre kids bad self-esteem. “
What about the self-esteem of the kids that strive for greatness but end up dead because they tried to solo sail across the Indian ocean during winter?
It’s Winter and stormy down there. The pirates wait until the Spring in that area.
She is waiting with baited breath for rescuers.
Ah yes...the Natalie Wood Quandry....Did she shower onboard ship or wash up on shore...
Her family has said that they believe the boat may have turned turtle, judging by the drift of the beacon and the fact that the water-activated beacon has not gone off. It is hoped Abby is safe in the hull of the boat.
http://www.mysailing.com.au/news/abby-sunderland-activates-beacon-in-indian-ocean
Not the same trip. Zac did it from SE Asia on broad reach with the SE Trades. Juan Sebastián Elcano did that route in the early 16th Century.
Abby was riding the southern Westerlies with the wind astern - much riskier, Western shipping didn't try that until the late 18th Century.
“I didn’t have the mental horsepower to keep up with them, though. But they didn’t know much about Gaelic literature, either.”
Worry not, I’m just funnin’, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make a Seinfeld reference.
There is generally not much overlap between engineers and Gaelic literature.
Well, they don't really have to worry about self-esteem, do they?
I see my opinion is in the minority here. That's a shame. We were once a nation that encouraged challenges, no matter how difficult, and celebrated acheivement. We are this nation no longer.
I dearly hope Abby is found alive but if she perished, in was in effort to rise above the mediocrity and safety this pussified nation now values.
But there’s a difference between those who work to develop something for others and those who just want fame, like the father of the “Balloon Boy” and all the nobodies who create MySpace pages and do a score of other things on the Internet just for fame and that have no redeeming value.
It is this latter type that I am referring to.
I don't have a problem pursuing a dream...but age is definitely a factor here.
Kind of reminds me of that 7-year-old back in the mid-90s that hopped aboard a single-engine airplane with her dad to become the youngest-ever pilot to fly solo coast-to-coast.
If memory serves, they had a joint funeral.
I'd reply, "hey, I know how to find it--but I don't know what it is."
Age and weather and advertising sponsors.
If they had decided to attempt this voyage during the Summer rather than Winter, the advertising sponsors wouldn’t have signed up for the deal since Abby would have been “too old” for the record.
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