Australian taxpayers to pay for US teen sailor Abby Sunderland's ocean rescue

news.com.au ^ | 13th June 2010

[celtic gal]

How about her parents paying for the rescue?

[rbosque]

Her parents should be charged with child abuse and have the bill sent to them. Idiots.

[21twelve]

I guess the Quantas flight was a bit unusual? But with the folks that are doing the usual search and rescue I imagine something like this is done all the time - for practice and training. Head to some coordinate to search for the downed pilot, etc. Coordinate with nearby ships, make sure communications are working, etc. They spend money all the time on this stuff. Heck, for all I know, Quantas and other airlines do it once in awhile as well as part of an “on-call” support to normal SAR folks.

[Travis McGee]

Hey, if Oz has dollars to burn for a look-see, with more Orions etc on standby, then good on yer, mate. I admire a gung-ho PJ force, even if no PJs were available or able to hop out of that airbus. "Thumbs up" is good for me, if you want to spend the dough.

But she would be just as rescued today by the fishing vessel, with no Airbus.

As far as your experience and expertise, I'm sure I'd be suitably impressed. I know some real rescue guys, PJs, and they do impress me So if you're one, I salute you.

But I been there too, on the deck, and not only in an ops room or CIC.

This wasn't a model I built.

And this wasn't taken on a flyover, it was taken by the skipper, me, up the mast 2,000 miles from any land.

Cheers mate, keep the keel down and the stick up.

[mainsail that]

On one hand you can’t do obvious stupid things and expect to be bailed out. Have her dad pick up the tab

[naturalman1975]

Not a PJ - I’m not the type to jump out of a perfectly good plane. What I was good at was logistics, planning, and making sure everything was in place that was needed.

In this case, she was rescued by the fishing boat because she wasn’t injured and could wait. Great.

Just two potential scenarios in which things would have been different based on the plypast.

(1) Instead of being on a yacht that was still afloat, if adrift, the girl was in a partially inflated life raft.

Response in that case - AP-3C Orion aircraft could drop a properly functioning raft to her.

(2) Instead of being uninjured, girl reports internal injuries.

Response in that case - RAN warship with medical team aboard dispatched at best speed to intercept the fishing boat after it had picked her up, thus ensuring proper medical attention within 24 hours of rescue, as opposed to days later.

It wasn’t needed in this case. It doesn’t mean you don’t plan for it, and find out.

And these are just two potential scenarios. There’s a lot of others.

If you don’t look you don’t know.

[blueplum]

is now on the French fishing vessel Ile De La Reunion

now, seriously, how ironic is that?

[Travis McGee]

Look, if their protocal is to spend the dough to be ready to fly PJs to drop into the sea to rescue her in a survival suit, treading water with the EPIRB clipped to her, then more power to them. As it turned out, the slow fishing boat was all that was required. In this case. Not the next or the last.

PS, I know a good ocean rescue story. Involves SEALs, which is how I heard it. A German (not even a Yank!) sailor came to extremis on his yacht somewhere between Hawaii and Tahiti. Far from nowhere, but not as far as the Southern Ocean.

Seems he had a raging infection in a wound on one arm, and was SSBing for advice on amputation and such. Really bad scene.

The US Navy mounted a “Rubber Duck” op short fuse out of Hawaii, using SEALs stationed there. Plus one of the being a PA, a physicians asst, sort of a combat doc above a senior corpman, but not quite an MD. Or something.

The SEAL parachuted a big Zodiac out of a C-130 (a rubber duck op as it’s known.) The SEALs, four or so, parachute on their own, swim to the zodiac, rig it for ocean travel, and find the guy’s yacht. The circling Herky Bird helped with that I’m sure.

They give emergency treatment to the German yachtie, (not even an American, we’re nice to them all, like the Aussies and Kiwis.)

A USN ship met them and took the guy away via helo “lilly pad ops” back to Hawaii. And the upshot is that a volunteer crew of SEALs even sailed his yacht back to Hawaii.

I got a ton of SAR stories, but this typing takes a long time.

[AlexW]

“Spoken like a true “politics-of-envy” nanny-stater.”

I agree, and added a few other names to your reply...
I guess these people would outlaw any endeavor that might have an element of danger.
No more mountain climbing, no more exploration of anything.
Lets just stop breathing.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Her parents are not the idiots...he to whom I am responding is the idiot, me thinks.

[Travis McGee]

NO question. ANd I hope both our economies long support such multi phasic SAR ops. I relate one (easier, closer, warmer) such case above.

[northwinds]

Great story...hope she keeps up her quest...thanks to the Aussies for doing the right thing...thank goodness she’s alive and can come home and produce some offspring with her DNA...we need more of it in our gene pool....instead of crack heads and kids sitting in front of a computer game screen.

[TigersEye]

Thanks, mate. Your common sense is much appreciated.

[Travis McGee]

Here’s another extravagent SAR mission I witnessed. It’s well and fully justified as a short-fuse training op, because the next case could be a US sailor, soldier or Marine.

I was at our SEAL Carib Det in Rosy Roads, PR. We had to man up our recompression chamber and get it ready for a fast mover. Some Dutch tourist SCUBA diver got bent down in St Martin. We sent a USCG “Falcon” jet screaming to the island, shoved him in, and the Falcon screamed back to Puerto Rico, but get this, right at the deck, because altitude is the opposite of what a bent diver needs.

We met them on the runway and went screaming to the recompression chamber in an ambulance.

For a Dutch tourist Uncle Sam does that.

God bless em all, and long may it last.

[libh8er]

Spoken like a true "politics-of-envy" nanny-stater.

No, no , please.. It came across differently from how I intended. I am the last person on earth who would think that way. I am all for making the dad pay, not because he is wealthy, but because of what he cost the taxpayer. If he were an ordinary guy, it would have been much harder to get him to pay for his irresponsible stupidity. That's all I meant. I am all for sticking him with a huge bill that he would be paying off for the rest of his life, but that doesn't seem likely to happen.

[GatorGirl]

Wow.

One is either circumnavigating the globe alone or doing crack and playing computer games at age 16. Who knew?

Amazing that there are no 16 year olds holding doors for others, bagging groceries and helping people to their cars, babysitting siblings, mowing lawns, doing their homework, consoling friends, serving Mass, tutoring younger children, starting charities, writing books, aspiring to great things, etc...etc...

The hyperbole surrounding this situation is mind boggling!

[libh8er]

Jeez... I misspeak once, and people are sending out alerts and ping notifications all over FR.

[LadyDoc]

that is not what was reported on the Australian government website.

12 June 2010 - 10:30am Update

In preparation for the arrival on scene of the fishing vessel Ile De La Reunion anticipated for late this afternoon, RCC Australia has tasked a Global Express aircraft to the scene. This aircraft is planned to arrive at the known position of Wild Eyes at approximately 5.30pm AEST. The aircraft will attempt to regain radio contact with Wild Eyes ahead of the planned rescue.

The position of Wild Eyes continues to be monitored via distress beacon transmission.

Weather in the area has improved slightly with 30-35 knot winds and a 4-5 metre swell.

A further update will be provided this evening.

LINK

[runninglips]

Nothing wrong with charging for the rescue, it wasn’t that long ago that you had to pay for ambulance rides and your own doctor visits.......we all survived. Actually better than that, we thrived.

[M-cubed]

as irresponsible as he is, he will send her out again. >>

of course!...it was COD all the time!

DONT ever delve into his history....LOL

It will make a NUN blush....

Do your own DD!