Octodad has (or will have very soon) 6 other kids younger than Abby. So if Octodad can convince another set of advertisers to buy him another boat and outfit it for him, he has 6 more chances at the record.
This is by far the best article I’ve read about the voyage. It’s from Latitude 38, a great west coast sailing rag.
http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2010-06-11&dayid=438
“he has 6 more chances at the record.”
Well it only costs $65,000 to get guided up Mt. Everest and the youngest to do so was 13, so maybe he should look elsewhere to get his kids into the record books. The mortality risk for Everest climbers is only about 10%, which is probably lower than the odds of getting killed trying to sail solo around the world.
Even in good times, sailing instruction doesn’t seem that lucrative, so I can’t quite understand why someone in that field living in an expensive area like Thousand Oaks would be having that many kids. It’s hard to feel sorry for his plight.
It’s nice to support your kids in pursuing their dreams. I just wonder whether he himself even recognizes how much “her” dream really simply reflected his own. It does definitely seem like safety considerations were ignored in the rush to get her into the record books. If the dream were simply to sail solo around the world, there’s no particularly good reason it couldn’t wait until a safer window of opportunity returned.