If they paid for this fiasco out of their own pockets, then it’s their business.
Please tell me that taxpayer funds didn’t go into helping a 16-year old kid try to score some meaningless “first” and get her name in some book somewhere.
Mine is in the Coast Guard. She won't get her own reality show, of course, but you can follow her adventures on the Seaman Anoreth Ping List.
Boycott the REALITY SHOW which is entitled, Adventures in Sunderland.
Many of Abby’s supporters give us a false choice for kids:
1- Let you 16 year old daughter, who is barely old enough to qualify for a juvenile drivers license, sail a boat around the world by herself.
2- Or, let her sit home playing video games and watching the adventures of Lyndsey Lohan on TV.
I am raising two teen age daughters. And I would not recommend options 1 or 2 to them.
The real faults here were leaving too late in the year, and continuing on after early half as... repairs to the boat. She took unreasonable risks with the weather and with the condition of her equipment. Typical get-there-itis, which often kills. Not sure where the blame should lie, but there is the blame.
This was better than living on Facebook or a cell phone.
The only way she could have done better would be if jury-rigged a sail and went on in under her own power.
Oh heavens, her parents don't need to know a thing about us spiriting her across state lines to have an abortion.
Sorry - I'm just wondering how many on the left are having heart palpitations over the parents letting this girl sail alone, but have no problem whatsoever standing against parental notification for abortions.
Personally, I wouldn't have let my child try to sail around the world by herself. I think it's dumb, and I have a feeling the parents allowed it because they needed the publicity.
“One can make all the right moves and possess all the right skills and still fail.”
Sure, but the evidence in this case suggests that they heedlessly ignored expert advice and let her sail during a disproportionately dangerous time window due to delays in getting her boat ready to embark. There’s a large difference between prudent risks (where you’ve done everything to minimize inherent risks to their lowest level) and reckless risks (where you’ve abandoned caution and essentially put life or limb into the hands of fate).
To use an analogy. Climbing Everest is inherently risky and never will be devoid of risk no matter what precautions are taken in terms of preparation and/or equipment. But even for the most prepared and well-equipped climber, trying to climb it in January is suicidal: you either will die or need to be rescued. The chances of getting to the top are virtually nil.
If this had been a grown person seeking a challenge, no problem. A skilled kid on an attention-seeking, record-breaking attempt with financial implications? Sorry, it’s sick in addition to being seedy.
If I had a daughter I would rather have her out at sea than in a public high school.
I do have a natural instinct to take the side opposite the media but in this case, there is so much evidence that it was a publicity stunt. They had a website already set up where they were trying to get a reality TV show before the ill fated trip. So many people have stated she wasn’t ready and that her father pushed her into it and that she was scared. Just the idea of that beautiful little girl alone on the high seas probably terrified for her life but trying to be an obedient daughter and please her parents, just breaks my heart. I would say she loves to sail and is good at it. She should have been allowed to enjoy her life and just been able to enjoy an afternoon sailing with friends and being a normal teen.
You can do a lot of growing up sailing solo, without getting other people to pay for a boat so you can try to sail around the world and set an age record that no one recognizes anyways...
Any sympathy I had for them evaporated when they asked for donations to recover ‘Abby’s boat’ while saying there was no way they would pay the Aussies anything for the rescue of their daughter!
These parents are lower than whale poop. I wish the authority that recognizes records in sailing would make the boat put up bond for any cost related to rescue or admin expense for a country. Plus require 18 years old as the entry level.
I am so frosted about this. Sending your kid to her potential death is child abuse in the first degree. The kid failed, was behind schedule, put in for repairs and was then advised by her father to continue the march. Put those parents in a Dingy in the middle of the Southern Ocean in Winter. Let’s see what hero’s they are. That girl was facing weather worse that what crashed her for the next two months.
Honor the rescuers. The fishing boat crew that got her lost production, and the captain, almost his life. Fell into the water. I’m hot about this.
Check out real sailors comments, post #2944.
http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=102689&st=2925
We all should mind our goddam business and address those things which have a greater impact on the nation.