” My gripe is putting her life at risk by sending her to the southern ocean in winter. This is considered so dangerous that even fully crewed professional ocean racers won’t do it. And all so she would be 16 and break a record no authorizing organizations will recognize.
He’s a shameless media whore.”
Okay. I didn’t know about the southern ocean thing. My sailing was limited to the Channel Islands area of Ventura County.
Thanks for the info.
Yep, the departure to beat her aging-out of the youngest-ever record put her into the southern ocean in winter. That was criminal. But if they waited for a summer southern ocean transit, she’d have been “too old” and hence not the numero-uno media darling record holder.
So they rolled the dice with her life, to gain the fame.
Here is a story about the South 40s from a few years ago. The 3 racers in question were very experienced, physically strong, highly disciplined sailors in boats considerably larger that the Sunderland boat AND this happened to them in summer in the 40s. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-27/sports/sp-667_1_southern-ocean-storms-reduce-field/5
Sunderland’s dismasting was a foregone conclusion. She cheated death - in most cases it would be fatal in winter in the 40s. No 16 year-old girl should be sent out on a solo around-the-world sailing “adventure”. Even for highly experienced seamen it is more than dangerous enough.
I have had to respond to several on FR who had a “romantic” view of the Abby Sunderland fiasco. The people who think that this is “exciting”, shows “grit”, etc. would undoubtedly have been outraged if the Sunderland girl had gotten it in her head to go over Niagra in a barrel and her father let her. The risks, however, would be not all that different.