Posted on 04/12/2014 5:51:23 PM PDT by SilvieWaldorfMD
SAN DIEGO (KGO) -- There is now an estimate on how much it cost to rescue a San Diego family with a sick child off the coast of Mexico. A San Diego newspaper crunched the numbers and says the price for the joint effort between the Coast Guard, Navy and National Guard came to $663,000 and could go higher. The family arrived back on shore Wednesday. The parents have taken some heat for taking their children on a yearlong sailing trip.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
No competent parent would put their very young children in a life threatening “adventure” for what amounts to their own narcissistic gratification.
I got blasted for saying something similar the other day - looks like we have become a nation of part-time "rugged individualists" and anything can be a source of "indignant outrage" because of "the chirrun".
The same folks will also believe in the Constitution to include the non-existent "Noble Cause" clause when it suits their views...
add’l realistic training,no cost.
Zac Sunderland’s Intrepid sits next to our boat in our marina. It is a 36 Islander. Most people have no clue about boats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zac_Sunderland
Yes indeed,
Robin. age 16 went around the world in a **24 footer**
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Lee_Graham
The US isn’t the only nanny state
“16-year-old Laura Dekker of the Netherlands wrapped up her attempt in January 2012, giving her the new unofficial spot as the youngest to find success sailing solo around the world. But first she had to convince the government to let her try.
A Dutch court put her under the guardianship of child protection authorities in October 2009 to block her from making the journey. The order was lifted in July 2010, and she set out on her voyage in her 38-foot boat Guppy in January 2011.”
Though Australian Jesse Martin was a couple of weeks older than David Dicks when he completed his trip around the world in 1999, he grabbed the spot as the youngest person to sail around the world nonstop, unassisted and solo by avoiding taking help of the kind that David was forced to take.
Jesse made his trip in his 34-foot boat, Lionheart-Mistral, documenting his journey in the book “Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit.” He traveled 27,000 nautical miles from December 1998 to October 1999, and was the impetus behind the World Sailing Speed Record Council discontinuing recognition for the youngest sailor to make a circumnavigation.
Of course, you have to mention the Tinkerbelle - a 13 foot dory that went US to England.
Robert Manry was a copy editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer who in 1965 sailed from Falmouth, Massachusetts, to Falmouth, Cornwall, England, in a tiny 13.5-foot (4.1 m) sailboat (an Old Town “Whitecap” built by the Old Town Canoe Co. of Old Town, Maine, which he had extensively modified for the voyage) named Tinkerbelle. Beginning on June 1, 1965, and ending on August 17, the voyage lasted 78 days.
The book of that voyage is a free read on line for those interested.
To all those who are retching over the cost, most of the ‘cost’ being tabulated would have been incurred if this had not occurred. Boats are at sea, planes fly, and the navy & coast guard people are paid.
As for the parents being stupid, no! They were experienced sailors, and the father is Coast Guard licensed. They had the guts to do what I have ‘always’ wanted to do...sail the oceans, sail around the world. Just because some here would not venture out on a lake in a sailboat, doesn’t mean the parents are wrong, it just means some think anything other than sitting home watching others adventures and getting a vicarious thrill is wrong, stupid, etc. Well, I think their ‘couch potato’ thrill seeking is ‘wrong’.
“Thats about the price to put the First Lady up in a hotel abroad for a week..”
I think you mean the ‘First Moocher’...
No, it’s not just you. Anyone who has raised infants and toddlers knows that taking a 1 year old and a 3 year old on a sailboat around the world is just not living in the real world. I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be 24 hours a day.
Yeah. What if you ran out of duct tape?
Absolutely! Duct tape would be the only solution! ;)
Get too many of those “realistic training, no cost” and their whole budget will be for bailing out stupid people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.