Posted on 06/11/2010 8:18:57 AM PDT by Patriot1259
Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old attempting to sail around the world, was feared missing at sea yesterday, but has now been found alive and well.
Sunderland had sent out numerous distress signals after her yacht, “Wild Eyes”, was pounded by huge waves in the Indian Ocean some 2,000 miles off the south African coast enroute to Australia.
Word of Abby’s rescue was first posted on her blog by her parents:
We have just heard from the Australian Search and Rescue. The plane arrived on the scene moments ago. Wild Eyes is upright but her rigging is down. The weather conditions are abating. Radio communication was made and Abby reports that she is fine!...
(Excerpt) Read more at thecypresstimes.com ...
But I still think both she and her parents are nuts.
Thankfully she is safe. We should all aspire to have such skills as the understanding of the sea. She’s a true seaman and the best of the best.
Good news. Now, go home, grow up, head out again when you’re 18.
This girl has a lot of guts. Maybe she should run for something. LOL
I know that if you get lost in the mountains now, you have to pay for search and rescue.
What’s this gonna cost her family?
She's not a regular 16 year old. Her seamanship skills are top notch and she is the best of the best.
Great news.
The seas are full of the bones of very capable sailors..sometimes it’s just the end.
Clever alliteration of the day ping!
>>But I still think both she and her parents are nuts.<<
And, based on how people have to pay for their own search and rescue these days, maybe broke as well.
Yeah, at 18 those 50 foot seas will be less mean! Abby is the best of the best in seamanship skills.
>>She’s not a regular 16 year old. Her seamanship skills are top notch and she is the best of the best.<<
For a 16 year old, you mean.
The Aussies are doing it at no charge. They only ask that if one of their sailors go down that we would offer help in return. Seems fair to me.
At 18 she would be an adult. In the meantime, her parents have a responsibility. That responsibility includes making good decisions that a minor may not be mature enough to make.
If 16 is the age this time, then next time it is 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10...
She sails solo swells by the seas shores
No. I meant what I said as I wrote it. She top notch on any level. Sheeze... she kept her boat afloat in 50 foot seas as it was trying to capsize. She's top notch on any age level.
My old manager took his 60’ sailboat to the pacific back around 1996 and he and his wife have been living that dream ever since. One of their friends lost his wife during a rescue operation from their sailboat in the pacific when she fell between the boat and the freighter that was rescuing them (very bad storm, and their mast snapped off).
She simply fell in and didn’t come back up.
Hard to say. I wasn’t there.
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