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 ...
It’s really not all THAT hard. Some things take more guts than skill. Not that they are not skilled, but skill is only a part of the equation.
Luck is a major part as well.
So is experience, and a 16 year old, no matter what percentage of their life was spent in training or on the boat, simply does not have the depth of experience to be called “the best of the best” at that age.
Now, she may be destined to be the best of the best. We’ll see if her luck holds out. ;)
“No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.” - Samuel Johnson
I may question the judgment of ANYONE who takes on such a voyage solo, but reports indicate she's as competent a sailor as anyone else. Furthermore, what makes you so certain a man would be able to lift & remount a mast & sails in rough waters?
This young lady should be an inspiration to all members of the human race. Her exceptional courage and determinaton will forever be admired.
She still doesn’t have the upper body strength necessary to pull her broken mast back on board (to say nothing of remounting it), or even to pull her sails into the boat.
Her parents really should have sent a man along ~ an experienced man ~ to do the heavy hauling, pulling and other stuff. Leave the girl to prepare meals and make up the beds or something.
HA HA HA HA HA....well played stout yeoman!
Really big guy ~ very strong ~ very experienced in the use of winches.
We have a 40 ft Yorktown and I can gurantee you that if we lost our mast noone could get it back up.....period, let alone remount it.
That statement came from someone who knows absolutely nothing about sailboats.
Not at all! She was taking advantage of the strong westerlies and the SW winds of the northern Indian Ocean while avoiding the NE winds from Nov - April and the cyclone season. From May - Nov is exactly when to make that passage.
I don’t see anything wrong with her age or parents. Sixteen year olds can do plenty and are often called upon to do things we wouldn’t want adults doing such as fighting wars. My wife and I wouldn’t want such for our daughter but that’s us.
Neither do me or you. And what good is a broken mast????
(BTW, spent years of Wednesday nights at the Power Squadron learning all about this stuff).
Other people apparently imagine this girl can re-rig her boat!
Thanking God.
At age 13 my grandmother travelled alone in 1921 from Germany to Baltimore. She landed a job as a seamstress and 5 years later married my grandfather who was the oldest of 12 children with no father in the home. They did just fine, thank you very much.
Our foolish insistence on preserving adolescence into the child’s 30’s and 40’s is what is truly stupid. Teenagers are perfectly capable of assuming adult responsibilities. The refusal of overprotective parents only prolongs the development of responsibility.
plain old hat silliness.
According to the latest news she did NOT lose her boat, she is safe with enough food for two weeks and she survived all the giant waves etc. I’d say she’s the best!
If I were that papa who obviously has money, I'd have chartered a support ship to follow just under the visable horizon for a situation just like this.
The sail is probably the largest store of cloth on that boat. Hauling it and the line aboard would be smart ~ if you could do it. Presumably she had at a minimum a Kevin Kostner type winch eh!
There is a huge difference between being a responsible teenager and having the required skills and experience to sail solo around the world. I was questioning if she has those skills.
At 16, how many years of solo experience can she have?
I raced sailboats here, on the upper Great Lakes, for over 20 years. If you are de-masted in those seas,no one person would be able to pull in their sheets, rigging, and mast, and make any kind of effective repair, even in calm water. Depending on where the mast broke, you may just be along for the ride after that.
While I admire her Seamanship skills, no amount of accolades are worth losing your life, out there alone.
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.