Posted on 06/14/2010 7:42:41 PM PDT by GatorGirl
Dangerous, Inexperienced Sailing: The Real Sunderland Reality
Opinion by laconic (4 Hours Ago) in Society Abby Sunderland was rushed out the gate in an ill prepared attempt to get an obscure record. She had to stop at Cabo for major upgrades on her boat. There were 2 auto pilots on the boat and the electrical demand exceeded the ability of the wind generators and solar panels to supply power. This was in California and Mexico, not the overcast Atlantic or Souther Ocean where you might not see the sun for days. Bad omen and signs of total incompetence before even leaving the Americas.
Abby continued to have problems with the 2 auto pilots for most of her trip. She stated in her blog that she had no wind-vane steering because her boat went too fast. This of-course is nonsense. I have sailed boats with twice the hull speed of her boat that used the system. Zak Sunderland, her brother in his circumnavigation and Jessica Watson in her record breaking circumnavigation had wind-vanes installed. I can only guess she was parroting the misinformation her father gave her. Monitor wind-vanes do not require electricity to run and are the preferred safety navigation system for most epic adventurers.
When both navigation systems inevitably failed Abby stopped in Cape town to replace them. Her Father flew down to help. As well as replacing the navigation system he helped with repairs. Rather than wait for a cradle at the boat yard to hoist the boat out to repair a scratch in the hull, they did the most boneheaded and dangerous repair you can do on a sailboat. They tied a rope to the top of the mast and using leverage pulled the boat over to expose the hull (photos on Abby's blog Thursday May 13). I have seen masts snap when this has been tried and the fact that her mast later broke might not be coincidental.That action creates enormous stress on the mast and deck fittings. It is something you do on hobby-cats and small sailboats, not on a 40 foot boat if there are any alternatives. Again, incompetence, rushing and ignorance setting her up for failure.
The builder of her boat, Marty Still, warned them not to continue as it was the wrong time of year for the southern Ocean in that type of boat with such an inexperienced sailor. Her father let her go anyway.
The claims of Abby being an experienced sailor are put to rest in her own words and actions. In her blog on June 2 I was horrified to read on that she went on deck in a storm at night without her foul weather safety gear. She stated she didn't have time to put it on. Sailing 101 tells you otherwise. It took her days to get dry and warm again.
The photo of her boat de-masted are a pictorial record of her inexperience. You can see the trailing mast and sails in the water. A mast can and does puncture the hull of the boat if it is allowed to dangle from the boat after going overboard and bash against the hull. An experienced sailor would cut it free to eliminate the danger of sinking the boat. She either (a) didn't know to do that (b) was not equipped with the necessary tools (c) didn't have the strength. Any answer is reason to believe she shouldn't have been out there in those conditions. I think she was so controlled from shore by her team that when the mast went down and she lost contact and was left to her own devices her inexperience showed.
Two Sat phones and two auto pilots do not make you safe if you do not have the fundamental survival skills. Her father put her life in jeopardy when he allowed her to continue from Cape Town into the Southern Ocean at the most dangerous time of year. Her boat was knocked down twice, Jessica Watson had her boat knocked down 7 times in her record breaking circumnavigation. The difference is Jessica boat was more suited to the task, was better prepared and she is a vastly more experienced sailor than Abby and was through the southern Ocean before Abby got to Cape Town.
Abby did a great job and was lucky to round the two capes in relatively mild conditions(Jessica had 5 knockdowns before she entered the Indian Ocean). I would have applauded her efforts if common sense prevailed and she stayed in cape-town and continued when the weather was better.
Her father equates this with letting a 16 year old drive a car. But you don't let a 16 year old drive a car on ice, at night with no headlights and bald tires. Thats the equivalent conditions he put Abby in.
The difference between the balloon boy's attention seeking Dad and Abby's Father is that Balloon Boys dad did not actually risk the life of his kid in an attempt at fame and fortune.
Round-the-world yachtsman Ian Kiernan criticised Abby for failing to respect the sea. "I don't know what she's doing in the southern Indian Ocean in the middle of the winter. We need adventurers but adventurers who do foolhardy things and put their rescuers at risk, it should not be allowed."
Interesting comments pyx, and I know Kiernan is a yachtsman, not a mountain climber, but "adventurers" routinely put themselves and their rescuers at risk. And when one or the other, or both, die, it's always looked at as "foolhardy".
As to what was she doing in the Indian Ocean, perhaps she was trying to find those "regionally rising sea-levels".
Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
Thank you. Good to see some sense in this thread. Why don’t folks just give up and quit trying to bring her down?
What does Popeye have to say about all of this?
“Even more unnerving is her family’s reliance on God and prayer to help them get to the end of this one.”
Excellent balanced commentary.
I posted it for the sailing analysis, not the religion.
Believe me that part was roundly bashed on the SA threads!
Wait, you kind of want to feel that way about the story but she made it from California to Capetown.
That was no accident and took quite a bit of skill I am sure.
If it was easy, everyone would do it.
What? The part about sailing 3/4 around the world or experience? /s
It wasn’t 3/4 of the way. More like 1/3.
Thats what they said about the Titanic.
THese are all great points.
Probably while she was resting below decks. I have had this happen when the autopilot is overwhelmed by a very sudden shift, or a squall. This is the trouble with gizmo sailing alone... no one on watch while the boat bowls along on her merry own. Cool when everything works. Hellooo Jesus, when something goes a bit off. Especially if you're sound asleep and don't hear the "Hi, you're dead, buzzer!"
Was reading a book once, when the autopilot steered me unerringly on course through a fleet of Mexican fishing boats, I am ashamed to say... in broad daylight on a very nice day. It was an immersion course in foul sailor Spanish for about 45 minutes. Twenty years later I can still remember the words.
In ye olden days, solo sailors sailed at night with much shortened sail, or none, or so I was told.
Oh my gosh! I don't know whether to laugh or not! (but I am)
The Sailing Anarchy forums have lots of new info if you’re interested.
Thanks. The more I read, the more that I believe this girl is lucky to be alive. And she’s alive because of technology and not competence.
She is indeed.
Lucky.
Do yourself a favor and introduce yourself to Alessandro diBenedetto. He’s almost home and his RSS posts are poetic. The other day he caught a tuna and made a gourmet meal for himself. Now that is an adventurer!
He lost his mast before Cape Horn but has continued on with a jury rig on the smallest boat to make a solo, non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation. A truly inspirational sailor. This is the guy we need to be taking our cues from, not a 16 y/o parentally pimped poseur.
I don’t sail. Didn’t know anything about sailing until last week when this story hit. Even with no knowledge, I was shocked to read that Abby had sailed Wild Eyes for only a few hours before leaving on her trip. No other practice runs. That’s akin to buying her a race car, having her drive it to the store and back, on a sunny day, then sending her out in it in a snowstorm.
I forgot to say that I did read a little about the Italian. Ahhhh age and experience. :-)
It is SAD to see the depths...
It is too bad she could not have made it, would have been better for everyone, but a lot of people have tried this and have never returned. Her ability to keep her head and act correctly is well above her age.
The whining reminds me of a bunch of socialist..
“Oh, She got to do that! I didn’t, there fore it must be wrong!”
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