This is an article from a reporter who followed the story for the LA Times. As most of you know I'm a Sunderland Skeptic. But in the interest of being "fair and balanced" the article is pretty pro-Abby. And that's fine. But here is the money quote:
-- Was Wild Eyes ill-prepared or just plain jinxed? It seemed everything that could go wrong did go wrong from the time the Sunderlands bought the speedy cruising sled on the East Coast. I joined Abby and Laurence for the delivery of Wild Eyes from Ensenada, Mexico, to San Diego. The trip began in late afternoon and lasted through the night because there was either no wind or a strong headwind -- and because a massive clump of kelp had wrapped around Wild Eyes' keel. All of this turned a 12-hour sail into a 17-hour sail that required, at the very end, a tow by Vessel Assist.
Abby showed me a lot that night, though. She did not utter a single complaint and she did not sleep; and when Wild Eyes docked at the Customs office in San Diego she had to fend off accusations from Zac, who was aboard a companion vessel, that she must have at least dozed off. Zac then donned a mask, grabbed a large knife, dove in and cut the kelp from the keel."
GG again: Throughout this mostly pro-Abby article, this is the most telling. Her only "training" on the vessel was from Ensenada to MdR with her father, brother and a reporter and she couldn't deal with headwinds or kelp AND THEY NEEDED A TOW INTO THE MARINA??????
This was on December 6 and she departed a mere seven weeks later on January 23. Seven weeks to learn the boat she couldn't even sail on December 6? YIKES!!!!
“Her only “training” on the vessel was from Ensenada to MdR with her father, brother and a reporter and she couldn’t deal with headwinds or kelp AND THEY NEEDED A TOW INTO THE MARINA??????”
I’ve read numerous other articles that pointed out at least 3 years of sailing. Since her brother sailed and her dad taught sailing I think I’ll go with this.
If the motor wasn’t working or didn’t have fuel just what should she have done? You don’t sail a boat up to the dock.
What a crock.
It wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference if Child Protective Services sat down and “made sure” a 16 year old girl wasn’t being coerced into being with a sex offender would it? But somehow, sending a child where there is a high probability of physical danger is somehow different...
"that yacht, Wild Eyes, which by now probably rests at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Same goes for Abby's older brother, Zac."
Good article. I think Abby is a great kid and will become an outstanding adult.
Another article by a mainstream journalist with no understanding of ocean sailing and weather issues.Sure, everyone who is of the "ra-ra-ra go for it mentality" has a point about not listening to naysayers, etc. etc. But the fact of THIS case --as distinct from Zac's case-- had to do with sailing in the Southern Ocean, below 40 degrees South latitude, and in the winter, which no experienced offshore sailor with any sense of safety and reality would ever recommend doing, especially for a comparatively inexperienced 16 year old sailor. By comparison, Zac's circumnavigation via the trade wind route was extremely safe and benign.
The failure to understand the route, timing and (in) experience level in Abby's case --and the fact that the parents were hoping to make some money and a celebrity out of her-- is the crux of the matter.
Posted by: Steve | Jun 16, 2010 at 03:55 PM
I don’t know which “camp” is correct in the argument of youngsters doing dangerous things like sailing. But it did call to my mind the Jessica Dubroff tragedy where the 7 year old was trying to fly around the globe and died.
Then during the course of the article he says: "It might have been a blessing that Wild Eyes was rolled and lost its mast, because the storms Abby was sure to encounter as she sailed closer to Australia could have been deadly.
I'm confused......
My criticism of this parent approved folly is precisely directed at the ultimate failure of the craft rather than the sailing skill of the child. Hell, anyone can sail around the world with the electronics that were installed on this girl's boat but you are still at the mercy of the weather conditions and the hope that the boat can withstand them........
The boat failed but fortunately the electronics saved her parents from losing a child.
Yeah. You get a huge kelp ball wrapped around a wing keel and the prop wont even move the boat. Not to mention it's near impossible to control even if there's enough wind to sail her in.