Posted on 06/10/2010 10:19:33 AM PDT by ml/nj
A rescue effort has been launched in hope of finding Abby Sunderland, 16, who set off her emergency beacon locating devices from the southern Indian Ocean early this morning.
Sunderland, who had been attempting to sail around the world alone, endured multiple knockdowns in 60-knot winds yesterday (Thursday local time) before conditions briefly abated.
However, her parents lost satellite phone contact early this morning and an hour later were notified by the Coast Guard at French-controlled Reunion Islands that both of Sunderland's EPIRB satellite devices had been activated.
One apparently is attached to a survival suit and meant to be used when a person is in the water or a life raft.
Abby's father struggled with emotions and said he didn't know if his daughter was in a life raft or aboard the boat, or whether the boat was upside down.
"Everything seemed to be under control," Laurence Sunderland said. "But then our call dropped and a hour later the Coast Guard called."
Abby is hundreds of miles from land. The rescue effort is being coordinated by the Reunion Islands and Australia. Sunderland had been sailing in 50- to 60-foot seas and it was dark when the EPIRB devices were activated.
The Sunderlands are asking people to pray for their daughter, a high-school junior from Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Abby was for several months one of two 16-year-olds attempting to sail around the world alone. Australia's Jessica Watson completed her journey last month, just days before turning 17.
Abby's brother Zac, who graduated from high school, completed a solo-circumnavigation last summer at 17.
The timing of Abby's trip was criticized by some because it was placing her in the middle of the Indian Ocean when the stormy Southern Hemisphere winter was at hand.
Check it out: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/11/2924243.htm?section=justin
A multi-national search and rescue operation has been launched after emergency beacons onboard 16-year-old Abby Sunderland’s boat were triggered when the young American adventurer ran into huge waves hundreds of kilometres from land early this morning.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) says a Qantas Airbus is heading to the search zone, which is about 3,600 kilometres from the WA coast.
AMSA spokeswoman Carly Lusk says conditions in the search area are poor, with 90 kilometre per hour winds and a six-metre swell.
She says the signals coming from the two beacons Sunderland has activated - one attached to her body and another attached to her boat - suggest she is still in the boat.
She says the crew on board the Qantas jet hope to contact Sunderland by VHF radio once they reach the search area.
“We’ve got two Qantas flight crews on board, as well as 11 trained air observers from the Western Australian fire emergency services and two Fremantle water police officers,” she said.
lets hope they find her alive
One thing he used to say was this..."I don't fear the ocean, but I respect it greatly"
I spent a lot of time in the ocean in my younger years....I never forgot what my dad told me.
Lets just hope she is on the ocean and not in it Amen
Your stuned beeber fits in there somewhere. :-)
You need to prove your original hypothesis.
Amen
If she dies doing it, then her parents will say she died doing what she loved.
40,000 people die every day. How many of those dead can say they died doing what they loved the most?
Good god man. With Obama in the White House coupled with unbelievably stupid statements like this, I literally think the whole frickin' world has gone bonkers.
Are you even aware of what you're saying?
If my 15 year old son loved football, I still wouldn't let him play NFL. Why? Because he'd get killed. It would be no consolation that he died "doing what he loved". If my 15 year old was a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I still wouldn't let him fight in the UFC. Why? Because he'd get frickin severely injured, or killed.
This ridiculous Gatorade commercial logic that you're spewing, like "life is a risk", is even worse than the artificial television lifestyle that you despise, when used to justify a completely clear case of child endangerment.
This is a 16 year old girl, alone in the most unforgiving and dangerous environment possible.
When my wife leaves for work in the morning, I always check two things: 1. that her cell phone is charged; 2. that she has at least a half tank of gas. I still do it, even though she's a grown woman, because I want to take every precaution to preserve her life and well being.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, who has the least bit of concern for the well being of their wife or daughter, would ever let them do something like this.
If she had the right stuff, and was commmited to doing it, you bet I’d let her do it. Twice.
Then you're as stupid as the parents of Abby Sunderland. May she be rescued soon.
The whole idea seems crazy to me, but I'd be interested to hear the technical details that were evident beforehand.
Reading this thread I see why we have seat belt laws, helmet laws. People want to bring the full cohersive power of the State to bear, guns, money, personell, jail, to compell everyone to be “reasonable”. Freedom has risks. Risk has consequence. Therefore Freedom means accepting bad outcomes. If you don’t want bad outcomes, eliminate risk, at gun point ultimately.
If you don’t wear your seat belt, your neighbors have decided that you should. Ultimately cops will shoot you to make sure you pay your fine if you object to the enforcement of that law too strenuously.
That's debatable. She mentioned a following sea for "days", 60Kt winds and 30'+ foot waves and rolling "a few times". Plus there was cross chop from a previous wind. Only someone with a dead engine or a moron would navigate those conditions. Why? Because the boat will roll and pitch-in again and again in that situation. I'm not talking "a few times". The boat and occupants would be battered with equipment breaking and injuries to crew.
Also, much electronic equipment was placed at the stern, under the deck, i.e. precisely where waves will break in a following sea. SOP is electronics and fuel cells in the center of the boat.
Not smart on two counts.
I really don’t disagree with your points. I also had said that (maybe not to you but to someone else on this thread) that I realize there are those few exceptional talented individuals that can do a thing like this, I had made some kind of reference like that, but those individuals are the rarity. Maybe too, I was too influenced by the video I watched from ABC or CNN, I forget. It was posted around here somewhere, and had an interview with the parents. They did not seem like the sharpest tools in the shed. They never once discussed the girls experience. Just that she started sailing at 13. I know how slanted the media can be and perhaps I have been too influenced here.
I still think this was a foolish thing, but it was the families decision to make. I hope the girl is safe and makes it back home to her parents.
Bottom line, sailing around the globe is a dangerous thing to do alone today for anyone, experienced or not, least of all a 16 year old girl.
There is daring, and then there is plain foolishness. Sometimes it is hard to separate the two.
Just so you know, I may think these parents lacked sense, , I may think this whole thing was a tragedy in the making, never should have taken place, but I would not want the government or anyone else to stop them. Just as I believe they should have the freedom to sail off the end of the earth if they want to, I have the freedom to call them morons if I want to!
Thank you! Brilliant! Again, exactly what I wished I had said!
Ahmen, FreeMike
I would never EVER let my daughter do something like this. BUT I am reading people demanding that the full power and force of government sanction be unloaded on this family. Give me a break!
This is why I hate my modern American society. A bunch of “observers” and “critisizers” who want to control everybody elses actions from the comfort of their own living room, while sitting on their fat azzes. Always eager to bring government power to bear on behavior that they deem “unusual” or “dangerous”.
I think we're confusing what freedom is here. Freedom does not involve letting children under 18 put themselves in uncontrolled, dangerous, and volatile situations that they couldn't possibly be prepared for.
I'm against 8 year olds driving cars, and I'm against 16 year old girls circumnavigating the world in 40 foot sailboats.
Does that make me a communist?
While I would not let my kids do anything like that I won't use force to keep your kids safe. Ultimately, if I disagree with seat belt laws vehemently enough the cops will shoot me. But at least when they cart me off to the morgue I will be safely strapped into a gurney.
I think this girl's life might have been saved if the Coast Guard had picked her up off the coast of California and said, "Ma'am, come on, you're only 16. We're worried for your safety. We're taking you back to port."
I get worried when my wife drives out of town on business by herself. Not because she's not capable, competent, or tough. She is. But this is a tough, cruel, world. I don't like people fricking around with life when its not necessary, especially the life of a young girl. I guess I just can't understand why someone would ever allow this for their daughter.
It's completely inconceivable to me.
The idea that you would compare seat belt laws to this situation is maddeningly stupid. As a salty sea dog yourself, you should understand the comparison to a 16 year old girl alone in the middle of the ocean is insultingly irrelevant.
I support the government stepping in only when the "standards of safety" for some people are so mind-numbingly obtuse that they can't possibly be defended. Such is the case here.
Yes, I will absolutely step in when you let your child do something that will likely kill them. If you want your 12 year old daughter to wrestle crocodiles because "she loves it", I would gladly support the cops slapping cuffs on your irresponsible ass.
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