Posted on 06/27/2010 8:02:21 PM PDT by LibWhacker
SAINT-DENIS, Reunion -- Sixteen-year-old sailor Abby Sunderland is homeward bound - though her plane flight back to California isn't the homecoming she originally imagined when she set off in hopes of sailing around the world.
About two weeks after her rescue at sea, Sunderland departed Sunday from the French island of Reunion, off the southeastern coast of Africa, en route to France, then on to California.
(Excerpt) Read more at fwix.com ...
Most of these folks have loser kids who play video games all day and they, themselves, have never done anything remotely interesting or adventurous. We've really become an Mommy driven, maternalistic society....no risk....keep the babies in the womb mentality. Its a far cry from the mentality that built this great country and is such a shame. To see it here on FR is particularly disheartening. I'm surprised that folks aren't beating the kid up for flying home...with all that risk involved. She should have just stayed where she was rescued for the rest of her life...so much safer....LOL
So how much exactly did this search overseas cost YOU specifically?
In post 7, you asked: I dont understand the ugly comments about this situation.
I answered you.
Exactly...your sarcasm is in true form tonight...and spot on.
As an aside, I’m curious about the funding of this venture. Reports were that $200,000 was spent on the boat and equipment, all of that lost. I don’t think that under the circumstances that loss was likely insured. Then there are plane tickets home and other miscellaneous expenses. Is the family that wealthy?
Good comments both of you!
I agree that we keep our kids little kids too long.
(Although mine is still a little girl, and I tend to be an overprotective mama...I give her the tools she needs for what her dreams are. I hope she dreams big like her cousin and takes flying lessons when she’s a young teen, and wants to be a missionary pilot later.)
Mrs Sunderland said it wasn’t insured. And they had sponsors that helped fund the venture. They aren’t rich.
You should have seen the rattle trap that my parents let me drive when I was 16. You had to pump the brakes to make the car stop and if you drove over 50 the front wheels would bounce up and down and it would overheat if you drove it to the top of an overpass and if you ever stopped the car in a bad neighborhood, the battery was certain to go dead and you'd have to walk home.
My dad told me that if I ever found myself in jail, that I'd better not call him for help 'cause I'd be wasting my one phone call.
so answer the next one, are you glad she’s ok, or do you have ill intent towards a “poor unprepared little girl”?
They must be. The mother is an octo-mom of sorts. She’s pregnant with baby number 8.
She is a super girl. If all our youth in our country were like her, it would be a much better country and we would have a much brighter future.
Then again, maybe if our teens just sit home in front of the video games we will all be better off.
In case you have not figured it out, I view dumping on this young all American girl as very un American. To here it here on FR is shocking. We are truly lost as a country.
My son wanted to learn to fly when he was 16. I told him that he needed to get a job and pay for it himself and I said he should probably try looking for a job at the airport. He borrowed my car and went to the airport (25 miles away) and got a job that day working as a dispatcher for a small flight school. He ended up getting free flight lessons and got his pilot's license on his 17th birthday. He also bought his own car when he was 16 so he could continue to work at this job.
That is definitely something to file away for later, we live in a great area for those kinds of opportunities!
Your children, no doubt!
The yacht this girl had couldn't support the navigation system. She had to put into port twice. The second time, her father didn't wait for a slip and he pulled the ship over by it's mast in order to replace the nav system. That weakens the mast.
She was supposed to leave August 2010. Because of Jessica Watson , in order to get the record Abby had to leave 8 months early. The yacht wasn't ready.
You should read the forum Sailing Anarchy. Or talk to Travis McGee.
Whoops, wrong picture. Sorry.
And the parents aren’t paying for her rescue.
Amen. This is the true "can do" American spirit.
When Christopher Columbus was 16 he was already a seasoned sailor, having first gone to sea when he was 10. I would think many of these nanny stater Freepers would think that his parents should have been arrested.
Your logic is faulty. I'm not the one who let her sail off in a yacht that wasn't ready. And you're upset because I object to the needless risk. It makes NO sense to accuse me of wishing her ill will.
“Clearly, it will be very expensive,” Evans said. “Obviously when someone is at risk you have to respond. But I personally have a view that we should be more careful about what we allow people to do in these circumstances.”
“Even the U.S. Sailing Association refused to sponsor Sunderland’s bid, considering it too dangerous. She did not have insurance for her trip, and her mother has said there is no way the family could pay the rescuers even if asked.”
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-sunderland-rescue-cost,0,4247637.story
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