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Rescued sailboat family returns safely to California aboard Navy ship
Reuters ^ | 4/9/14 | Marty Graham

Posted on 04/09/2014 3:32:32 PM PDT by SilvieWaldorfMD

(Reuters) - A family of four rescued from their sailboat after their infant daughter became seriously ill at sea returned safely to San Diego on Wednesday aboard a U.S. warship that picked them up in the Pacific over the weekend, a Navy spokeswoman said.

The parents, Eric and Charlotte Kaufman, and their two daughters, 3-year-old Cora and 1-year-old Lyra, left the Navy frigate Vandegrift after the ship arrived in port around 10 a.m. local time and proceeded to their family doctor, according to Lieutenant Lenaya Rotklein of the Third Fleet.

Rotklein declined to give any further information about the arrival of the Kaufmans at Naval Air Station North Island on San Diego Bay except to say all four family members were "stable when they departed" and were met at the port by relatives.

The family was two weeks into a planned around-the-world cruise on their 36-foot (11-metre) sloop when Lyra developed a fever and rash, prompting her parents to send a distress call to the Coast Guard by satellite phone last Thursday.

In addition to the child falling ill, the family reported that their boat was taking on water whenever they tried to start the vessel's engine, the Coast Guard said.

A four-man team from the California Air National Guard's 129th Rescue Wing was dispatched by military plane to the scene, about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) out in the Pacific off Mexico, to render medical assistance.

(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: charlottekaufman; erickaufman; idiocy; lyrakaufman; navy; obamavoters; parenting; sailboat; sailboatparents
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It's a good thing the US Navy sank their sailboat... otherwise, these morons would've tried to patch it up again and try sailing across the Pacific Ocean again...
1 posted on 04/09/2014 3:32:32 PM PDT by SilvieWaldorfMD
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD

LOL My first thought was “I hope the navy sank their boat”.


2 posted on 04/09/2014 3:34:29 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD
" their boat was taking on water whenever they tried to start the vessel's engine,"

You'd think they would know more about how to fix all of the systems on their craft.

3 posted on 04/09/2014 3:35:08 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD

If they didn’t have the mechanical acuity to know how to fix a leak when they ran the engine, they had no business out there.

Now, having said that, how does anyone know how accurate the reporting is on this.

Lionheart, 36’ sloop and Ann Marion, 41’ ketch. Both out of ‘Dago.(Just in case anyone wonders about my bonafides on the matter.)


4 posted on 04/09/2014 3:38:22 PM PDT by x1stcav ("The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.")
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD

And best of all, they won’t even have to pay for being rescued at the cost of millions of taxpayed dollars. Bet they’re Obama voters.


5 posted on 04/09/2014 3:38:54 PM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: ozzymandus

Sounds like these people should have just stayed within sight of shore.


6 posted on 04/09/2014 3:40:21 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD

The assembled members of my family, including Gunner Anoreth, USCG, say these people are idiots.


7 posted on 04/09/2014 3:42:57 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Entropy is high. Wear a hat!)
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To: x1stcav
...how does anyone know how accurate the reporting is on this.

Or on anything else...maybe I'm wrong, maybe the reporter is a sailor but I wouldn't be laying any serious money down...

8 posted on 04/09/2014 3:43:04 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: cripplecreek

They should have stayed at the pool. I’m sure they have one.


9 posted on 04/09/2014 3:43:55 PM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD

I’m just a river and lake person, but 36 ft. sounds awfully tiny for an around the world trip-anyone who would attempt it once might indeed try it again if the boat was repairable.

If they’re so gung ho, they might be safer next time if they use their insurance money to put a down payment on a 50 foot sailboat-a yacht sized one, at least...


10 posted on 04/09/2014 3:44:20 PM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD; cripplecreek

More than the boat issue these people never should have attempted this with children that young. I’ve (almost) raised four and I couldn’t begin to count the number of doctor’s office and emergency room visits when they were young. Run the risk of a serious accident or illness in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Epic parental malpractice.


11 posted on 04/09/2014 3:46:33 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD
This is the part that got me. Defending their decision to set sail with their young children, Eric Kaufman issued a statement from sea on Sunday saying, "This is how our family has lived for seven years. ... We remain confident that we prepared as well as any sailing crew could." Their family has lived this way for 7 years???
12 posted on 04/09/2014 3:50:02 PM PDT by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery" Sarah Palin)
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To: Texan5

36’ is snug for two adults, but manageable if your truly compatible. Throw in 2 kids? The whole idea of their bringing kids was insane and infuriating. They should donate the $ they’d have spent on this trip to a Navy benefit.


13 posted on 04/09/2014 3:50:39 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: colorado tanker

I have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. I asked the Assembled Family Members - most of whom have (lake) sailing experience - if they’d like to be on a 36-foot boat in the Pacific with Frank and Kathleen, and a raucous chorus of negation arose.

They don’t even want to be in the van on a 15-minute drive to church (not to mention an hour church service) with Frank and Kathleen!


14 posted on 04/09/2014 3:51:30 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Entropy is high. Wear a hat!)
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To: leapfrog0202

It probably went better in the 4 years before the first child was born.


15 posted on 04/09/2014 3:53:45 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Entropy is high. Wear a hat!)
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16 posted on 04/09/2014 3:53:51 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD; Kenny Bunk; Travis McGee
...their boat was taking on water whenever they tried to start the vessel's engine...

Now listen to me carefully. Do you have a pen? Write this down. There's a hosey looking thing that goes from a thingy that looks sort of like a can of tuna stuck to the part of the engine facing you, into a big blocky part of the engine, up top and to the side. You'll notice that one side of the big hosey is not attached to the tuna can or the blocky thing.

But in all seriousness I once did have water coming in through an air intake on a Yanmar 3GM30F... No kidding. I never figured that one out.
17 posted on 04/09/2014 3:56:00 PM PDT by golux
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To: SilvieWaldorfMD

I don’t understand why the US Navy, California National Guard, US Coast Guard got involved. They were off the coast of Mexico, about 1000 miles away from San Diego. Just how far does American jurisdiction go?


18 posted on 04/09/2014 3:57:00 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego (m)
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To: EDINVA

Well, the trapped-with-kids-on-a-boat thing did enter my mind, but I was thinking more in terms of vessel size as it pertains to safety. Even the Vikings crewed a 40-50 ft. vessel for an ocean voyage, and they knew what they were doing, and where they were going...


19 posted on 04/09/2014 3:57:13 PM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Tax-chick

Well, you could bring a TV and a CD of every Disney and Pixar cartoon ever made. But after a week of that the parents would want to turn around and go home.


20 posted on 04/09/2014 3:57:15 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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