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Abby Sunderland Feared Lost at Sea
abcnews.com ^ | June 10, 2010 | ROBERT RUDMAN, MARC DORIAN and TOM McCARTHY

Posted on 06/10/2010 11:11:42 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

Abby Sunderland, 16, who is attempting to become the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the globe, was feared lost at sea today after her crew lost contact with her boat.

Jeff Casher, an engineer on Sunderland's support team, said two emergency beacons on her boat are now signaling she is in trouble.

Abby's mother, MaryAnne Sunderland, told ABC News that Abby manually activated two beacons around 6 a.m. Pacific Time Thursday.

A beacon designed to automatically go off when it contacts water had not been activated, she said.

Abby was in 20-25 foot waves at the time of last contact, with 35-knot winds, said MaryAnne Sunderland, who is due to give birth at the end of the month. She was shaken but focused on trying to get a rescue effort together.

The closest land to Abby's boat was Reunion Island, which is east of Madagascar. The nearest ship was 400 miles away. Rescuers were trying to contact the ship.

Casher told ABC News that he last spoke with the 16-year-old sailor around 6 a.m. PDT after she had been knocked down twice during the night because of strong winds -- meaning that her sail had touched the water.

One of those knock-downs, Casher said, ripped the radar off the boat. She had been speaking with Casher on a satellite telephone earlier because of engine problems and was in the process of fixing those problems when she told Casher she'd call right back.

She has not been heard from since, except for the distress signals.

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: darwin; darwinaward; sail
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To: Texas56
A 16-year-old girl from England

Australia.

101 posted on 06/10/2010 11:51:07 AM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: Theophilus
What, may I ask, is your blue water sailing experience?
102 posted on 06/10/2010 11:51:23 AM PDT by outofstyle (Anti-socialist)
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To: maddog55
Personally, I’m all for it. She’s doing something she’s wanted to do and worked hard towards while most kids her age don’t have a clue what they want in or out of life at 16 and for the most part well into their 20’s.

Amen, we take risks all the time but the unusual risk taken by a brave young lady and her parents get slammed. If she survives I'd be proud to have a son of mine marry an audacious and mature girl like that.

103 posted on 06/10/2010 11:51:51 AM PDT by Theophilus (Not merely prolife, but prolific!)
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To: Bernard Marx
How brave you are! You can do what you like with your own adult life but parents have no right to place a 16-year-old into a situation like that. Hopefully they'll be charged with child endangerment.

Freedom should be illegal!

No one, anywhere, should be allowed to do anything you disapprove of.

104 posted on 06/10/2010 11:52:18 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law." -- Aristotle)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Do you think 12 year olds should be allowed to drive? Sometimes we need laws to protect children.


105 posted on 06/10/2010 11:52:19 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Give it a rest. The sea is no place to "find yourself" or set records as a teen in a solo adventure like this.

I'm not calling for prosecution like the other poster, but at some point you have to calmly way the risks. She, and her parents, didn't do so it seems.

I was on the MIDWAY (remember that old girl?) and watched that carrier tossed about like a cork. Cannot even imagine what a sailboat would be subjected to in a WESTPAC storm.
106 posted on 06/10/2010 11:53:13 AM PDT by tongue-tied
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To: tongue-tied
I agree with you. Parents are and should be the authority but when they act recklessly and irresponsibly, there should be consequences.

Why did she have to sail at 16 rather than 18 or 19? The answer is to set a record. How important was that to the parents I wonder. If she set this record then the next shot would be at 15 or 10 or 8!

I put people like this in the same boat (pardon pun) as the lil teen miss pageant parents. Most often it for their own personal aggrandizement. The child is simply a means to that end.

107 posted on 06/10/2010 11:53:26 AM PDT by traderrob6
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To: ex 98C MI Dude

There is a big difference between adults making these decisions and children.


108 posted on 06/10/2010 11:53:30 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: Texas56

Thanks for correcting me. Good for the brother!


109 posted on 06/10/2010 11:53:46 AM PDT by Churchillspirit (9/11/01...NEVER FORGET.)
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To: Red in Blue PA
people agreed govt does not know what is best for an individual and parents are supposed to know what is best for their 16 y/o children.
110 posted on 06/10/2010 11:54:56 AM PDT by outofstyle (Anti-socialist)
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To: bboop

So true..

My grandfather run away from home at 13. By 15 he was supervising a work gang building a railroad. His parents found him at that point! My grandmother was a meterologist in Arctic by the time she turned 17, flying in an open cockpit plane.. the other grandma was driving cattle from Ukraine through half of USSR to Siberia as German army advanced behind. She was 16 at the time.

16 is old enough IF you are old enough! Some people are never old enough..


111 posted on 06/10/2010 11:55:01 AM PDT by dimk
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yada, yada, yada. Yawn.


112 posted on 06/10/2010 11:55:55 AM PDT by Bernard Marx (I donÂ’t trust the reasoning of anyone who writes then when they mean than.)
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To: outofstyle
What, may I ask, is your blue water sailing experience?

Sadly, none, would that I had the resources. I've never been on the Titanic either.

113 posted on 06/10/2010 11:56:00 AM PDT by Theophilus (Not merely prolife, but prolific!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Still missing the point. I’m all for living at the cost of dying.

But...I’m also for responsible parenting. As a parent, I am responsible for my children until they reach age 18. I am supposed to be the voice of reason and good judgement in their lives.


114 posted on 06/10/2010 11:56:03 AM PDT by Retired Greyhound
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To: tongue-tied

Exactly. Bad judgment by the parents. The girl didn’t know better, but her parents should have. They will have to live with it. Along with the loony-toon “green” advertising sponsors who funded the debacle.


115 posted on 06/10/2010 11:56:39 AM PDT by jimbo123
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To: tongue-tied
She, and her parents, didn't do so it seems.

A hundred years ago, 16-year olds were adults, and acted like it.

We are so much better off now that society is populated by Peter Pans.

116 posted on 06/10/2010 11:57:04 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law." -- Aristotle)
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To: The KG9 Kid

Senhor Ferdinand Magellan says:

"Never send a little girl to do a man's job."

117 posted on 06/10/2010 11:57:31 AM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: Red in Blue PA

There is a big difference between trained professionals like the astronauts and a 16 year old kid.

The space program used hundreds of trained people who were the best in their fields. Not so sure about letting kids take such risks just so they can enjoy their 15 minutes of fame.

I can bet you one thing though. The parents will milk any outcome to their advantage. Seems that these kinds of people let their kids do this stuff so they can be in the spotlight for what ever reason.


118 posted on 06/10/2010 11:58:40 AM PDT by RickB444 (beat your sword into a plow and you'll wind up plowing the fields of someone who kept their sword.)
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To: tongue-tied
I'm not calling for prosecution like the other poster, but at some point you have to calmly weigh the risks. She, and her parents, didn't do so it seems.

You can't derive whether or not someone has weighed a risk by the outcome of taking the risk. If nothing had gone wrong, would that prove that they had weighed the risk?

119 posted on 06/10/2010 11:59:49 AM PDT by Theophilus (Not merely prolife, but prolific!)
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To: Theophilus

I went diving with my 12 year old off the gulf coast of Florida. We were looking for fossilized sharks teeth.

A non-fossilized teeth filled shark came to investigate.


120 posted on 06/10/2010 11:59:50 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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