Abby Sunderland Feared Lost at Sea

abcnews.com ^ | June 10, 2010 | ROBERT RUDMAN, MARC DORIAN and TOM McCARTHY

[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.

[Xenalyte]

“summitted”

What’s wrong with the perfectly good (equally accurate, and shorter, therefore better) “climbed”?

[Theophilus]

If she wanted to do it when she was eighteen

If she is a mature young woman than the fact that she was sixteen and not eighteen is irrelevant. Her brother had recently completed the same feat. She is unbelievably well equipped and she was no longer in the running for the record because she had to make a safety stop in South Africa to repair her equipment. She is doing this for the love of the sailing adventure.

[VOA]

Great hymn...as a never-served civilian, the first time I heard it
was when a Navy quartet sang it at Richard Nixon’s funeral.
Tough to not get a little drippy when you really listen to it.

[spectre]

My greatest concern for anyone sailing alone would be "pirates". So no matter how good a sailor the girl is, she can't defend herself against them.

I pray that isn't her fate.

[isthisnickcool]

She has a decent rig she is sailing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikwQmRCgWFM

She knows what she is doing and I suspect that she will be OK. More on her is here:

http://soloround.blogspot.com/

[Hot Tabasco]

People like that take risks from an early age.

The only risk in this possibly tragic story was taken by the parents of an inexperienced 16 year old girl that allowed her to sail off alone on a trip around the world in a sailboat.

This inexperienced child was nothing more than the ignorant pawn in her own parents' quest for fame and glory.......

[rambo316]

Thems are the breaks then, right. I don’t care how mature a minor feels, sailing is very hard and not for a 16 year old girl.

[Justa]

"What do people think was going to happen?"

It's quite obvious.

Google Cache: AmyPalooza.

The 'AmyPalooza' website, as I call it, now re-directs to her blog. I viewed it earlier and it had all kinds of merchandise ads and T-shirts offers, etc. Complete with a BS 'rollover test' of the boat. Very poor taste. I can see why they pulled it. Balloon boy in a boat.

[Xenalyte]

Hear, hear. What you said.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I am sure they would much prefer "Killed in car crash at 16 pursuing a boy."

[jonascord]

Rescuing people is what the Coasties do. They've been doing it longer than any other task the Feds dream up for them. The Coasties aren't cheap, but they give value for the service they render. They sure have the EPA, and the Department of Education beat.

Time was, when, if you were in trouble at sea, whoever rescued you had salvage claim to your ship and cargo. Now you have to sign off on the salvage. The salvor then risks his own money and gear, and collects from the insurers. The insurers figure it's cheaper to buy back a floating ship and cargo, rather than pay off on a lost hull at the bottom.

[HighlyOpinionated]

Sacajawea went with her husband. He was hired as their guide.

Safe at home?? This was circa 1800. You came in from the field, had a baby and went back.

Me thinks probably safer with Lewis and Clark who had been briefed on all kinds of medicines.

If she'd stayed home, she'd could have died in child birth. you failed to mention that.

My point was, she was 16 and pregnant. Her husband was less help than she was. When the canoe he was in capsized, it was she, not he, who saved the written notes and other gear. She was able to communicate with the other Native Tribes the expedition traveled through, husband was not.

But she was 16. Was she an adult or a child? By today's laws, she wouldn't have been "allowed" [by the government] to marry. And her husband could have been jailed for rape.

We coddle our children trying to protect them from an early death. And then too many die anyway because they make poor decisions without thought for the consequences.

The last time one of my grandkids did something that caused her to cry because she got hurt, my response was: "Did you learn anything? Will you do that again?"

Some of y'all sound a lot like Democrats. [/sarc]

[traderrob6]

Sorry pal, you are truly creeping me out.

[Texas56]

No problem.... I actually need to correct that the girl who finished her solo trip recently was from Australia not England.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sorry pal, you are truly creeping me out.

You don't get around much, do ya?

[DJ MacWoW]

I am sure they would much prefer "Killed in car crash at 16 pursuing a boy."

This girls pursuit of sailing around the world is one of self-indulgence. Who does it benefit but her? At 16 she doesn't even know what life is about. And now others will risk their lives to find a selfish kid lost in high waves.

[Hot Tabasco]

There was a 13 yo who recently summited Everest safely this year.

While the age achievement is commendable, Everest is not the unknown mountain it once was. One only has to google Everest Expeditions and find literally "packaged deals" to take anyone to the top if they can afford it.

And if they have no climbing experience, then they also offer 1 week "training packages".......LOL!

There's a big difference between climbing Everest on a now prepared route with father and guides leading the way and sailing around the world alone in a sailboat for at the very least 6 months.........

[E. Pluribus Unum]

This girls pursuit of sailing around the world is one of self-indulgence. Who does it benefit but her? At 16 she doesn't even know what life is about. And now others will risk their lives to find a selfish kid lost in high waves.

You should be King of the World, that way you could tell EVERYBODY how to live.

[CaliforniaCon]

RE: “The number of nanny-asses on this thread sucking up for a DSS job is sickening. Prayers for this couragous explorer.”

*************

I agree with you! What if she were 18 instead of 16? Big difference, huh? Clearly this girl knew what she wanted to do and did it. She knows/knew the risks and so did her family. Prayers up for Abby and rescuers attempting to find her.

[Hot Tabasco]

hope that this tragic news won’t give my wife second thoughts about launching my 10 year old son into space next month in the home-made space capsule I’ve been building in the backyard.

Think of how famous you and your wife will be if the mission is successful? And besides, your kid will be on the front page of every newspaper and magazine across the land.........dead or alive!@