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 ...
But your post reminded me of the greatest adventurer that I knew. My grandmother! At the age of 13 she would spend weeks on end tending their sheep on the other (remote) side of the Fjord in Norway. Crawled down the mountain with an appendicitis attack and laid on a boulder sticking out from the shore a bit for a day and a night before a passing boat saw her and saved her. At the age of 15 she moved away from home to a larger city to learn how to sew. At the age of 16 she sailed for America. By herself. No friends or relatives over here. She landed in New York and asked where all the Norwegians were. Someone told her “Minnesota” so she got on a train for Minnesota.
She didn't realize it was 1500 miles away!
I always thought these “Kid tries to sail around the World” stories were fraudulent, because they probably had a flotilla of vessels no more than 50 yards from the kid’s boat at any given time,.....but apparently not.
I'll elaborate: In a 40' sailboat running downwind in 30' waves + 60Kt winds with a significant cross chop = Death. The cross chop conditions very likely beat her senseless inside the boat -literally.
She may well be in the water hoping on a SAR pickup via the 121.5Mhz homing beacon or GPS signaling device. Unfortunately, she likely doesn't realize the nearest vessel is 500 miles away and that the devices' batteries will probably be depleted before they reach her. Most transmit only for 24 - 36 hr.s. I doubt this is something 'Team Abby' is up on otherwise she'd have asked for nearest vessel info via AIS reporting before it got rough. She would have then used that to calculate maximum time in water after bailout to determine Go-NoGO conditions as it set in.
I am not doing any such thing. I am musing on what I would do in a similar situation.
She had already made it through that weather. It had subsided to 35 knots and she was trying to restart her engine for charging duties. Thats when something must have gone wrong. Hopefully not fire. Fire+Boat=DoublePlusUnGood.
‘Who says she’s a child?’
The child welfare laws.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla : The child welfare laws.
And the brain study posted in 269 by r9etb
“permantality ? I think the word you wanted was permanence.” Yes, that’s FR’s spellcheck for you, but, I think you knew that.
“She’s doing something quite dangerous, with the approval, backing and knowledge of her parents.”
Therein lies the problem.
“In my examples, I was doing something stupidly dangerous, without even the knowledge of my parents.”
Assuming there was due diligence on their part, can’t blame them for that.
As I stated previously, the only adventurers were the parents who sent their child out onto the ocean for a minimum of a 6 month journey alone in a small sailboat.............
Ok, I see that, thanks. Maybe she’s still in the boat with no power and is signaling an SOS due to loss of electrical? But then why pop both EPIRB and PLB and make no satellite calls? The rogue waves usually follow the storms. Hopefully she’s not in the water.
Not quite, she died so her parents could live the experience vicariously as being the parents of the youngest child ever to be sent out onto the ocean alone in a sailboat.......
Fame and fortune for the parents, despite the outcome of the now apparent tragic voyage........
One can hope. I’d hate to be in an automated sailboat without electrical in heavy weather...
Or in the water. Its winter down there, and she is in an area few dare to tread at this time of year. Her parents probably should have told her not to continue on after she had to port in SA. Thats the problem I have with them. Letting your 16 y/o kid sail solo around the globe? It has been done. Let her sail in the killer seas of a Southern Hemisphere winter? Not so much.
“The world is running out of adventurers.”
Yea baby, let’s send our children needlessly into harms way for the sake of adventurism.
That was the first thing that my family and I thought of. That should have been a given when the trip was first planned. A young girl, no matter how skilled a sailor, could fall victim to a host of things sailing solo in a vast body of water. In this instance it seems it was bad weather, but what about the possibility of pirates and other nefarious types, or am I being too much of a melodramatic mom in my thinking? Prayers that they find her alive and well.
It’s winter down there. It will be 2 days at the earliest until a ship gets close to her last reported location.
Generally not in the route she was on......but with that being said, it's not pirates, it's the ever changing weather and the false belief that all your onboard GPS and electronics will forever protect you.
Nature shows no mercy which has been proven time and time again.............
On a dumbass voyage such as this, these parents bet the life of their daughter that the weather would be merciful on her trip so they could get their names and daughter into the history books........and it sounds like they lost. How tragic!
Cool!
At 16, i was piloting a Cessna through Appalachia, at night, watching the ice build up on the wings and spinner.
it’s not a matter of age, but maturity.
Sending a 16 year old around the world on a boat alone is perfectly safe, I mean, what could possibly happen?
Poor thang.
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