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 ...
I wasn’t aware our astronauts were 16 year old kids.
I **thought** this was a place where people agreed govt does not know what is best for an individual.
Perhaps I stumbled onto the wrong site.
At 14, my great-grandmother’s older sister took her 4 younger siblings — all of them orphaned by cholera in Brazil — and traveled to America with the young man who was helping in the fields. He was 15. When they got to Ellis Island, they headed for Kansas, where some of their Volga German colony had settled. On the way, this eldest dtr and the hired hand got married. When they got to Kansas, they started a farm and raised 12 children.
Sixteen is ‘too young’ right now in our society, but perhaps that is part of the problem. Many 25 year olds today would still be ‘too young’ to do this, or to DARE to do this. And that IS a real problem.
See post 39.
Nail on the head post!
“i sure hope she’s safe... she’s so young... if she’s not okay, we’ll hear all about how she died doing what she loved...”
At 16 you don’t know what the he!! you love.
You are so right. Sending a 16 year old around the world on a boat alone is perfectly safe, I mean, what could possibly happen?
There was a 13 yo who recently summited Everest safely this year.
I agree, and for those who are criticizing the parents, how many sixteen year olds are killing in car accidents? She apparently has lots of safety equipment and we don't know she's lost yet. God save her.
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy Word,
Who walked on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
I 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.
Ok, you may want to think a little harder on this. I always challenged my daughter to live life to the fullest. She could surf and sail by the time she was eight. She was doing long competitive open water ocean swims when she was twelve. However, allowing your 16 y/o child to attempt a solo circumnavigation is child endangerment. In fact it is really worse than that because it is not simply negligence, it requires the willful participation of some very disturbed adults.
Not a car accident.
http://soloround.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html
wednesday, june 9, 2010
A Rough Few Days
The last few days have pretty busy out here. I’ve been in some rough weather for awhile with winds steady at 40-45 knots with higher gusts. With that front passing, the conditions were lighter today. It was a nice day today with some lighter winds which gave me a chance to patch everything up. Wild Eyes was great through everything but after a day with over 50 knots at times, I had quite a bit of work to do.
For most of the day today I had about 20 knots. I had been hoping to get some lighter winds so I could patch up one of my sails. It was still a bit windy out but with more rough weather tomorrow I wasn’t sure when my next chance to fix it would be. I managed to take it down, take care of the tear and get it back up in a couple of hours. It wasn’t the most fun job I have done out here. With the seas still huge, Wild Eyes was rolling around like crazy. Of course not even half and hour after I got the sail back up the wind dropped from 20 to 10 knots!
My Thrane & Thrane (Internet) system is down again so I am not able to send in my blog. The problem seems a bit more serious than the last few times I have had trouble with it. There is something wrong with the terminal at the back. It is possible that water got inside of it because it has a rough ride back there the past few days with waves crashing right over it. Unfortunately, if that is the problem I probably won’t be able to fix it. At least I still have my Iridium phones so I can still call in to my mom and read her my bog for her to post.
The wind is beginning to pick up. It is back up to 20 knots and I am expecting that by midnight tonight I could have 35-50 knots with gusts to 60 so I am off to sleep before it really picks up.
Posted by Abby Sunderland at 9:49 AM 74 comments
In a car accident you have medical and law personell minutes away.
Who is helping this young lady?
Freedom is such an evil thing. It allows other people to do things that you disapprove of.
Freedom should be outlawed.
Luckily for you, that's pretty much a done deal.
‘There was a 13 yo who recently summited Everest safely this year”
____________________________________________
Unlike this girl, he wasn’t alone, though. From CTV:
“The eighth grader from Big Bear Lake, Calif., reached the top with a team that included his father Paul and three Sherpa guides.”
Prayers up for this brave sailor.
Steve Fossett, right?
You can live in your cocoon if you desire, but others will continue to aspire to things out of the ordinary...
...hopefully, at the appropriate time in their life.
“I 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.”
___________________________________
LOL! Literally. :) My son was wondering why I was laughing. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.