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.

[ilovesarah2012]

That’s all I needed to know.

[Sacajaweau]

The chase boat is the right thing...

[tongue-tied]

No you are right, the government does not know what is best for kids. But parents should.

Retired Navy here, carrier guy. When we were in the ocean, with a carrier battle group (they called them that back then) we had picket ships with radar scanning everything around us. Weather and threats included. When we launched planes, we'd have greater coverage to make sure we were clear for some serious ocean coverage. When one of the planes spotted a weather system coming in, depending on how severe, we would steer clear as a battle group, or tell the picket ships (destroyers, small boys) to clear out: head south for 100 miles, turn west, we'll meet up in a day or two at these coordinates.

This 16 year old, with a sailing ship radar and satellite comms, didn't have that. Parents should have said, er, not in this season, you must wait.

Earlier thread mentioned she went - against other's advice - to sail during the stormy season. My guess is she wanted to break a record or tie it, before her next birthday when she'd be too old to do so. Bottom line, her parents should have said no. Instead, they said yes, and she is in peril or maybe already dead.

Sorry, not the nanny state's fault in this case, but parents letting her "pursue her dreams". Idiots, in my view.

/soapbox off

[driftdiver]

As long as its not a silver balloon.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

In the immortal words of Donald Rumsfeld: "it's not the unknowns we know, it's the unknowns we don't know that get us".

Why not quote Duh-bya, too?

"There ought to be limits to freedom."
--George W. Bush, May 21, 1999

[Theophilus]

In a car accident you have medical and law personell minutes away.

Many people die instantly or are injured beyond remedy in car accidents. I pray that God saves her but time and distance are only a matter of relative intervals, if you are dead it does not matter if you were an inch/seconds out of reach or 400 miles and days. She is obviously well equipped or we would not know of her plight yet.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.


Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

[Sacajaweau]

Someone can’t get a jet to do a fly over...With GPS of her last position, it should be fairly easy to see what’s going on...Or am I being unrealistic..

[DesertSapper]

Exactly what I was thinking. I’m sure I read about her completing this trip just a couple of weeks ago.

[jonascord]

There are children and there are adults. Defining by age isn't the best way, it's just convenient. I know several children in their 50s or older, including our current resident in the White House.

Go down to Florida, sometime, and hang around a marina. The stories you here about all these 60+ "sailors" will make you cringe. I'll bet Abby, at least, was wearing a harness and a PFD.

[ex 98C MI Dude]

Different girl. That was Jessica Watson, I believe.

[Retired Greyhound]

You are off the deep end here.

It was bad judgement on the part of the parents. I’m not saying it should be illegal.

You are so married to your silly argument that you won’t admit the obvious.

And, you still won’t say whether you would allow your 16 year old to do this.

[maddog55]

Lots of folks follow in their parents footprints as a result of having it drummed in their heads but that’s not always bad.

What you do is your choice ultimately.

I’ve got respect for the kid for trying.

I’ve got 30+ year olds working for me that don’t have a clue about anything from day to day.

[Texas56]

Actually, her older brother did make it around the world and for a while was the youngest to have done so. His record was beaten about two months later by another 17 boy from England (I think).

A 16-year-old girl from England just completed her solo sail around the world last month.

Prayers for Abby.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

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.

And we wonder why so many of our children are infantalized? The answer is people like you.

A hundred years ago a sixteen year old was an adult, and they acted like adults.

I don't see where extending childhood is actually good for children, much less society.

[proud American in Canada]

LOL!

Quick, get the t.v. cameras! ;)

[jimbo123]

Someone can’t get a jet to do a fly over

Madagascar? Don't count on it.

[outofstyle]

I believe in freedom. I have raised my daughter to be free. You either a) have no concept of what a solo circumnavigation entails, b) have never raised a child, or c) have never done so responsibly.

With regard to what is involved in an attempted circumnavigation: countless adult master mariners have perished in this attempt. They at least were consenting adults. furthermore the parents would have needed to invest invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in this adventure. Believe me as a parent free and living 21 y/o and as a sailor, I can tell you that the parents created this dream for their daughter in order to fulfill their own fantasy.

[buccaneer81]

Different girl. That was Jessica Watson, I believe.

I know that. That's my point. This endeavor has been completed successfully by a 16 year old girl. Yet these posters are completely clueless to that fact and continue to moan about the ability of a teen to do it. Well, it's been done, successfully.

Moral of story. Some can do it and some cannot. Kind of like most things in life.

[Bernard Marx]

Better to live as a vegetable and be safe. Or at least think you are.

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.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

And, you still won’t say whether you would allow your 16 year old to do this.

If that's what they wanted, and if it were financially feasible.

There are 9 billion people on the planet.

Living as if mere survival was the most important goal is mind-boggling.