“She’s only 16! Years my left foot!”
She’s been sailing since she was 3. That’s 13 years of preparation.
“Why allow a child to do something so dangerous?”
Because it was there.
“She’s just a KID.”
She’s not an infant and nor is she 5. She’s 16. Big difference.
“Her age is what makes this outrageous. If an adult wants to do something like this, great. But a child? YOU pointed out that 16 year olds driving is dangerous.”
I pointed out that 16 year olds quite successfully learn to drive, and are expected to do so as a rite of adulthood.
Denying a young person from undertaking their own rite is contrary to what we as a society should believe. Imagine if we had challenging rites for adolescents so that they could be men afterwards? Perhaps many of the immature behaviours will pass away.
So send one out on the ocean? ALONE? Yeah. There’s sense.
Would you send a 16 year old girl to walk from one side of detroit through downtown for a week, from 10pm to 6am each day back and forth if they really wanted to?
Soloing the southern oceans in wintertime is not comparable to learning to drive a car. You have no appreciation of the dangers of the oceans. It loses its romanticism after watching someone go down with a ship’s rigging or having a friend drown.
They put her in a sailboat, alone, at 3?
Because it was there.
Excellent reason to allow a child to court death! Because they CAN! /s
She’s not an infant and nor is she 5. She’s 16. Big difference.
A 16 year olds judgment sux and you know it.
I pointed out that 16 year olds quite successfully learn to drive, and are expected to do so as a rite of adulthood.
They are some of the most irresponsible drivers around.
Beginning Teenage Drivers - NHTSA PDF
The problem is worst among 16-year-olds, who have the most limited driving experience and an immaturity that often results in risk-taking behind the wheel. The characteristics of 16-year-olds’ fatal crashes shed light on the problem:
Percentage of fatal crashes by characteristic, 2004
Driver Age: 16 Driver error 78%
17-19 69%
20-49 55%
Go to the link for more. 16 year olds are the worst drivers. Sending one out ALONE on an ocean is courting disaster.