Wild Eyes dismasted in the Southern Indian Ocean Photo courtesy of Australian Search & Rescue
Posted on 06/11/2010 6:01:21 PM PDT by NoLibZone
What were her parents thinking? Many people were asking that question as a 16-year-old girl sat adrift and alone in the frigid southern Indian Ocean, her ship's mast dashed along with her around-the-world sailing effort.
Abby Sunderland's ship was rolling in 20- to 30-foot waves as she waited to be rescued by a boat that was expected to arrive early Saturday morning Pacific time.
She set off a distress signal Thursday after rough seas disabled her ship and her satellite phone reception. There were 20 hours of tense silence before a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made brief radio contact with Sunderland and found her alive and well Friday morning.
"The aircraft (crew) spoke to her. They told her help was on the way and she sounds like she's in good health," said Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority, which chartered a commercial jet for the search.
"She's going to hang in there until a vessel can get to her," Kinley told reporters in Canberra.
Many people criticized Sunderland's parents for allowing the high-risk adventure, one of several by young people looking to make the record books. Some veteran sailors said it's all but irresponsible to send a teenager off alone in a small boat, knowing it will be tossed about like a toy for 30 or more hours at a time by the giant waves that rake the Southern Hemisphere's oceans this time of year.
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The roaring 40’s are what they are.
This is great news—I hadn’t heard that she had been found. Our prayers have been answered.
Maybe it’s just me, but she’s been sailing since January to do the around the world thing. She was well equipped and wanted to do it.
It sounds to me like the conditions she was in would probably have wrecked most boats, so hers must be a pretty sturdy one.
Her brother had already done it at the same age and there may have been some sibling rivalry as an incentive. Even so, I’m thinking - good for her. I wouldn’t have tried it, but I admire her for having the courage and the moxie to do so, and to continue on even when she knew she couldn’t get the record.
I’m guessing she’s gonna go places in her life.
Everyone keeps crying about rescue costs. Do you understand how routine a rescue is?
I knew someone in the Coast Guard who says they did rescues all the time for stranded boaters. A lot of times they go too far away from shore or their engines fail or they have no clue what they are doing.
We dont charge a dime for those rescues, yet you want to charge the parents of this girl?
Or how about lifeguards on the beach? They do rescues all the time on the public dime.
Its always been this way.
Found, but not rescued!
"Sailing and life in general is dangerous. Teenagers drive cars. Does that mean teenagers shouldn't drive a car?" Laurence Sunderland told the AP. "I think people who hold that opinion have lost their zeal for life. They're living in a cotton-wool tunnel to make everything safe."
Recently there was a story about a boy who was put in foster care for about 2 years because his mother left him with his stepfather, who was not abusive (nor was the mother). The court considered him “abandoned.”
But these two can put their daughter in the middle of the ocean alone, and that’s ok.
What is the double standard here? We rescue mountain climbers and cave explorers and will probably do whatever we can to rescue ‘private” space explorers in the future. Would we rather pay out millions in welfare to dolts, than save the life of this young pioneer?
She'll do whatever pleases her father.
I understand—but I assume they will be able to pick her up. Surely there are planes overheard keeping an eye on her.
She’s just carrying on the great European-American lust for exploration and adventure....I applaud her for her determination and fortitude. What an incredible 16 year old...she could have been doing crack in South LA instead....you go girl!
Exactly! My tax dollars go out everyday to support some crack head 16 year old who's popped out another future criminal who will probably car-jack me 14 years from now. Much rather my money go to this girl's rescue. Besides its the Australians footing the bill...and they're glad to do it. They asked one of the Australian rescue officials if they were going to ask her family to foot the bill...his reply was "heck no, we would hope that any other country would do the same for one of our citizens" (paraphrased).
Because teenagers drive cars does that automatically qualify them for a position in the Indy 500?
Oh, horse manure. I was brought up on sailing, and I was allowed to take chances. I haven’t sailed in the southern ocean, but I was allowed to go out and learn for myself how to get out of difficulties.
My uncle’s 50-foot sloop didn’t have safety rails, because it was his theory that people would be more careful if there was only a toe rail. That worked just fine.
I still do foredeck work in races, and I haven’t fallen overboard yet after 63 years at the helm or in the crew in all sorts of weather.
My cousin uses a sailboat to follow whales out at sea, and he’s been dismasted twice. It’s a nuisance, but it’s not really all that dangerous as long as the boat is sound and you know what you’re doing.
Obviously this young lady needed to be rescued, stuck in a dismasted boat many miles from anywhere, but it doesn’t sound as if she was in danger of dying. And she had the good sense to have a couple of radio beacons and make proper use of them.
People used to take chances in the old days, and I would guess that probably fewer of them were hurt back then than are damanged now by falling into drug use and other bad habits. You can’t live your whole life in a padded cell or a safety cage. Or at least I don’t think you should have to.
How many 16 yr olds killed while driving a car while she was sailing? Many
When a teenager gets into a car accident, do we ask for a form of payment before firefighters pull them out of a burning car?
You guys are all starting to sound like liberals. You putting money before human life. If public funds have a purpose at all, it’s for search, rescue, defense, and emergency services.
You want to cry about wasting taxpayers money, there are plenty of other places to cry about that. PLENTY! Instead you whine about rescue money for a stranded teenager in the middle of the ocean?
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