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.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
That’s a wonderful explanation for this landlubber ( I once got seasick just sitting in an inner tube in the gulf—LOL!)
I’m glad to know that the program you describe is in place.
Please send your donations to me!...I love adventure!
also..Please send me your absentee ballots in all future elections
I think i can help your tax burden with your tax deductible gift to me and control of your ballot!
I eagerly await your address!...I can bill u if it will make it easier for ya...Freep mail me your CC# asap!
and in the proverbial words of Bartles and James...
I thank you for your support!!!
Please include me in the group....so sick of these sniveling whiners worrying about an Airbus going out to rescue an extraordinary young lady who is attempting to do something few in the world would even attempt...much less accomplish. Shame on Edmund Hillary for climbing that big old mountain back in the ‘50s....LOL...and Columbus...what was he thinking....and the guys in those Gemini capsules that had to be rescued...shoulda stayed home.
In the course of normal Coast Guard operations of course rescue is routine. This girl is WAY outside the main sea lanes where a vessel could rescue her (law of the Sea). This time of year the waves are routinely over 30 feet, the southern Indian Ocean is very cold and the currents unpredictable. This instance of “rescue” should have been prepared for. It is in no way a “routine” rescue. No problem with the cost of a rescue in normal circumstances. This is an underage child who cannot yet drive a car, or sign a contract, vote, drink... you name it. And there is no way she has enough sailing experience to do this deed. So, the world has to come rescue her. The voyage was poorly planned and poorly supported. The sea is not merciful. This is very much like rescuing stranded mountain climbers who expect an answer on their cell phone. Should not happen.
Wrong. Lifeguards are paid by state or local funds via taxes from the citizens.
Maybe you could explain your idea of "the public dime"?
I am damed proud to see an American kid showing the true grit that we Americans are made of!
***
Ditto!
"Adventure" to you is walking to your mailbox...you don't have an ounce of the "heart" this young lady has...now lay off the twinkies.
I was referring to major rescues, not a lifeguard pulling a kid from the surf.
I should have made it clearer, my apologies.
Please don't mention all of this to Joan or Arc....we might have to re-write a bit of Western European history...LOL
The southern Indian ocean in wintertime (that hemisphere) is NOT the same as a teenager driving a car within 20 miles of home. There is no comparison, nor can this be compared as such because the parents financed this endeavour and sought publicity for it and then sent their albeit eager teenager into seas that most navies avoid if at all possible. She is so far outside sealanes that there are no ships within a day’s full steam sail of her. That isn’t the same as a wreck on a date on Friday night. 16 year olds have learners driver permits.
Agreed. Also, I like what someone said upthread; he hopes she goes on to produce 5 kids with her DNA to add to the gene pool.
Why are you offended?
The Monkey Collective doesn't want its slaves to be thinking for themselves, ESPECIALLY the young ones. This young lady is an all-around HORRIBLE example for other young people that the Monkey Collective wants to control.
The dumbed-down youth must be kept illiterate and tied to their TeeVees & IPods, hopefully popping out more feral mouths to feed at a young age (on OUR tax dollars, of course...).
So, Abby Sunderland's parnets will be pilloried by The Collective, and Abby's accomplishments will have to be minimized.
As an aside, others have pointed out elsewhere that though the cost of the SAR operation was great, young Sunderland herself has stood ready to render the same aid to other fellow seafarers as she herself is receiving now. Part of the Compact of the Sea, and all that jazz...
Why am I not surprised that you would echo the sentiments of The Monkey Collective?
Joan of arc did nothing at the age of 16, actually not until she was about 18, she claimed to be 19 when she was found guilty.
TR the self-appointed leader of an American calvary troop that went to Cuba to kill Spanish soldiers in what was an unnecessary war started over a likely coal bunker explosion.
TR who started the whole President declaring vast tracts of land "national monuments" and setting the stage for more federal control.
I just love freepers who glorify those who grew government and Federal power.
Those critical just want this young lady to amount to something, like junior who is down in the basement playing Wii and daydreaming about starting a really awesome grunge band.
It's like jinxing a no-hitter.
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