I have to agree. This stunt was for nothing more than personal conquest and/or fame. I'm not going to assume one or the other, but a 16 year-old girl sailing around the world contributes nothing to the greater good of man. I'ts been done countless times before.
It's true, doesn't matter what got her there, the rescue goes forward and anyone called on should respond as if it were their own family. It's the way things are.
Having said that, making an assumption of entitlement like this family did should be frowned on in a serious way. They should be taken to civil court and billed for it... even if they can never pay it all back, they shouldn't profit from this at the expense of the folks who dropped everything to save her butt.
I wholeheartedly concur. And I can't help but wonder why this thing wasn't fully insured. It's another indication that they expected everybody else to pull their fat out of the fire when and if things went wrong.