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Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...

Desperate search for 16-year-old lone US sailor

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Created by Trant > 9 months ago, 11 Jun 2010
Trant
NSW, 601 posts
11 Jun 2010 11:53AM
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www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/10/abby-sunderland-sailor-yachtswoman-teen-sea-search

Hope she's found safe and well, brings it home how well Jessica Watson has done.

Sailhack
VIC, 5000 posts
11 Jun 2010 1:59PM
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^^ Agree, also shows why the were so many concerned about JW's trip.

doggie
WA, 15849 posts
11 Jun 2010 12:11PM
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^^ Agree, I was against JWs trip for this reason, its sad and I hope she is ok

GypsyDrifter
WA, 2371 posts
11 Jun 2010 12:36PM
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I don't think she will be as it was going to take someone 3 hours to get to her..
But we live in hope..

NR
WA, 517 posts
11 Jun 2010 12:38PM
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I have been following this as well. Totally sucks. The nearest boat is 40 hours away as well. Some pretty gnaraly conditions out there. Hopefully she pulls through.

tightlines
WA, 3489 posts
11 Jun 2010 1:07PM
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Hang in there Abby.

soloround.blogspot.com/

Abby's parents wrote: "Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize."

GypsyDrifter
WA, 2371 posts
11 Jun 2010 1:27PM
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tightlines said...

Hang in there Abby.

soloround.blogspot.com/

Abby's parents wrote: "Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize."


That gives me hope

neilw
WA, 134 posts
11 Jun 2010 3:34PM
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All good, she has been found safe and well. The boat has been dismasted but the hull is intact and Abby is not injured. She will be picked up tomorrow and the boat scuttled.

sausage
QLD, 4873 posts
11 Jun 2010 6:18PM
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Trant said...

Hope she's found safe and well, brings it home how well lucky Jessica Watson has done was.


GypsyDrifter
WA, 2371 posts
11 Jun 2010 4:21PM
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neilw said...

All good, she has been found safe and well. The boat has been dismasted but the hull is intact and Abby is not injured. She will be picked up tomorrow and the boat scuttled.


Thank Goodness.....

doggie
WA, 15849 posts
11 Jun 2010 4:22PM
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sausage said...

Trant said...

Hope she's found safe and well, brings it home how well lucky Jessica Watson has done was.





+1.....

thommo 000
1670 posts
11 Jun 2010 4:28PM
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bl00dy kids!...

Mark _australia
WA, 22853 posts
11 Jun 2010 5:18PM
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I heard she was found with Andy Muirhead

Globetrotter
74 posts
11 Jun 2010 6:58PM
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Good to hear she is well!!
Problem i see is more children (cause thats what they are) will attempt this until one or more get killed. The obvious answer will be for authorities to bring in laws & regulations to stop this happening, more licensing, higher rego & insurances. End result it will cost me more money & restrict me from following my dreams....Seriously these children can only have so much experience, jw 5 years from age 11. It not much weekend & holidays i presume she went to school!!!! I've been sailing over 15years & wouldnt attempt a solo sail, solo sailing is living on luck, you can reduce risk but the rest is luck!!!

knigit
WA, 319 posts
11 Jun 2010 7:09PM
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Can we PLEASE not start this again. She's safe. nuff said

neilw
WA, 134 posts
11 Jun 2010 7:20PM
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I don't know why people are so down on these kids following their dreams. More kids are killed by motorbikes, pushbikes, motor cars, sports of various kinds etc than sailing of any kind. If you stop kids from following their dreams in case something bad happens, they may as well sit at home and play their playstations and watch tv. But they will probabley die from obesity or heart disease. Rant over

landyacht
WA, 5921 posts
11 Jun 2010 7:46PM
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I was wondering why she was heading into the southern ocean in winter? i thought the norm was to get into the SO in mid spring and go through over summer

gs12
WA, 404 posts
11 Jun 2010 8:10PM
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knigit said...

Can we PLEASE not start this again. She's safe. nuff said


You don't have to read this thread if you don't like it. It's entirely your choice mate.

Back to the topic: I think it's great that people pursue their dreams but this type of thing (as well as JW's trip) is irresponsible stunt in my opinion.

I had a quick read through the blog & as soon as things go wrong the parents were "working closely with American, French and Australian Search & Rescue authorities to coordinate several ships in the area to divert to her location".

Like Search & Rescue services of 3 different countries + several other ships have nothing better to do?

I'm not saying she shouldn't be rescued, all I'm saying is she shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Mark _australia
WA, 22853 posts
11 Jun 2010 8:34PM
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neilw said...

I don't know why people are so down on these kids following their dreams. More kids are killed by motorbikes, pushbikes, motor cars, sports of various kinds etc than sailing of any kind. If you stop kids from following their dreams in case something bad happens, they may as well sit at home and play their playstations and watch tv. But they will probabley die from obesity or heart disease. Rant over


So where do you draw the line? No kids have been killed base jumping so lets push a 10 y/o off the edge of the Harbour Bridge hoping for $1million in media interview fees and Pepsi Max or Red Bull endorsements??

It is not a case of stopping them from following their dreams - it is a case of what is acceptable risk and what is not. Stopping them from trying too hard to be the youngest ever to do something inherently dangerous is not the same as encouraging them to be couch potatoes.

maxm
NSW, 864 posts
11 Jun 2010 10:35PM
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^^^^

+1 stunt. Hope she gets back safe but the parents of all these kids need a slap on the back of the head. Somebody now has to risk THEIR life to go out and rescue her!

Globetrotter
74 posts
11 Jun 2010 8:36PM
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unfair comparison, if the same amount of children who play footy decided to solo nav around the world then we would have deaths daily!!!
Motorbikes are licensed & restricted in there use because of this very issue "they are dangerous". A 16 year old cant ride a motorbike on public property regardless of there dreams or experience.
if this is such a big dream for them why not wait a few years until they are 18 as this seems to be the age our society regards as adult. same dream, same person with no 15min.....which seems to be the driving force.
Remember we live in a community everything you do eventually affects me & vice versa. My freedom will be lost due to selfish acts of precious little darlings who are lauded by the masses. Do I need or want more restrictions for sailing? No I DON'T

as for fat kids playing playstation the government now want to tax fast food & restrict the sale of certain foods in school canteens(more losses for responsible people). but that's for another post

cRAZY Canuk
NSW, 2528 posts
11 Jun 2010 10:39PM
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I find it interesting that people jump into the kids shouldn't do it debate - there have been quite a few "professional yachts men" the have been dismasted/holed/ds keeled/injured who have multiple million dollar budgets that haven't done half as well as the "kids" that have attempted this - case in point was the last solo round the world where a portion of the fleet didn't make it through the first 72 hours (from memory only 1/3 finished - one guy finished with out a keel!)

I beleive the reason she left during the wrong season was in order to beat Jessica's record - she had an initial crack at it but had issues that lead to a late departure.

cRAZY Canuk
NSW, 2528 posts
11 Jun 2010 10:43PM
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maxm said...

^^^^

+1 stunt. Hope she gets back safe but the parents of all these kids need a slap on the back of the head. Somebody now has to risk THEIR life to go out and rescue her!


Kid goes surfing at dawn is bit by a shark, some one puts there life in danger by helping them get in - do we slap those perents up the back of the head too?

Globetrotter
74 posts
11 Jun 2010 9:14PM
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cRAZY Canuk said...

I find it interesting that people jump into the kids shouldn't do it debate - there have been quite a few "professional yachts men" the have been dismasted/holed/ds keeled/injured who have multiple million dollar budgets that haven't done half as well as the "kids" that have attempted this - case in point was the last solo round the world where a portion of the fleet didn't make it through the first 72 hours (from memory only 1/3 finished - one guy finished with out a keel!)

I beleive the reason she left during the wrong season was in order to beat Jessica's record - she had an initial crack at it but had issues that lead to a late departure.




My point exactly professionals with years of experience struggle so why send your child.
Secondly Braking age records is inherently dangerous. Eventually a 15 then 14,13,12,11 where do we stop!!
What is the age limit you would put on it? 12years old or 8. Maybe leave it to the parent, they always know what's best & would never chase a dollar!!!

cRAZY Canuk
NSW, 2528 posts
11 Jun 2010 11:38PM
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Maybe I should have done double qoutation marks most of the kids that try this actually have more experiance and better boat handling skills than some of the so called pros.

j murray
SA, 947 posts
12 Jun 2010 11:16AM
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If you say "NO!" to anything....determined kids will just borrow the boat/car

/bike/plane/etc and have a go anyway, i know i did and lived thru it. The

envelope has been pushed that far now and the limit is still not able to be

seen. Kids is kids. Could anyone really stop you........????. Some will dye trying

but that is a very small percentage of the kids in the world. Others will be

damaged, most will have an attempt, fail and coyly decide its not for them.

gs12
WA, 404 posts
12 Jun 2010 12:17PM
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maxm said...


Somebody now has to risk THEIR life to go out and rescue her!


j murray (and others that think this is OK), did you consider this?

Great to have dreams but others shouldn't suffer because of it. I think that's the whole point here.

pweedas
WA, 4642 posts
12 Jun 2010 6:21PM
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maxm said...
[br Hope she gets back safe but the parents of all these kids need a slap on the back of the head. Somebody now has to risk THEIR life to go out and rescue her!


If it happened two or three times a year then I think something should be done to stop it,.. but it doesn't.
Regarding the cost of the rescue exercise, the rescue services often plan and carry out a fake rescue mission just to make sure they have got their act together.
Quite often they have not and things go pear shape.
Every now and then it's probably a good thing to have a real emergency so we can see that things really work the way they should.

Same with the army. If there is no war then they play war games.
At the moment we have a few nice wars to choose from so no need for war games.

So the question of whether a 16 year old should go or not should be left up to the judgement of their parents taking into consideration others advice and everything they know about the kid.
I'm sure they did that.
I can't imagine anyone would send one of their children off on such an exercise without a confident expectation that they woud return.

As to whether this will result in 12 year olds trying the same trick, it is extremely unlikely because I would guess it would be impossible to find both parents and a support crew that could be convinced the kid would be up to the job.

maxm
NSW, 864 posts
12 Jun 2010 10:05PM
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pweedas, it isn't a "rescue service", it's a fishing boat. It's only sheer luck they were anywhere near the area. I don't think they've trained for this sort of thing. Trouble finding a 12 year old? Why would they? There was no problem finding 13 year old Laura Drekker. It was only the government stepping in that stopped that one.

maxm
NSW, 864 posts
12 Jun 2010 10:27PM
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cRAZY Canuk said...

maxm said...

^^^^

+1 stunt. Hope she gets back safe but the parents of all these kids need a slap on the back of the head. Somebody now has to risk THEIR life to go out and rescue her!


Kid goes surfing at dawn is bit by a shark, some one puts there life in danger by helping them get in - do we slap those perents up the back of the head too?


Slightly different in degree, doncha think?

Surfing carries some risks, yes, but is generally regarded as a relatively safe persuit. Sailing solo through the southern ocean in winter is generally regarded as complete UNsafe.

Being attacked by a shark is a risk of surfing but it's usually seen as a minor risk. Damage, dismasting, sinking and death is seen as a very real possibility of sailing through the southern ocean in winter regardless of the age of the sailor. In fact, isn't that part of the point? People wouldn't be yammering about how inspiring these kids were if it WASN'T an inherently difficult and dangerous pursuit.

The rescuer may have to go out a few hundred metres to effect the surfers rescue. They'd need to go thousands of kilometres through some of the worst water on the planet for the solo sailor.

Carantoc
WA, 6992 posts
12 Jun 2010 9:16PM
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maxm said...

pweedas, it isn't a "rescue service", it's a fishing boat. It's only sheer luck they were anywhere near the area. I don't think they've trained for this sort of thing. Trouble finding a 12 year old? Why would they? There was no problem finding 13 year old Laura Drekker. It was only the government stepping in that stopped that one.


What if it was a Japanese whaling boat ?

Ooooohhh how good would that be, think of the comments then



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Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...


"Desperate search for 16-year-old lone US sailor" started by Trant