Round-the-world teen sailor feared lost at sea

[kallend 2,108]

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The Australian maritime authority did not say how much the rescue mission would cost but said it would not be seeking compensation for the search, which initially fell just outside of Australia's search and rescue region. .

One wonders why Australian taxpayers should pick up the tab for this. Was anyone in Australia consulted about the wisdom of sending an over-privileged American teen on such a trip?

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[wayneflorida 0]

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Its a French boat, of course there are high explosives, otherwise how else would the be able to surrender and scuttle their boat?

BAM!

Well played, sir!

The French only surrender thier boats. That way when the Americans come to the rescue they get back a floating boat.

[wayneflorida 0]

My odds. solo unassisted circumnavigation around the capes.

06 % Solo unassisted like Jessica Watson.
70 % having to stop for repairs but continue on.
21% demasted or such and have to be rescued, boat abandoned or sunk.
03% death

[nanook 1]

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I didn't say anything. Just posted a link.

That site rubs me the wrong way. They call high-end earners and/or over-achievers the "status quo". Sounds like a bunch of guys who have bad attitudes. If they are right about what they say about that teen, they don't have to say it in a trenchcoat wearing antisocal style.

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[NickDG 23]

I blew off Geraldo Rivera after the Al Capone Vault thing, and FOX news altogether from day one.

But what's telling in this video is Abby struggling with the boat in five knot winds. I know you guys who followed her blog feel for her but if you compare it to Jessica's Blog or even Reid Stowe's (never thought I'd say that) there is a major difference in skill set.

Yeah, she says she grew up on a boat, but I grew up in my Dad's Barber shop, but you wouldn't want me giving you a haircut . . .

The reality TV bit doesn't bother me that much, go ahead and make a buck I say, but that was way too much boat for her, the wrong boat for the conditions, and the wrong time of year to make a Southern Ocean crossing.

Even Lin Pardey, the queen of storm sailing, has said this was a mis-thought out quest. I'm not a blue water sailor by any means, but I took my Catalina 27 from San Diego to Catalina, and damn, prior to leaving I was trying to get Stan Honey on the phone for a Wx forecast, LOL . . .

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4238423/geraldo-exclusive-explosive-allegations

NickD

[ifall 0]

God that was hard to watch with Geraldo's interview style. Just let the guest answer the damn questions and take a breath before trying to talk over them!

[riddler 0]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_re_as/teen_sailor

An article detailing the cost of her rescue. She was on the border of French and Australian waters, so both countries had to contribute to the rescue. It was likely a few million dollars.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[johnmatrix 21]

Finally - some sense.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/solo-sailing-dream-fades-for--laura-14-20100618-yk6l.html

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/26/california-teen-sailor-abby-sunderland-reunited-brother-zac-remote-ocean-rescue/




Published June 26, 2010
Associated Press


SAINT-DENIS, Reunion (AP) — Sixteen-year-old Californian sailor Abby Sunderland got a big hug from her older brother Saturday on the appropriately named Reunion Island, and again defended her family for letting her try to sail around the world alone.

Though saddened by the loss of her boat in an Indian Ocean storm, Sunderland said she isn't giving up sailing.

"I'm really disappointed that things didn't go as planned," Sunderland told reporters after coming to shore early Saturday on the remote French island of Reunion, located off the southern tip of Africa.

Massive waves snapped her boat's mast June 10, and she was rescued in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean two days later by a French fishing boat. It took two weeks more at sea to reach Reunion, from which she plans to fly home Sunday.

"Any sailor that goes out to the water knows that being hit by a rogue wave is a risk, no matter where you are," said Sunderland, flanked by her 18-year-old brother Zac, who flew to Reunion to meet her. "That was a risk that I was willing to take."

Sunderland said she was as well-prepared as she could have been.

"You can't eliminate risk, you can do a lot to minimize it but it's always there," Sunderland said.

Australia and France worked together to rescue the American teenager — and they footed the hefty bills for chartering jets to find her and diverting boats to her location.

Both countries have brushed off questions about the price tag for the American teenager's solo adventure and say they have no plans to seek compensation for the maritime search and rescue operation.

Sunderland thanked everyone who helped in her rescue and acknowledged "the public debate about the cost of rescues."

"I know that the USA would do the same for a citizen of any other country as these countries did for me," she said.

Sounding composed and lucid, she choked up only once, when thanking Zac — who at 17 briefly held the record for being the youngest person to sail solo around the world — for "inspiring my dreams."

Her brother met the French patrol boat as it sailed into the harbor of Reunion's capital, Saint-Denis, climbing aboard and embracing her as Abby teared up.

The accident "ended my trip but it didn't end my dream," Sunderland said. But she blanched and didn't answer, however, when asked whether she would try another solo circumnavigation anytime soon.

Her parents stayed in California, where her mother is soon to give birth to her eighth child.

Sunderland, whose father is a shipwright and has a yacht management company, set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in her 40-foot (12-meter) boat, Wild Eyes, on Jan. 23. In April she had to give up hope of breaking the record for being the youngest when she was forced to stop for repairs.

Then three-story-high waves broke her boat's mast and cut off her satellite communications. She was rescued June 12 by a French fishing boat 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) west of Australia.

She described her surprise when an Australian airplane finally spotted her and her relief some 40 hours later when she first caught sight of a French fishing boat.

"The past few months have been the best of my life," she said. "I was on an adventure. You can only plan so far."

Sunderland said criticism of her family for letting her undertake the expedition "is ungrounded."

"They have put up with a ton of stuff to help me follow my dream," she said.

Some observers have wondered if the family isn't pandering to media attention with both Zac and Abby seeking records.

Her father Laurence, reached by phone late Friday at his home in Thousand Oaks, California, told The Associated Press the family was thrilled that Abby had arrived safely on Reunion Island.

"I am absolutely totally over the moon with how quickly the plane and boat reached Abigail. I think the guys did a fantastic job with the rescue and we are so grateful to them," he said.

Sunderland said she wants to write a book eventually and definitely wants to keep sailing, but for now she's most looking forward to getting home.

"I hope to have a new brother soon," she said. "And I look forward to seeing my dog."

Sunderland had spent the past 10 days on the French patrol boat Osiris as it returned from the Kerguelen Islands, a remote and barren patch of rocks north of Antarctica, where she was taken briefly after the rescue.

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/29/rescued-teen-sailor-returns-california-home/

Published June 29, 2010


MARINA DEL REY, California -- Abby Sunderland said Tuesday she faced down moments of terror on the high seas when her boat was rolled over by a rogue wave as she tried to sail around the world.

Still, the 16-year-old was proud of her effort, hoped it might inspire others and wasn't ready to abandon sailing.

"The past few weeks have been really crazy for me," said Sunderland, who looked poised and comfortable as she sat next to her 18-year-old brother Zac at a news conference in Marina del Rey, where she set sail in January.

Sunderland flew back home Monday after being rescued from the Indian Ocean by a fishing boat. She was about halfway through her journey when a fierce storm battered her 40-foot boat Wild Eyes. A rogue wave capsized the boat and destroyed its mast.

"As you probably all really know, I'd much rather be sailing Wild Eyes back in here. But the plane was really comfortable," she deadpanned.

Rescuers searched Thursday for Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old from Southern California, who was attempting a solo sail around the world and is feared lost in the Indian Ocean.

In her first statements since returning home, Sunderland said she was below deck working on her boat as the storm was letting up.

"The storm I was in did not roll my boat. I was hit by a rogue wave once the storm was already dying down," she said. "I didn't have a lot of warning."

Since her voyage went awry, Sunderland's parents have come under relentless criticism for allowing the teenager to set sail alone.

Sunderland once again defended her attempt, saying the question of her age should have been settled after she became the youngest person to sail solo around Cape Horn.

"Growing up on boats and feeling, you know, that you know what to do in case of an emergency, it really helps," she said. "I knew when I headed out for this trip that I was gonna be testing myself, and I was gonna have to push myself to my limits."

Sunderland acknowledged, however, there were moments when she was terrified.

"You get scared and then you have to get over it because being scared, it doesn't do anything good," she said. "It just makes you hesitate and makes more problems start coming."

Sunderland's mother is pregnant with her eighth child, and the sailor told reporters she might have a new little brother before the news conference ended.

Family spokesman Lyall Mercer said the baby would be named Paul in honor of the captain of the boat that rescued Sunderland.

Sunderland's parents were unable to attend the news conference because of the pregnancy. They issued a statement saying they have been subjected to intense personal criticism that has crossed the line of decency.

"To hear the intensity of the personal hatred spewed by some in the media and on blogs was shocking to us," Laurence Sunderland said in the statement. "Abby should not be subjected to these hurtful attacks against members of her family, especially as what was being said was based, at best, on twisting facts out of context and, at worst, on total fabricated lies."

The statement added, however, that the family was willing to forgive critics who don't know their family or understand the experience and ambition of the two siblings.

Zac Sunderland, 18, successfully completed a round-the-world voyage last year, briefly becoming the youngest person to do so. His record has since been broken.

Abby Sunderland said she was as prepared as possible for the trip. Every sailor knows there is risk in trying to sail around the world, she added.

She said she wasn't "majorly hurt" when the rogue wave hit, but her boat was.

She set off her emergency beacons and waited. She was amazed when a plane dispatched from Australia to find her flew overhead the next day. Two days later the fishing boat arrived.

Sunderland thanked her rescuers and other people who helped with her trip. She singled out her brother as someone who had helped inspire her.

"I'm living proof that things don't always work out the way you plan, but you can only plan so far in an adventure," she said. "You can reduce risk but you can never completely eliminate it."

Sunderland plans to keep sailing but for now has other things to do.

"I'm just gonna be focusing on school, a driver's license, all that, getting back to a normal life," she said