http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37621453/ns/us_news/
Quote:
When the rescuers located her, they found her boat's mast was broken — ruining satellite phone reception — and was dragging with the sail in the ocean, said search coordinator Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority, which chartered a commercial jet for the search.
But the keel was intact, the yacht was not taking on water and Abby was equipped for the conditions, Kinley told reporters in Canberra, adding that "she sounds like she's in good health."
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She's not out of the woods until she's off that boat. With no sail, she has no control and dragging the sail and mast would make everything seriously unstable should she end up in those kinds of winds and waves again.
As for the discussion about letting a 16 year old do this kind of thing, I don't think that her age matters much.
The danger is in sailing in the Southern Ocean, which can dismast, roll (flipping sideways) and pitch-pole (flipping stem to stern) any sailing boat, regardless of the age of the captain. She knew what the dangers were, her family knew the dangers and it looks like she did the right thing - radioed for help and stuck with the boat.