16YO trying to sail around the world, found alive with boat disabled, rescue on

[afc wimbledon]

Glad she is alive, the parents are morons.

[Bownesian]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/0...d-rescued.html

A French fishing vessel rescued a California teenager Saturday from her crippled sailboat in the turbulent southern Indian Ocean, bringing relief to her family but ending her around-the-world sailing effort.

Her father, Laurence, defended the voyage.
"I never questioned my decision in letting her go," he told reporters Friday. "In this day and age we get overprotective with our children. If you want to look at statistics, look at how many teenagers die in cars every year. Should we let teenagers drive cars? I think it'd be silly if we didn't."

I happen to agree with him and don't think this story would have been any different if she had been 18 or 25 or 35 years old.

[Weiser Wonder]

18 is the driving age in many countries. Why would it be silly to not allow teenagers to drive? Especially since it's statistically proven teenagers are terrible drivers. Seems like the logic indicates it is silly to let them drive.

[JustAnotherGuy]

There is a huge difference between being over protective of our kids and allowing them to circumnavigate the globe on their own. I don't really care one way or another about what their motivation was to try this. But can we at least lose the argument that he did it because he doesn't want to be over protective?

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

18 is the driving age in many countries. Why would it be silly to not allow teenagers to drive? Especially since it's statistically proven teenagers are terrible drivers. Seems like the logic indicates it is silly to let them drive.

Lots of 20, 25, and 30 year olds are terrible drivers too, should we ban them too? My sister-in-law's sister has been in half a dozen "accidents" that "weren't her fault" but having seen her drive I know that she caused most of them because she likely panicked.

The point the father is making is that at some point you have to let your kids grow up and that involves some risk, both personal and to society at large.

Do the people making judgments about the parents in this case feel the same way about parents "letting their kids" participate in sports like rock climbing or skiing or luge or aerials or football or hockey just because kids get seriously injured and, yes, killed in those as well?

Having done some offshore sailing (i.e. multi-day passages out of sight of land), I know that it really is pretty simple when it comes down to it - plot a sensible course given wind direction, keep the right amount of sail up for the conditions, watch for other ships and let the auto-rudder steer the boat. I wouldn't choose to sail in the southern ocean myself but some people do. There is no doubt that this girl knew the risks and had appropriate skills for what she was trying to do - this isn't a case of child abuse or something.

[CaptainCrunch]

I have no problem with him allowing her to go, well I do.

I have trouble because there was no safety net in place for this girl.

I have problems because this guy that is supposed to be an experienced sailor probably looked at her charts, looked at her planned path and approved her sailing through a area that at this time of the year is unpredictable and dangerous. When I look at a map with a lot of red in one area and I'm avoiding it.

[Pinner]

And she's gonna get grounded when she gets home !

[CaptainCrunch]

Sounds like the rescue was pretty hairy. The french fishing boat got swamped in very rough seas and one of the crew members got washed overboard.

This was taking a unnecessary and stupid risk.

I'm glad she's ok but her parents should have to pay for the rescue.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Pinner

And she's gonna get grounded when she gets home !

Why her parents were the ones that ok'd this thing.

[Pinner]

J/K inferring that she is still a kid

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I have no problem with him allowing her to go, well I do.

I have trouble because there was no safety net in place for this girl.

I have problems because this guy that is supposed to be an experienced sailor probably looked at her charts, looked at her planned path and approved her sailing through a area that at this time of the year is unpredictable and dangerous. When I look at a map with a lot of red in one area and I'm avoiding it.

I would wager that she was an "experienced sailor" too and that the father has likely made passages in these seas as well and knew the risks. As for a "safety net", there is none like you would want when you are on the open ocean. Your safety net has to be your decision making skills which tell you how to operate the boat given the conditions and then if things go badly, you have to be able to decide what to do next. She did the right thing - called for help, stayed with the boat even though it was disabled and was rescued.

My in-laws, who recently completed a 10-year circumnavigation and are now in French Polynesia for one more season would agree with you in terms of choosing your time and place for passages. They kept to the "safe parts" of the ocean for the season where they were and tended to return to Canada with the boat out of the water during the local hurricane season.

Despite this, they have faced their share of dangers including the Tsunami (they were inland buying groceries and while the boat was unharmed because it was anchored in deep water their dinghy was 100m inland in a tree), a near-miss pirate encounter in the Red Sea and in their most recent crossing, a halyard failure that caused their front sail to rip off the mast and whip forward, then into the ocean and under the boat all around the keel and rudder, requiring a mid-ocean swim to disentangle the works.

Even in the safe places, sailing is not without its risks.

Sailors know this and despite that, there is part of the sailing community who compete in races and do travel in the Southern Ocean. To me, it's no different from skiers who ski out of bounds, mountain climbers or snowmobilers who travel to avalanche areas. They know the risks but if things go badly, they should be the ones who pay the cost for rescue services.

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Sounds like the rescue was pretty hairy. The french fishing boat got swamped in very rough seas and one of the crew members got washed overboard.

This was taking a unnecessary and stupid risk.

I'm glad she's ok but her parents should have to pay for the rescue.

I'm sure she would have done whatever she could have to have helped if the situation were reversed and the fishing crew was on a life raft and she was the closest person who could help.

I agree with the last part. They should and probably will pay.

[CaptainCrunch]

I respect that, but when a French Sailing boat going to their rescue gets swamped and a rescuer gets thrown overboard, and this is common conditions in the Indian Ocean at this time of year.

Then that tells any experienced sailor that its not a good place to be sailing through, especially on a solo voyage with no help anywhere near her.

It to me was an stupid risk and one thing when you talk to sailors, or pilots or even drivers is you don't take those kind of risks you avoid them.

This wasn't a microburst that simply showed up or a fast forming tropical storm. This was pretty standard conditions that are known about ahead of time.

Her dad should have looked at her plot, looked at the conditions throughout the plot and maybe done what a good dad does and say, not a good idea, lets try a different way.

And I can tell you this as well. If I was a dad, and my 16 year old daughter wanted to sail around the world, I would plot the course so that the nearest help wasn't basically two days away.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Bownesian

I'm sure she would have done whatever she could have to have helped if the situation were reversed and the fishing crew was on a life raft and she was the closest person who could help.

I agree with the last part. They should and probably will pay.

Thats the oldest law of the sea, but that doesn't mean that this stunt didn't put lives at unnecessary risk.

[Nehkara]

I personally think that there is no problem allowing her to go.

- She has been sailing since she was six months old in some form or another.
- She was on a boat that had circumnavigated three times prior.
- She had excellent survival gear, great safety and communication systems and enough supplies to make the trip.
- As evidenced by her handling of situation she is also very well trained to deal with emergency situations. She managed for fight through that storm for quite some time before the lost her mast. I would wager if she hadn't lost it, she wouldn't have even needed to call for help.

[Nehkara]

Abby Sunderland's view:

Aboard a rescue ship, the 16-year-old updated her blog, reassuring friends she was doing okay and hitting back at those who say the trip was too dangerous an undertaking for someone so young.

"There are plenty of things people can think of to blame for my situation; my age, the time of year and many more," she wrote on soloround.blogspot.com. "The truth is, I was in a storm and you don't sail through the Indian Ocean without getting in at least one storm. It wasn't the time of year, it was just a Southern Ocean storm. Storms are part of the deal when you set out to sail around the world.

"As for age, since when does age create gigantic waves and storms?"

Sunderland also criticized the media, saying "everybody is eager to pounce on my story now that something bad has happened."

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

If I was a dad, and my 16 year old daughter wanted to sail around the world, I would plot the course so that the nearest help wasn't basically two days away.

There is no circumnavigation path that satisfies this condition. A short sail crossing of the Atlantic is a couple of weeks (Africa-S. America) and you do not want to be sailing in the busy shipping lanes where there is more traffic.

[rockstar]

Good for her. What a journey.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Sounds like the rescue was pretty hairy. The french fishing boat got swamped in very rough seas and one of the crew members got washed overboard.

This was taking a unnecessary and stupid risk.

I'm glad she's ok but her parents should have to pay for the rescue.

That's totally ridiculous!

If you were a rookie pilot and crashed a small plane in the mountains and after 3 days of search were found alive should you pay for it? It takes years of experience flying small aircraft threw draft conditions to know how to handle them, If you have no experience you shouldn't do mountain flying so it would be your fault if you crashed.

Fact: tax dollars pay for search and rescues and I'm 99% certain the US coastguard will pay for that french vessels time and possibly for the aussie airbus who found her.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

Abby Sunderland's view:

She doesn't react like a 16 year old. Good for her.