Thread: Teen sailor missing mid Indian ocean

Just seen the parents on CNN. She is ok.

Originally Posted by patsycat

Just seen the parents on CNN. She is ok.

Bang them up!
Charge?
Stupidity.

At 16 you can't buy a beer, drive a car or watch a Freddy Kreuger movie, but sailing around the world on your own is o.k?

Originally Posted by Bogon

At 16 you can't buy a beer, drive a car or watch a Freddy Kreuger movie, but sailing around the world on your own is o.k?

These bladdy kids with their grandiose ideas. Shoulda just let her run wild with the rotten California teens in her neighbourhood so she'd be doing crack or meth, gyrating with a pole in front of lewd old men or prostituting herself. What is the world coming to? Oh ya, her family is born-again Christian, so she is definitely messed up.

Unfortunately there is no country in the world where the law forbids dimwits to have children.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Originally Posted by Bogon

At 16 you can't buy a beer, drive a car or watch a Freddy Kreuger movie, but sailing around the world on your own is o.k?

These bladdy kids with their grandiose ideas. Shoulda just let her run wild with the rotten California teens in her neighbourhood so she'd be doing crack or meth, gyrating with a pole in front of lewd old men or prostituting herself. What is the world coming to? Oh ya, her family is born-again Christian, so she is definitely messed up.

What a negative old hag. Say, you're not single are you? I wonder why.

Australia to cover costs of Abby Sunderland's rescue
June 11, 2010

AUSTRALIA will pay for its part in the search and rescue of teenage solo sailor Abby Sunderland who encountered extremely rough weather in the Indian Ocean.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority chief executive Mick Kinley said searchers saw and made radio contact with Abby just after 4pm (AEST) on Friday.

"She sounds like she's in good health, as far as we can tell, and she's going to hang in there,'' Mr Kinley said in Canberra.

Australian authorities commissioned a Qantas plane to search for Abby, who is about 3700km off the coast of Western Australia.

Mr Kinley did not say how much the rescue mission would cost, but said there would be no attempt to recover costs.

Abby's emergency beacon went off outside Australia's search and rescue region, in the region of La Reunion and La Reunion asked Australia for assistance.

The boat then drifted into Australia's search and rescue region. Australia is now co-ordinating the rescue mission.

When asked if Australia would seek to get the money back, Mr Kinley said: "No, that's the way the system runs.

"We would expect people to rescue any Australian yachtsman in these conditions,'' he said.

"It's our obligation to do this and we'll fulfil those obligations as Australia does.''

A vessel should reach her in about 24 hours, he told reporters at 5pm (AEST).

Her boat was upright but had lost its mast due to rough weather conditions.

"She's in the boat, the boat's seaworthy, it's not taking on water,'' Mr Kinley said.

Mr Kinley said a French fishing vessel would rescue Abby.

Australia would send more aircraft to monitor the situation tomorrow.

It was quite likely Abby would be taken to La Reunion, but that had not been settled.

The accident happened in very heavy weather, but conditions were now normal, with a 4-5m swell and fairly heavy winds.

Abby's location was described as "way down in the southern ocean''.

It was a long way from merchant shipping routes and it was lucky the French vessel was in the vicinity, Mr Kinley said.

She is in international waters, but in Australia's search and rescue zone.

Mr Kinley explained that Abby had dropped out of contact because her satellite communications were lost when she lost her mast. The rescue plane had to get quite close to her to establish radio contact.

It was believed she had not been able to speak to her family yet.

theaustralian.com.au

Originally Posted by Lambik

Unfortunately there is no country in the world where the law forbids dimwits to have children.

Luckily...Dafney chose all by himself not to.

Originally Posted by Bogon

At 16 you can't buy a beer, drive a car or watch a Freddy Kreuger movie, but sailing around the world on your own is o.k?

I guess she should be at home doing all the good stuff yanks do these days...hangin in the mall, beating up old people, smokin crack, shagging gang members for respect......

Fair play to the recent spate of youngsters that have completed this pretty amazing feat.
But if this trend continues, it will only be a matter of time before something goes wrong, and then the media / public opinion backlash will kick off bigtime.

Stranded sailor Abby Sunderland rescued
June 12, 2010

Solo teenage US sailor Abby Sunderland has been rescued from her battered yacht Wild Eyes.

The 16-year-old was taken aboard the fishing vessel Ile De La Reunion about 7.45pm (AEST) on Saturday.

Sunderland left Los Angeles on January 23 in the hope of becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo and unassisted.

She gave up that goal in April when her yacht needed to be repaired, but continued her journey anyway.

However, her yacht was damaged again in heavy seas, suffering a broken mast off Australia's west coast on Thursday.

Emergency services launched a search and rescue operation and she was located by air on Friday.

It remains unclear where she will be taken, but the Australian Maritime Safety Authority says the decision lies with the master of the 1295 ton Ile De La Reunion.

The vessel is registered in Port Aux Francais in the French-owned Kerguelen Islands, but is known to operate from Reunion Island.

news.brisbanetimes.com.au

So the Guinness Book of Records is still looking for a 'youngest person lost at sea trying to circumnavigate the globe' candidate then?

No...the aussie chick did it....just everyone else is being a bad sport about it.

Any future person that does it and is recognised as it, will have to live under her shadow.

Originally Posted by Nawty

No...the aussie chick did it....just everyone else is being a bad sport about it.

Any future person that does it and is recognised as it, will have to live under her shadow.

Let's hope that nobody else will be stupid enough to try.

I was thinking to put my 8yo's hand in the ring for a go.

He cannot sail, but the wind only blows one way right ?

Originally Posted by slackula

So the Guinness Book of Records is still looking for a 'youngest person lost at sea trying to circumnavigate the globe' candidate then?

Originally Posted by Nawty

No...the aussie chick did it...

The Aussie chick was lost at sea?

AMSA Coordinating Search and Rescue - Wild Eyes
12 June 2010 - 8:00pm MEDIA RELEASE

The rescue of 16 year old US solo sailor, Abby Sunderland, from the yacht Wild Eyes to the fishing vessel Ile De La Reunion was successfully conducted at 7:45pm AEST today - approximately 2000 nautical miles off the West Australian coast.

The rescue, coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Rescue Coordination Centre – Australia (RCC Australia), was conducted with the support of a Global Express aircraft which provided top cover during the transfer and served as a communications relay between Wild Eyes and the Ile De La Reunion. The crew of the Ile De La Reunion conducted the rescue with a boat launched from the fishing vessel.

RCC Australia has notified Ms Sunderland’s family of the successful rescue. Arrangements to land Ms Sunderland will now be negotiated with the three ships that have responded to the distress situation.

International Maritime Organization guidelines indicate that such arrangements should avoid disruption to commercial shipping as far as possible. Since the fishing vessel would suffer a significant commercial penalty from leaving the fishing grounds, it is possible that Ms Sunderland will be transferred to one of the other two ships. One ship is bound for Australia and the other would likely return to its home port at La Reunion.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority wishes to acknowledge the cooperation of operators and authorities, both national and international, that have worked together to successfully conduct this rescue - these include Maritime RCC La Reunion, Qantas, WA Police, Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia, Defence and the three ships which are responding.

The Master of the Ile De La Reunion has reported Ms Sunderland is safe and in good health.

amsa.gov.au

Originally Posted by slackula

The Aussie chick was lost at sea?

No, she found herself regularly

At 16 she is an adult and should have to fit the bill.
She could go into the record books as the most in debt 16 year old in the world.

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

At 16 she is an adult

how does that work ?

"[I am] still trying to get over the fact that I will never see my Wild Eyes again."

- Abby Sunderland (blog entry - June 12, 2010)

Originally Posted by Mid

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

At 16 she is an adult

how does that work ?

Can get married have children, join the army, die for your country etc.
Still can't have a beer though.
Actually, thats a good idea.
Off to the fridge.

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Can get married have children, join the army, die for your country etc.

marriage will require judicial and parental consent ?

children sure and younger , not an indicator of adulthood

military , 17 with parental consent and 18 without

thus she is not an adult at 16 .

Abby Sunderland wants second go at sailing record
Trevor Paddenburg, Chris Robinson and Carly Crawford
June 13, 2010


Abby Sunderland''s stricken yacht, Wild Eyes, before her rescue.
Picture Will Blackshaw Source: PerthNow


Abby's yacht was demasted and her communications system knocked out in heavy seas
AP Source: Supplied


Abby is safely aboard the French fishing boat Ile De La Reunion
Source: PerthNow

THE Rudd government has confirmed Australia can't seek to recover the cost of rescuing US teen sailor Abby Sunderland after her boat was demasted in the Indian Ocean.

The 16-year-old solo sailor from California, who was trying to beat Jessica Watson round-the-world yachting feat, was picked up by the French fishing vessel Ile De La Reunion 2000 nautical miles south west of Perth at 5.45pm yesterday.

Her 12-metre yacht, Wild Eyes, which was demasted in heavy seas on Thursday night, remains adrift, Perth Now reports.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia couldn't send Abby and her backers a bill even if it wanted too.

"That's not the way the law works," he told Network Ten.

"The Australian taxpayer at the end of the day makes a contribution.

"But we have to put this in context - if there was an Australian lost at sea we would want ... every effort to be made to save that person."

A chartered Qantas plane was sent from Perth early on Friday to search for Abby about 3700km off the coast of Western Australia.

It located her 12m yacht that afternoon. It's been reported the Qantas charter cost $10,000 an hour.

Mr Albanese said the episode proved Australia was a world leader in search and rescue.

"We can be very proud of the efforts of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority," he said.

"They have pulled off a remarkable rescue."

The transport minister said Australian authorities located Abby within four hours of being put in charge of the rescue.

The US ambassador called Mr Albanese on Saturday to thank the nation for its efforts.

Abby has meanwhile thanked her rescuers but vowed she wants to take on the seas again.

"It's been a bit crazy these past few days, everything's happened pretty fast, but it's really lucky there was a boat that could come and get me where I was,'' she told the ABC from her rescue boat.

"I'm definitely going to sail around the world again, or at least give it another try.

"I don't know when I'll get another chance to do it. I've wanted to sail around the world for years and I definitely want to do it.''

Asked if she was scared, she said: "When stuff is going on out there you can't get too scared about it. It doesn't do any good.

"You do what you need to do - set off the EPIRB, keep the boat afloat, do all that. There's really not a lot more you can do. Getting all scared about it doesn't help anything.''

Later on her her blog, she reassured friends that she was doing OK. She also hit back at her critics.

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

A spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said that Abby would likely be transferred to one of two other ships heading to the rescue site.

"Arrangements to land Ms Sunderland will now be negotiated with the three ships that have responded to the distress situation.

"One ship is bound for Australia and the other would likely return to its home port at La Reunion."

Cost to taxpayers

Abby set off emergency beacons after she lost her mast and communication system in heavy seas on Thursday night.

She was spotted late on Friday after a 12-hour search that has already cost Australian taxpayers more than $200,000.

Abby's parents have been severely criticised for for letting her sail a yacht across the Indian Ocean in the notorious winter storm season, only a month after she was forced to stop in South Africa for auto-pilot problems.

A similar voyage by Jessica Watson was done in much more favourable seasons.

The man who built Wild Eyes, Queensland boat-builder Jon Sayer, said that Abby was not up to the trip.

"She wasn't physically or mentally strong enough to handle a 40-foot boat in those winter storm conditions."

Round-the-world yachtsman Ian Kiernan also criticised Abby for failing to respect the sea.

"I don't know what she's doing in the southern Indian Ocean in the middle of the winter. We need adventurers but adventurers who do foolhardy things and put their rescuers at risk, it should not be allowed."

However, her parents defended their decision, saying they were a family of "adventurers, not accountants''.

"We don't live inside a box - we do things,'' said Abby's Australian-born father, Laurence.

"Some people are accountants, some people are librarians, our family is full of adventurers. I wouldn't want to try to turn them into librarians.''

Abby's brother Zac, 18, sailed solo around the world last year.

Abby's mother, Marianne, who is heavily pregnant, said that her little girl was aware of the dangers.

"Abby is a very gifted, talented, passionate sailor,'' she said.

heraldsun.com.au