Thread: Teen sailor missing mid Indian ocean

Missing teenage girl found alive and well on solo round-the-world sailing voyage
Carol Driver
11th June 2010

A 16-year-old girl feared lost at sea as she attempting to sail solo around the world has been found alive and well after a massive search was launched.

Abby Sunderland had been missing for nearly a day after losing contact with her father during satellite calls as her yacht was pounded by 30ft waves in the Indian Ocean.

A Qantas Airbus A330 chartered by Australian rescue authorities when the Californian adventurer began signalling emergency beacons yesterday.


Found: A rescue operation was launched after Abby Sunderland lost contact with her family during her solo voyage

The 11 trained searchers spotted Miss Sunderland’s 40ft vessel, Wild Eyes, in an upright position although the mast was broken and the keel had been detached.

She was found 3,219km southeast of Madagascar and 2,000 miles southwest of Australia.

Three vessels have also been sent from the French territory of Reunion Island off Madagascar. A fishing boat is expected to reach her by tomorrow morning.

Miss Sunderland told searchers – who had faced a 7,600km round trip from Perth to find her - she was safe and had a space heater and at least two weeks' worth of food.

On her blog Abby's Blog her parents wrote: ‘Wild Eyes is upright but her rigging is down. The weather conditions are abating. Radio communication was made and Abby reports that she is fine!


A fishing bot sent from the French territory of Reunion Island off Madagascar is expected to reach Miss Sunderland tomorrow

‘The French fishing vessel that was diverted to her location will be there in a little over 24 hours. Where they will take her or how long it will take we don't know.’

Laurence Sunderland said his daughter, who set sail in January, had all of the safety equipment she needed, including a cold water survival suit, life raft and bag with emergency supplies.

Mick Kinley, from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in Canberra, said: ‘The aircraft spoke to her, they told her that help was on the way, and she sounds like she is in good health.

‘She is going to hang in there until the vessel can get to her in about 24 hours.’

The authority said conditions in the area were poor, with 56mph winds and an 18ft swell.


A map of the search area for 16-year-old Abby Sunderland

A lifelong sailor whose father is a shipwright and has a yacht management company, Miss Sunderland set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in Wild Eyes on January 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping.

Her brother briefly held the record in 2009.

Miss Sunderland soon ran into equipment problems and had to stop for repairs.

She gave up the goal of setting the record in April, but continued with the journey.

By June 8 she had completed a 3,400km leg from South Africa to north of the Kerguelen Islands, taking a route to avoid an ice hazard area.

Ahead of her lay more than 3,400km of ocean on a 10 to 16-day leg to a point south of Cape Leeuwin on the southwest tip of Australia.

Her parents have been criticised in the media for allowing her to undertake the solo voyage at 16.

Sailing experts have said that she was ill-advised to leave California in January, because she risked arriving in the Indian Ocean at the start of the winter season.

Miss Sunderland’s brother, Zac, 18, who sailed solo around the world last year, said: ‘She's got all the skills she needs to take care of what she has to take care of, she has all the equipment as well.

‘I really wish I could see her and hope she gets through this one.’

On May 15, Australian 16-year-old Jessica Watson claimed the record after completing a 37,000km circumnavigation in 210 days.

dailymail.co.uk

Chartered A330.
Bit dangerous init.

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Chartered A330.
Bit dangerous init.

Why ? Cos of all the water ?

looking at the map she is closer to other countries than Oz...but yet again Oz does an outstanding job and without question to locate and co-ordinate her rescue.....awesome we are.

probably should have sent an oz ship though as the french dudes will probably throw in the towel half way...to rough...to sea sick...

Why not Aus, it's only just outside your A3.

Sailing experts criticise Abby Sunderland's circumnavigation attempt

Sailing experts have sharply criticised US mariner Abby Sunderland, calling her attempt cross the treacherous Indian Ocean during winter "ridiculous and insane".

By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 11:46AM BST 11 Jun 2010

Abby, 16, was spotted by a search and rescue plane after setting off two emergency beacons 2,000 miles west of Perth.
An international operation was lanched to find her, amid fears that she could have become separated from her boat and lost in the rolling, frigid seas.

Last year a court acted against the wishes of the parents of a 13 year old Dutch girl by preventing her from setting off on a solo voyage around the world.
Sailing experts have warned that Abby should not have been in the dangerous southern seas at all.
Ian Kiernan, an Australian sailor who has circumnavigated the globe, said her voyage had not been planned properly and that she had been "foolhardy" to enter the Indian Ocean during winter when weather conditions could deteriorate swiftly and present a mortal danger.
Marty Still, an Australian who built the boat used by teenage sailor Jessica Watson to successfully sail round the world earlier this year, said that Abby's team had chosen the wrong type of craft for the perilous crossing. He said that her boat had been built for speed, not safety, and would be extremly difficult for one person to sail.
But the harshest criticism came from America. A columnist in the Los Angeles Times accused Abby's parents of "child abuse" for allowing their daughter to go ahead with her voyage and described the mission as "outrageous, ridiculous, incomprehensible insanity".
TJ Simers wrote: "Why is any 16-year-old allowed to place herself in harm's way? Why would any parent allow such a thing?
"I just don't understand the idea of risking life. This kid's going to be out there all by herself. Death is a possibility. Bad weather. Are you kidding me? Who's responsible for this? She's a kid."
However, the Sunderlands defended the decision to let Abby go.
"Could there be a tragedy?" Marianne Sunderland said in an interview with the ABC before she set off.
"Yeah, there could be. But there could be a tragedy on the way home tonight, you know, or driving with her friends in a car at 16. You minimise the risks."
Abby's attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, beating Watson's record, is now over.
After she triggered her emergency beacons in huge seas and losing satelitte phone communication with her team in the US, an expensive international search and rescue operation swung into action to find her.
The French territory of Reunion Island, off Madagascar, sent three ships to her aid and Australia deployed a Qantas passenger jet from Perth to search for her from the sky.
After a four-hour flight to Abby's last known location more than 2,000 miles from both Africa and Australia, the plane crew spotted her boat in an upright position and made contact with her via radio.
The teenager was inside the boat and uninjured with a heater and at least two weeks worth of food. However, the mast had broken off the boat, disabling the craft and effectively ending her record attempt.
A fishing boat is heading to pick her up and is expected to reach her in about 40 hours.
Her father Laurence Sunderland told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "She's fine, the boat's afloat and she's on it. It's huge, fantastic, exciting news.
"She wasn't rattled by the abating conditions that she had during her daytime," he said."Everything seemed to be fine but the calls were dropping in and out."
Abby's support crew had feared that she had become separated from her boat, or that the boat had been flipped upside down in the water, with Abby trapped inside, possibly injured.
The young sailor hit trouble when her 40ft sloop Wild Eyes encountered bad weather in the frigid southern Indian Ocean. She had been battling 25ft waves with 35-knot winds when she lost contact with her family and support crew and her boat had suffered two knockdowns. She was speaking on a satellite phone and said she would call straight back but did not. At the time, the closest ship was 400 miles away.
Abby set sail from Los Angeles on Jan 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping. Her brother Zac briefly held the record at age 17.
She completed the trip's most difficult section, rounding the southern tip of South America, known for treacherous winds and waves.
But she then ran into equipment problems, losing the use of her main autopilot, and had to stop for repairs in South Africa in April.
She decided to continue with her round-the-world voyage anyway, leaving Cape Town on May 21 and reaching the halfway point of her journey on Monday.
After having to abandon her non-stop attempt she said: "I will definitely keep going and whether or not I will make any more stops after this I don't know yet.
"I admit I was pretty upset at first, but their is no point in getting upset. What's done is done and there is nothing I can do about it."

daily telegraph

She got knocked over how many times ?

In the middle of nowhere.

Mast collapsed.

Freezing cold.

90kph winds.

9m swells.

She got on the radio and said 'I am fine'

More balls than all you lot whining about it will ever have.

Who is going to pay for all this?
I know that as a skipper I am legally bound to help if I am the closest vessel with no promise of reconpense, but this SAR was not cheap.

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Who is going to pay for all this?

the Australian Taxpayer courtesy of the gov .

The Australian government chartered a Qantas airways passenger jet that left from Perth, Western Australia early morning local time with dozens of spotters.

Abby Sunderland Alive in Indian Ocean | Newsolio

gotta agree , insurance or a cash bond perhaps ?

Cash bond, don't think you'd find an insurer.
The premium would be the same as the bond, me thinks.

Although what about the people who do this for fun and not as a death or glory commercial venture. As this obviously was.

I know people that have said "I think I'll sail around the world next week" and have done exactly that.

glad she is okay and send the bill to her parents.

Originally Posted by aging one

glad she is okay and send the bill to her parents.

Hope mama and papa have half a million quid then.

Originally Posted by aging one

glad she is okay and send the bill to her parents.

Yes, thank goodness she is okay..... yes, bill the parents ........

Renowned Australian round-the-world sailor Ian Kiernan said Abby should not have been in the southern Indian Ocean during the current southern hemisphere winter.

- Duh

zygote 1

Taxexile: damn the nannying that people are subjected to these days, and damn any lawyers who think the courts can dampen peoples lust for life.congratulations to her parents for letting their daughter off the leash to follow her spirit in such a positive way.

You are inconsistent. The nannying comes from the pressure to expend limited resources to go and find her. The opposite of nannying would be to expect this person and her family to accept the consequences of their selfish decision.

i would imagine that she and her family were well aware of the risks involved in undertaking this voyage, her trip was mostly sponsored and i wouldnt be surprised if the sponsors will be billed or offer to pay towards the rescue effort, we'll have to wait and see if that is the case.

as others have said, she shouldnt expect governments or rescue organisations or commercial shipping to foot the bill for extracting her from a situation of her own making.

This is a repost, as I really messed up the format of the earlier one,,, :

Quote:
Originally Posted by khang
Quote:
Originally Posted by zygote1
If people wish to undertake this type of activity for personal glory and/or the potential to earn cash from endorsements, that's their decision. However, the world should not be expected to waste resources on searching for a single pleasure boat that has willingly accepted the inherent risks of a solo voyage.

Call me nasty, but where does it end? It costs thousands of dollars/euros to go off looking for these idiots. It diverts resources away from more important activities like actually rescuing other vessels in distress.

Mr.Gote:

It is not surprising that your post engendered so many harsh responses. You picked the were "worst" victim to comment about. If it had been and older male, only 40% would have called you callus. If you had said it about a 16 YO male, probably 60% would have called you callus. But you are talking about a 16 YO FEMALE .. you will have 95% of western posters calling you viscous and demented.

Sdigit: Could you please tell us where you found these figures that you are quoting or were they made up?

Totally winging it .. I didn't claim it was scientific.

Quote:
Khang: Westerns will probably NEVER to be able to totally shake off the "Sir Galahad" syndrome. It is understandable, as that is the way were were raised. But still, it has to be acknowledged.
Sdigit: That's All wrong that is, it's called being a decent human being when you don't abandon others to a certain death, Sir Galahad got nothing to say about it.

"Sir Galahad" is alive and well and will be for several more generations, me thinks. The best example I can think of as I sit here, without researching it, is the procedure used to abandon the Titanic. Why women and children only and women and children first (depending on which side of the ship they happened to be on)? Children is self explanatory. But women? SCIENTIFICALLY, women have a larger proportion of body fat and can survive longer under hypothermatic conditions. So why should they go before men? For the survival rate? HELL NO. The life of a woman was and is more valued than the life of a man in western society because of the "Sir Galahad Syndrome." That mentality still exists today. Even today, society is more distressed by the life and death struggle of a female. PERIOD.

Quote:
Khang: But still, you have an excellent point about society having to foot the bill for the oversight and safety of an endeavor that is not undertaken for social benefit or the greater good, but personal gain or glory.
Sdigit: What social good does it do if I go hike up a hill for my own enjoyment and then fall and break my leg, would you advocate leaving me there to fend for myself coz it served no social good ? And while were at it who gets to define what social good is?

What rescue services would you withhold from people in trouble and for what reasons? I'd like to know where your morality draws the line.

You totally missed the point. Withhold nothing, but the ONUS for PAYMENT of those services IS a matter of contention. Where I used to live in the west, if the meat wagon (ambulance, rescue vehicle, etc.) had to come and get you, YOU paid. Is that wrong ?

If you fall on a mountain that is not designated by the public for climbing, you should not be denied aid, but you will pay the price of the rescue. If you climb and fall in a public park designated for such activity, it is for the public good (entertainment and mental health), and is protected by personnel specifically appointed and designated to provide such service free of charge. Their services have already been funded.

Just on the BBC banner that she has been found and is O.K.

I think that if i had a sixteen year old daughter i would push her to have more mundane hobbies - such as piano lessons, or knitting.

[QUOTE="zygote1"]The Fresh Prince If 'the world' had that kind of attitude then we would never have any great achievements to be proud of. What would you call an acceptable number of people in distress before its worth rescuing them? 5? 10? or more? The achievement is for the sailor's personal benefit. Solo circumnavigations have been done already and it serves no public benefit. This isn't the era of global exploration. In this case, it is one person doing it for her own personal gain. Good for her, but why should everyone else get stuck with fishing her out of the sea when she knew that the act was foolhardy and dangerous. Is it any different than people that ride a motorcycle without a helmet and then expect donations to pay for medical expenses when they incur brain damage after a fall? [/QUOTE]

Is it any different than people that ride a mortocycle without a helmet and then expect donations to pay for medical expenses when they incur brain damage after a fall?

YES .. totally different .... donations are voluntary... a charity. Rescue efforts using tax dollars are non-voluntary ... a tribute.