Teen Sailor Missing

[muman613]

When I read that this girl wanted to singlehandedly sail around the world I had reservations. This is not the kind of thing one embarks on without a lot of preparation. I have sailed Sailboats since I was 14 years old and I would never think about trying to sail around the world. My father owned a 26 foot sailboat which we used to sail up and down the California coast...

But when I read that this girl wanted to do this I feared that I would shortly read that she was missing at sea....

Well my Spider senses ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_sense#Spider-sense )  did not fail me...


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/10/national/main6568712.shtml

NEW YORK, June 10, 2010
Teen Sailor Abby Sunderland Missing at Sea
16-Year-Old Activated Emergency Beacons, Lost Contact with Crew in Bad Weather; Was Trying to Circumnavigate Globe

(CBS/ AP)   Updated 4:17 p.m. EDT

Abby Sunderland, the California 16-year-old who recently set out to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, may be lost at sea after losing contact with her land-based crew and activating emergency positioning beacons, according to an ABC News report.

"She's in the middle of nowhere, pretty much," Sunderland's brother, Zac, told CBS Radio News. "There's nothing close to her."

Sunderland's brother discusses the search mission

Zac told Los Angeles radio station KNX that Abby was in a heavy storm at the time she called home.

"We're still trying to figure out the rescue situation," he said. "There's two boats headed out to her position, one is an estimated 40 hours, the other is 48. Right now we're trying to figure out if there is any way faster. She's in the middle of nowhere pretty much in the southern Indian Ocean. There's nothing closer."

He said Abby's boat was most likely not completely submerged because another beacon would be triggered at a depth of 15 feet.

The Associated Press reports that Abby's family was talking with U.S. and international governments about organizing a search of the remote ocean between southern Africa and Australia, family spokesman Christian Pinkston said.

...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/10/national/main6568712.shtml

[Rubystars]

They ought to make her family pay indefinitely for all the search and rescue efforts.

[JTFenthusiast2]

I am saddened by this, but I am really impressed with this girl's spunk.  Most young people, especially young girls, are not typically so self-possessed.  But the dangers, I agree with Ruby, I dont know how her parents let her do this.  My parents would have hog tied me and thrown me in the basement before they let me do this.  However I did have two close friends who as teenagers took a canoe and paddled it from Manhattan to Canada into the Great Lakes and they barely survived parts of it

[muman613]

The girl is Alive and Well!

I did not expect that one... Well, this is good news indeed..


Round-the-World Calif. Teen Sailor Found Alive

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- A family spokesman says searchers have contacted a 16-year-old Southern California girl who was feared lost at sea and she is alive and well.

William Bennett with "Team Abby" said Thursday that searchers aboard an Airbus A330 spotted her boat in an upright position and made contact with her via radio. Speaking outside the family's Thousand Oaks home, Bennett said Sunderland said she was inside the boat and doing fine with at least two weeks worth of food.

"The plane arrived on the scene moments ago. 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!" her parents posted on her blog.

Bennett said the mast had broken off the disabled boat.

He said a fishing vessel was en route to pick her up. The vessel is expected to reach her in about 40 hours.


It is interesting that my dad, who recently died, lived in Thousand Oaks and is buried there now... I met the Chabad Rabbi of Thousand Oaks while visiting my dad in the hospital the week of his passing. I was going to call him to see how Thousand Oaks was coping.