I'm more than a little angry at all the recriminations being directed against the parents of 16-year-old Abby Sunderland.
She was trying to circumnavigate the globe alone, aboard her yacht Wild Eyes.
As you probably know, her attempt came to a sad end last week when her vessel was dismasted in a storm in the Southern Ocean.
She's been rescued by a French fishing vessel, and is being taken to the Kerguelen Islands, from where she'll make her way back home to the USA.
The fuss is being made by those who seem to think that allowing a young lady like Abby to risk her life in this way is somehow cruel, or negligent, or just plain foolish. Some are also objecting to the fact that others have been exposed to risk through having to rescue her, and have raised the question of who's going to pay the costs involved.
Personally, I applaud Abby's courage, and salute her parents for being willing to give her the opportunity to express it. She wanted to be the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone. Why not let her try? She had a reasonable amount of sailing experience - certainly vastly more than Naomi James, who was the first woman of any age to circumnavigate solo. As for the costs of rescuing her, sure, the family may well be liable for them: but when adults get into trouble doing the same thing, do we hear squeals about paying for their rescue? Not much . . . so why should Abby be treated differently?
We need adventurers in this world, to show the rest of us that there are things more important than suburbia, and earning a living, and the rat race. I'm thankful that Abby has set an example to her peers, one that I hope many of them will follow. Without dreams, without challenges, we're no better than vegetables - as, I fear, are most of those who are today criticizing her and her parents.
No, Abby and her family made the right choice. I'm sorry for her sake it's ended badly . . . but I'm willing to bet she'll be back out there, sailing another yacht, just as soon as she can manage it. Good for her.
(You can follow her progress on her blog. Her parents have posted updates there from time to time, and she's just put up her first post since being rescued.)
Peter
8 comments:
It'd indeed be a sad and boring world without people like Abby!
I never really saw any condemnation of Zac's parents when he circumnavigated the globe.
Brass
I agree, she is old enough to grok exactly what she is doing, and if she did it of her own free will then the power to she.
Jim
Peter, as one of those who has had to go out and try to save people, I do have a problem with people like her (child/adult/whatever) who let ego overcome common sense and try to bull through weather when they should have pulled into port/taken a different tack. It's just like those that climb mountains when they are told the weather is moving in, they go anyway, then scream for help when they get stuck...
We have lost a number of rescue personnel over the years.
The unofficial motto of the rescue services is- You DO have to make the rescue attempt, but you don't have to come back...
Re charging them, yes they should be charged, and they should be forced to pay the bill. The actual costs for rescues is easily in the $100,000 range or more. A Jayhawk is $7000/hr to operate, a WHEC or Destroyer is around $100,000/day steaming at 16kts; and how much is the life of the rescuer worth?
Sorry but I disagree. Three years of blue water sailing does not qualify someone to solo around the world.
I'm very glad I didn't hear that pathetic phrase, "Abby died doing what she loved. We just wish we knew what happen to her."
Gerry
It was reported today that Dad and Mom are flat broke, expecting their eighth or ninth child, and shopping around the "Adventures in Sunderland" reality show.
Pathetic.
Seems to me we have two different things here. First, and by far the most important, is that someone (who happened to be youngish and female) had the guts to try to sail around the world alone. More power to her! We desperately need more people like that. Some people seem to feel that 16 might be too young. I beg to differe. I had one ancestor given command of a full rigged ship at that age; did rather well with it, too. Another set out with Daniel Boone (but not the rest of his family) over the Cumberland Gap at that age. And might I mention that Jeanne d'Arc was younger? Alexander the Great was only four years older when he conquered the known world -- and the Marquis de Lafayette also was only 20 in the American revolution. Too young is a state of mind and preparedness, not the calendar.
Second, there is the problem of what the media make of the whole thing -- and that isn't Abby's responsibility, but ours, and shame on us for turning it into a media circus.
Ian- I don't disagree with the basic premise, and you are correct in that it is a state of mind and preparedness... BUT, the expectation today is "oh, well if I screw up, somebody will rescue me"; is definitely NOT what our ancestors thought. They were out on the pointy end all by themselves with NO backup or hope of rescue, so did not make rash decisions (or didn't survive). And a media circus is correct...
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