Did mom and dad ever sail around the world to be experts for this poor girl?
It's like child abuse to me.
Wonder if she couldn't sleep? got sick? some pervert following her? pirates?
Are those parents CRAZY????
16 year olds that drive must be in at midnight on Cinderella license...........she was all alone 24/7 for weeks!!!
This case makes me want to smack the parents. I think that if the girl attempts this again, they should have to sign away the "right" to be rescued. So this girl is going to do this again and I'm SURE will have to be rescued again. This makes me SO mad. Reminds me of the case in Michigan (or somewhere up there) about all of these people having to be rescued from ice fishing - only to go back out the next day and have to be rescued again.
And (with heavy sarcasm) I'm so happy they support her....in being reckless with her life and all of those who had to rescue her. Why don't they wait until she's 18 to "support" her?
I didn't read far enough, but a 40 something foot boat is NOT cheap....prob. around $300,000...depending on the model.
They can go ahead and cry me a river. If they "support" her so much, they ought to be in a boat behind her and do the "rescuing" themselves. GAG!
Darwin awards, anyone?
I'm going to play devil's advocate with a huge caveat. Caveat: Something is skeevy about the parents. Possible fame and fortune became more alluring than logic and love for their daughter, I think. The sailing world knew the timing of Abby's trip was wrong and dangerous but if she didn't do it, she would not beat world records as youngest girl circumnavigating (although I believe a 16 year old Aussie girl just did it a couple months ago).
But............I don't necessarily have a problem with a 16 year old girl doing something as risky and challenging as solo sailing the world. It depends on who it is and the conditions. People give an age: 18 is the magical number most oft used. But that's just a government - imposed age mandate for many things and only in certain countries, like ours. Most parents know that kids don't magically become smarter, more logical, mature, at 18. It's just an arbitrary line governments created because, well, the line had to be somewhere.
"Kids" at 16 have historically married, raised families and worked farms, factories and fought in wars at that age. Pioneer girls typically got married around 16. Adolescence is an idea and a time period that we created in modern culture which did not exist before. We then raised kids to adapt to that created line.
The Sunderland kids are not like other kids who are raised in a protective bubble, as if they are fragile glass figurines. Abby has been on boats since 2 months old. These kids sailed all their lives and were home-schooled by their parents, so they have likely been around more adults than other kids their ages. They are thus likely more mature, level-headed and logical than other kids their age.
I am an overprotective, nervous type so I can't see myself ever letting my kids do such a thing. But I'm on the fence about the protective vs. independence-fostering parenting. I'm not sure my way is so good. Safe, but it may also be psychologically stunting.
Our kids are so coddled that I fear they could not adapt to real adversity if need be - to war, strife, disaster. I don't know.
In sum, I don't think the challenge of a teen circumnavigating the globe at this age is,
in and of itself, negligent, abusive, etc. It's just that this particular trip and these particular parents may have been, due to $ signs and a desire for notoriety taking over where love and concern should have been.