Recovered/Located Emergency rescue effort is launched for teen sailor Abby Sunderland, June 2010

New Posts

Elphaba said:
Belimom, liferafts nowadays are the kind that aren't little open things we think of from sails gone by, right? I'm thinking if she has the more advanced versions, then hopefully she is secured in it...

Thank you for your insight!
Click to expand...

Liferafts have definitely evolved, but the only way she would be in the liferaft is if her boat was severely disabled, such as - sinking. If it's afloat and you're in heavy seas, you're much safer in a boat than a small raft. The rule of thumb is always stay with the boat as long as you can. Since the automatic beacon didn't go off (as it would once it gets 6 feet under water), then it can be assumed that the boat is still afloat. So my fear is - she's in the water... :(

ETA: It is possible that she deployed the liferaft b/c she thought the boat was sinking...
 
Ok I have to say this.

This situation infuriates the heck out of me :furious:. My DH and I got into a heated argument over this same scenario but it was over the dutch girl who wants to take off sailing on her own.
Mind you my husband has a 100 ton captains license and is an avid sailor on open ocean so he see's really nothing wrong with kids that are knowledgeable
in Sailing and boats shooting for there dreams (what ?) he has been doing it since a child :rolleyes:

I see everything wrong with this, everything ! I hope and pray that she can be found, this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
What a prediciment to be in dealing with 60 foot seas and being 16, has she ever dealt with a situation of this magnitude while learning all of her sailing techniques ? Probbally not. It's one thing to read about it in a book and be shown versus actually being in the situation, it would be hard enough for a grown adult to deal with let alone a child.....

She is in a 36 ft sailboat which is a fairly good size to deal with alot of what goes on out there but 60 foot seas ?
These parents should be slapped upside the head .....

Again I hope they can locate her safe, I hope she is in a liferaft and not bobbing around in the ocean, my prayers are with her right now, godspeed Abby .....
 
Fervent prayers for her rescue, may all the Patrons of Travelers come to her aid and guide the rescue crews to her, in Jesus' Name, amen!
 
Mystic,

I totally agree with you. We heard Tania Aebi speak at a seminar, and even she said that she would never send her sons out there alone. You may know who she is - she solo-circumnavigated at about age 18 back in the 80s.

I think Abby's boat is 40' - Jessica Watson's was smaller, maybe 36'? I also think that Jessica Watson's Sparkman/Stephens solid old boat is better suited than Abby's ocean racing boat. I wouldn't go in the ocean with a huge bulb keel...

I do pray she is okay - and I hope maybe this stops the madness.
 
Her family has updated her blog.

SNIP:

Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize.


http://soloround.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=50
 
CNN just had on their site that her parents are now scrambling to persuade any government with aircraft in the area, to help find the child.
 
belimom said:
Mystic,

I totally agree with you. We heard Tania Aebi speak at a seminar, and even she said that she would never send her sons out there alone. You may know who she is - she solo-circumnavigated at about age 18 back in the 80s.

I think Abby's boat is 40' - Jessica Watson's was smaller, maybe 36'? I also think that Jessica Watson's Sparkman/Stephens solid old boat is better suited than Abby's ocean racing boat. I wouldn't go in the ocean with a huge bulb keel...

I do pray she is okay - and I hope maybe this stops the madness.
Click to expand...

BBM...
I did not know it was an Ocean Racing boat ! No no no .....We would not go out there either in a boat like that.
We have a 42 Vagabond full solid keel with lots of ballast, you could never get me out there in an ocean racing boat ....and we usally only stick closer in to the coast.
 
raeann said:
Hopefully, she has just had a major equipment failure of some kind and the boat is still able to float. I am hoping that they mean she was 40 hours out from shore, but that surely rescue aircraft can get to her much sooner than that. There is no where in the Indian Ocean that is 40 hours away by aircraft that just can't be possible.

jmoo
Click to expand...


There are several ships in her area, the earliest possible contact is 40 hours. We are actively seeking out some sort of air rescue but this is difficult due to the remoteness of her location. Australian Search & Rescue have arranged to have a Quantas Airbus fly over her location at first light (she is 11 hours later). They will not be able to help her other than to talk via marine radio if they are able to get close enough. Hopefully, they will be able to assess her situation and report back to us.

http://soloround.blogspot.com/searc...-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50



 
From the blog update (can I post this?):

Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize.

----well, that makes me feel a bit better. Not great, but better anyhow.
 
Belimom - thank you for your insight. I'm quite the land-lubber, and have very very limited knowledge about any boat larger than something my granddad took me fishing in. :/
 
mysticrose said:
BBM...
I did not know it was an Ocean Racing boat ! No no no .....We would not go out there either in a boat like that.
We have a 42 Vagabond full solid keel with lots of ballast, you could never get me out there in an ocean racing boat ....and we usally only stick closer in to the coast.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY. We had a Kelly-Peterson 44 and are boatless at the moment... But I've been worried from day one about that keel. Her boat is so fast that she couldn't use a windvane b/c they couldn't find one that could handle the speed (hence the autopilots, which caused her to stop in South Africa).
 
ok....so time wise then, it is 2 pm in CA, add 11 hours makes it 1 am at Abby's location, so possible flyover in about 5 hours or so???
 
amandab said:
From the blog update (can I post this?):

Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize.

----well, that makes me feel a bit better. Not great, but better anyhow.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just hope she had time to put on the dry suit. If she just went out to fix something on deck she may not have had it on (you can't maneuver well in one - think Michelin man). The liferaft is mounted on deck and either had to be dismounted and heaved overboard, or it deploys automatically if the boat capsizes/sinks (deploys when goes under water, like the EPIRB). When things go wrong at sea, they go wrong so fast that sometimes you can't do all the things you'd like to do... ((((prayers))))
 
I'm reading that her brother did this same sail, successfully, last year at the age of 17. I'm guessing her parents were lulled into a false sense of safety... :(

2 weeks ago we saw a 13 yr old summit Everest and from the Chinese side, totally giving a false sense that Everest isn't that hard to conquer for a child... but China is having no more of it and in the last 2 days has enacted age restrictions that are stricter than Nepal's age limits. You have to be 18, now, to climb the north side of Everest.
 
Sailor Bug said:
50-60 foot waves...:shocked2:
Click to expand...

I really hate to sound so negative about this trip - I mean, I've been following her daily since she left.

But, this is the danger in sailing nonstop (although she did stop in SA for repairs, she's still trying to break a record): you can't sit in a harbor and wait for a decent weather window. You just go and take what you get.
 
Here is a picture of her and the boat:


abby-sunderland-horn.jpg


http://yachtpals.com/abby-sunderland-sailing-9053
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 194 more.
Total: 4,602 (members: 195, guests: 4,407)

Online statistics

Members online
195
Guests online
4,407
Total visitors
4,602
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,357
Messages
17,967,965
Members
228,754
Latest member
Annie151
Back
Top