Emergency rescue effort is launched for teen sailor Abby Sunderland

[Morg]

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/abby-sunderland-possibly-lost-sea/story?id=10877108

Hopefully they find her OK, still think it's a hell of a thing letting a 16 do alone

A rescue effort has been launched in hope of finding Abby Sunderland, 16, who set off her emergency beacon locating devices from the southern Indian Ocean early this morning.

Sunderland, who had been attempting to sail around the world alone, endured multiple knockdowns in 60-knot winds Thursday before conditions briefly abated.

However, her parents lost satellite phone contact early this morning and an hour later were notified by the Australian Coast Guard that both of Sunderland's EPIRB satellite devices had been activated.

One is apparently is attached to a survival suit or a life raft and meant to be used when a person is in the water or aboard a life raft.

Abby's father struggled with emotions and said he didn't know if his daughter was in a life raft or aboard the boat, or whether the boat was upside down.

"Everything seemed to be under control," Laurence Sunderland said. "But then our call dropped and a hour later the Coast Guard called."

Abby is hundreds of miles from land. The nearest ship was about 400 miles away. The rescue effort is being coordinated by the French-controlled Reunion Islands and Australia. Sunderland had been sailing in 50- to 60-foot seas and it was dark when the EPIRB devices were activated.

The Sunderlands are asking people to pray for their daughter, a high-school junior from Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Charlie Nobles, executive director of the American Sailing Assn., said, "We're all praying for her and our thoughts are with her. If she's got the survival suit, and she's got the EPIRB and she's in pretty good shape, she's just got to try to hang on. And when they get there, these guys... they're going to hopefully send the best that they've got to try to do a rescue and it's definitely possible. They're amazing people who do those rescues. They know exactly what they're heading into."

Nobles said a scenario whereby a sailor has to abandon ship might go like this: Water flooding the vessel automatically inflates the life raft, which is tethered to the sailboat. The sailor, if the sailboat is sinking, would grab the boat's EPIRB device and stuff it into a ditch kit, take the ditch kit and deploy and climb aboard the life raft. The sailor would only cut the tether if the sailboat is sinking, pulling down the lifeboat.

Abby was for several months one of two 16-year-olds attempting to sail around the world alone. Australia's Jessica Watson completed her journey last month, just days before turning 17.

Abby's brother Zac, who graduated from high school, completed a solo-circumnavigation last summer at 17.

The timing of Abby's trip was criticized by some because it was going to place her in the middle of the Indian Ocean when the stormy Southern Hemisphere winter was at hand.

 

[katie_girl09]

Bet her parents are so scared right now. How could they let their 16-year old do something like that alone?

 

[Immortalfire]

Hope they find her, but this was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

 

[Scourge2099]

She either got kidnapped by pirates or claimed by the sea.

 

[Donut]

Hope they find her, but this was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

& she was warned about what the weather would be like if she went when she did to the place where she sent so I find it very hard to give her any type of sympathy

 

[Scourge2099]

Stupid ass kids always think they're invincible.

 

[Prison Mike]

She either got kidnapped by pirates or claimed by the sea.

or stranded on a mystical island nobody knows about...

 

[Scarlet spidey]

or stranded on a mystical island nobody knows about...

Or it's all an elaborate plan to start a new life.

 

[Immortalfire]

or stranded on a mystical island nobody knows about...

Abby, queen of the lost world.

 

[Matt]

Well, there is good news. The third beacon did not go off. One beacon indicates the sailor is leaving the boat. Two implies that she is still on it. If a third beacon went off, it would be automated and indicate that the ship had capsized. Her boat is still sailing as of now which means there is hope for her. Odds are she has simply lost the ability to control the boat and needs rescue. Now whether she is found or not before time runs out is another story.

Her parents should be ashamed. 16 is too young to be doing something like this.

 

[Matt]

Actually, I just read that one of the two beacons that were set off is automated. If she went into the water, it was programmed to go off. Her boat may not have capsized...but odds are she did.

Still, here's hoping she comes back alive. The only good news right now is, that odds are the weather was too damn for pirates to be out in, so she won't suffer a fate worse than death.

 

[Raiden]

Well, there is good news. The third beacon did not go off. One beacon indicates the sailor is leaving the boat. Two implies that she is still on it. If a third beacon went off, it would be automated and indicate that the ship had capsized. Her boat is still sailing as of now which means there is hope for her. Odds are she has simply lost the ability to control the boat and needs rescue. Now whether she is found or not before time runs out is another story.

Her parents should be ashamed. 16 is too young to be doing something like this.

I agree. I think 16 is way too young for the parents to allow to sail around the world. I read that her brother did it when he was 17, but I think the circumstances are different. Anyway, I hope she'll be found safe and alive, and if she is saved she should be barred from attempting to break the record again; I don't think anyone should risk their life like this just to be in the record book. I also hope the distress beacon isn't because she got kidnapped by pirates.

 

[Matt]

I agree. I think 16 is way too young for the parents to allow to sail around the world. I read that her brother did it when he was 17, but I think the circumstances are different. Anyway, I hope she'll be found safe and alive, and if she is saved she should be barred from attempting to break the record again; I don't think anyone should risk their life like this just to be in the record book. I also hope the distress beacon isn't because she got kidnapped by pirates.

Its incredibly unlikely. The weather was too bad. Pirates wouldn't be out in it. How sad is that? Her parents allowed her to sail in conditions so bad that Somali pirates would not sail in it.

 

[Alex The Great]

Ballsy thing for the girl to do, But if she is trained to do it, and has the smarts. Go ahead. Hope she's alright



Wait, 16? Is She Hot?

 

[Matt]

She's a pretty girl. She also walks and talks. By that merit alone she's out of your league, Alex

 

[Alex The Great]

She's a pretty girl. She also walks and talks. By that merit alone she's out of your league, Alex

I'll have you know i'm friends with a fair amount of the cheerleaders


Also,

 

[Metamorpho1977]

somebody call this guy pronto...

[/IMG]

 

[terry78]

I know the younger set on here are always like, "yeah, awesome, we should get to do what we want regardless of how dangerous it is", but when **** starts to actually go down, suddenly it's not as enticing. Hopefully she makes it out ok though.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

She and her parents must be loaded.


Filthy rich or not, hope she's ok.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

An article had a Google Maps picture of where she is. Not exactly an ideal place to be.

 

[Ghostvirus]

I hope they find the girl.

But if they don't. The parents should be arrested & charged accordingly. This is absolute madness to send a 16 yr old out into the ocean. There are seasoned fishermen that has lost their lives to the big blue.

We seriously need to regulate who can have babie & who can't.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

They found her:

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog...+apparently+safe+aboard+her+damaged+sailboat/

Friday, June 11, 2010 12:02am PDT

Abby Sunderland is alive and apparently safe aboard her damaged sailboat

By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com

​

Abby Sunderland, 16, is alive and apparently well, floundering in rough seas in the Indian Ocean without a mast, but safely aboard her 40-foot boat and awaiting the arrival of rescue ships.
An Australian plane with 11 trained observers found Sunderland, who on Thursday had activated two emergency distress beacons signaling an international rescue attempt, not long after daybreak Friday. Its crewmade contact with her on a marine radio channel.

The mariner from Thousand Oaks, Calif., who had been attempting to become the youngest person to have sailed around the world alone, had lost has mast and rigging after her vessel apparently rolled in heaving seas. Her position is extremely remote, more than 2,000 miles from Australia and Africa.

"I was envisioning all sorts of nightmare situations," Marianne Sunderland, Abby's mom, said when reached via phone at her family's home in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Marianne and Laurence Sunderland, and six other children, had remained in their home, refusing to talk to reporters, until they had learned the fate of their daughter.

Marianne did not talk to Abby but Abby told the airplane crew she "was fine" and not badly hurt.

A rescue has not been made, however. The nearest ship bound for her position is about 30 hours away, but fierce winds and seas that had been upwards of 40 feet are abating. Australian, American and French search-and-rescue authorities are cooperating in the rescue attempt

 

[Ghostvirus]

Woo hoo!!!

Now keep her the hell away from her parents.

 

[SuperFerret]

I hope they find the girl.

But if they don't. The parents should be arrested & charged accordingly. This is absolute madness to send a 16 yr old out into the ocean. There are seasoned fishermen that has lost their lives to the big blue.

We seriously need to regulate who can have babie & who can't.

There are regulations to who can have children and who can't, it's just a natural thing, not a legal thing. If you're a bad parent, and beat your kids needlessly and horribly, or send them alone into the ocean, you can bet that the odds are that you won't have a child for long.

Glad they found her, though. Let's hope she gained a hefty irrational fear of water now.

 

[Majic Walrus]

I hope they find the girl.

But if they don't. The parents should be arrested & charged accordingly. This is absolute madness to send a 16 yr old out into the ocean. There are seasoned fishermen that has lost their lives to the big blue.

We seriously need to regulate who can have babie & who can't.

I don't see how everyone is so upset about the fact that they let their daughter do this. The article already cited two other people who did it around the same age. I don't see that the parents did anything that was neglectful anymore than letting 16 year old's drive cars.