I don’t think I’d let my 16 year-old go sail around the world by herself but I was also rooting for her. I hope they find her.
No shit, Sherlock. Hoping for good news, but jeez! This is truly a “what were they thinking” moment.
I’m afraid they were thinking “Let’s let our daughter sail the Indian Ocean during its most dangerous, unpredictable time of the year, because she’s still 16 and can still set the record for the youngest to circumnavigate the globe, and by doing so she’ll get her 15 min. of fame, then maybe the family can cash in with a book deal or somesuch”
…wait… Didn’t some girl JUST finish this solo trip around the world?
Jessica Watson finished a circumnavigation but she is a little older than Sunderland.
Is it too late to send my 10 year old off on a solo circumnavigation? I mean, he probably does not want to go, but think of the attention I’ll get!
I can’t imagine letting my (hypothetical) 16 year old daughter take my car to the corner market let alone a quick sail around the globe. I certainly hope she is OK, but I really can’t imagine parents letting her try this. To me, this is tantamount to child abuse. Or reckless endangerment. Or some other legal-sounding term meaning a really bad idea.
Nah, send him up Everest instead. You can’t get seasick on a mountain!
I wonder what the youngest age is to climb the 7 summits, walk to both poles, and solo circumnavigate the ocean is…?
I wish her well, and HOPE she is still fighting for her life.
I also wish people would take their disparaging remarks somewhere else.
I certainly do too, but that dosen’t mean that I can’t also think her parents are absolute idiots for allowing/encouraging this extremely risky undertaking, ESPECIALLY at this time of the year when conditions are apparently the most challenging and dangerous…
Well, there are two things here.
Letting a youngster try to sail solo around the world.
Once you decide to DO THAT, for better or worse, you have a plan of HOW to do it. Offhand, to me, it sounds like BOTH steps were suboptimal in their wisdom.
The WA police sound hopeful.
Gee, she’s about as far as she could possibly be from any land. Good luck to her. Interesting trip for the Qantas crew, not something they’d do very often I imagine.
Nitpick on the story linked to in the OP, Australia doesn’t have a “Coast Guard”, they most likely mean AMSA, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
The newsheads are reporting she’s been contacted and is alive - no details at present, but that’s still good news.
She’s fine and dandy according to the latest news.
Australia sent a QANTAS airbus out to look for her early this morning (Aus time) and she has been located, has radio communications and apart from a broken mast that is bobbing about in the water nearby, all is well. There’s a couple of fishing vessels on their way to rescue her (20 hours give or take) but her boat isn’t taking water and she is uninjured.
Good news, but I’m really starting to tire of these ‘World Record Attempts’ of all kinds with mere kids doing the shit. :rolleyes:
You only live once, and now she has a story that could make her college years far more comfortable.
Somewhere, Robin Lee Graham’s eyes are rolling out of his head.
The rescue mission has cost half a million Australian dollars and involved three nations. Who will pay for that? Is this going to be eaten by the Australian tax payer, essentially for some idiot’s vanity project, or do these attempts carry some kind of insurance?
Never mind the south Indian Ocean, I read that she was heading for the Southern Ocean (!), during Winter. This seems to transcend daring and border on rank incompetence and stupidity.