Boats, ships scramble to reach teen drifting in Indian Ocean

[THUNDERDUCK]

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- A 16-year-old California girl who is attempting to sail solo around the world triggered a distress signal during rough seas in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, her family said.

Abby Sunderland's family began scrambling to organize a search-and-rescue effort for her after they learned her emergency beacon was detected just an hour after they last spoke to her, according to Jeff Casher, an engineer on her support team.

Sunderland's small sailboat was adrift in the middle of the Indian Ocean about 2,000 miles east of Madagascar, 2,000 miles west of Australia and 500 miles north of the French Antarctic Islands, Casher said Thursday afternoon.

The government of Reunion -- a French island -- diverted a fishing boat toward her last known position, but it is not expected to reach the area until Saturday, Casher said. An Australian military ship, more than two days sail away, has also been dispatched, Casher said.

Friends in Australia have chartered an Airbus jet to fly over the area at sunrise Friday to see if Sunderland's vessel could be spotted from the air, he said.

Electronic signals from the boat indicate it is drifting at just a mile per hour, which means it is still afloat but not under sail, Casher said.

The mast might have fallen or Sunderland could have been injured, preventing her from sailing, he said.

Sunderland's father, who has been monitoring her journey from their Thousand Oaks, California, home, was emotional, but "he was trying to keep in positive spirits," according to Peter Thomas, a freelance journalist who spoke to Laurence Sunderland Thursday.

"Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this," her family said in a statement on their website. "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."

Sunderland began her journey from Marina del Rey, California, on January 23 with the goal of sailing her 40-foot boat around the world without stopping. Mechanical troubles forced her to make two stops for repairs, including at Cape Town, South Africa, in April.

She's kept in touch with family and followers through a satellite telephone. Her website has published frequent blog updates, including one posted Wednesday.

"The last few days have [been] pretty busy out here," Sunderland wrote in her last blog entry. "I've been in some rough weather for awhile with winds steady at 40-45 knots with higher gusts. With that front passing, the conditions were lighter today."

Sunderland is a "very determined" and "very capable sailor," Thomas said.

"She's pretty much unfazed by most everything, but she had been fatigued by this period of winds which she's been going through for several days now," he said.

When Abby's older brother Zac sailed around the world alone last year he became the youngest person to ever do so.

Australian Jessica Watson took over the distinction last month when she completed a non-stop solo circumnavigation just three days before her 17th birthday.

Abby has been on a schedule to complete her global journey about two months before her 17th birthday, which is on October 19.

[pikapikapika]

[meowchi]

YOU WOULD PIKA YOU FUCKING WOULD

[twissie]

What's with this obsession of being the world's youngest solo sailor all of a sudden? o_o; Meh.

Though I did feel bad for that Dutch girl who were forbidden from giving it a shot.

[Amplifier]

^People are encouraged to do stupid things, instead of cure cancer and other important things like that

[THUNDERDUCK]

As Abby Sunderland spends her last day aboard a French fishing boat whose crew rescued her from a disabled sailboat and is ferrying her to an island in the Indian Ocean, criticism of her parents has intensified regarding -- most recently -- the high cost of the rescue and their involvement in a TV reality show.

"The full cost of chartering an airbus would be so high, you'd think they (Australian rescue authorities) would have to work with the U.S. government for that," Marianne Sunderland, Abby's mom, told the Australian newspaper Adelaide Now. "We're not wealthy people."

The rescue was initiated from Australia last Thursday when Abby activated two emergency locating beacons after her 40-foot sailboat rolled in high seas and lost its mast and satellite communications equipment.

Australia sent a spotter plane and later -- as the fishing boat was arriving -- used two aircraft to monitor the remote rescue, 2,000 miles east of Madagascar and about the same distance from Australia. The estimated cost of the rescue has been placed at about $300,000.

When reached this morning, Marianne Sunderland said the reporter took her comments out of context and falsely implied she was hoping to pass the buck to Australia. She did not appreciate the story's implication that the Sunderlands, a middle-class family from Thousand Oaks, Calif., were broke.

Abby's partially-sponsored trip, however, was the second costly adventure for the parents. Last July, Abby's older brother Zac sailed home to a hero's welcome after completing a solo-circumnavigation of the planet at the age of 17.

In fact, Zac and Abby were supposed to have been part of a TV reality show series and documentary, and now some see this as exploitation of the children for financial gain.

However, the plug was pulled on both projects long before the rescue incident because of reasons that also are a source of dispute.

"The networks didn't want to touch it because of the very thing that happened," said Susan Hartman, owner of 23 South Productions, which owns the footage shot beginning last fall into part of Abby's journey. "They were afraid she was going to die."

Laurence Sunderland, Abby's father, said in a Los Angeles Times story posted today that the opposite is true. "They were assuming Abigail was going to die out there," he said. "They were relying on her dying, and so we cut the ties."

Abby, 16, was attempting to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone and the dramatic episode occurred last Thursday, just weeks after another 16-year-old girl, Australia's Jessica Watson, had successfully completed a solo-circumnavigation.

Abby spent 20 hours out of contact with civilization and before a spotter plane from Australia located the upright vessel and made radio contact with the sailor. During that period there was speculation that she might have been killed, knocked off the boat or trapped beneath an upside-down boat.

Sunderland today will disembark from the French fishing boat and catch another boat to the French-controlled Reunion Island. She's not expected home for at least a week, and given the size of the controversy swirling like a storm cloud over her neighborhood, she probably will wish she were still at sea once she arrives home.

Critics have taken issue with her age, the wisdom of her parents, the costly rescue and, most recently, the reality TV business.

However, even Hartman says the Sunderlands do not deserve the latter criticism because the idea for the show was not theirs.

When filming began, Hartman was working as an independent contractor on behalf of Magnetic Entertainment. Hartman said Magnetic Entertainment came to the Sunderland's with the idea for the show, not vice-versa.

She said that what's misleading reporters now is that Magnetic Entertainment still lists the "Adventures in Sunderland" show and a documentary on the family among its active projects. It describes the reality show as "a family-oriented Adventure show" that follows "the family in their day-to-day lives as shipbuilder Laurence Sunderland and mother/teacher Marianne try to balance work and family."

Hartman said another reason the plug was pulled on both projects was that film crews found Laurence Sunderland difficult to deal with. They also believed the vessel and Abby were not prepared for the task of tackling the turbulent Southern Ocean, especially so late in the season, after the favorable weather window had closed.

"We didn't feel the boat or Abby were properly prepared," Hartman said.

Abby's trip was scheduled to begin last fall but because of numerous delays caused by boat issues. She didn't depart from Marina del Rey, Calif. until Jan. 23. Soon after she was forced into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, because Wild Eyes had experienced more problems.

Another unplanned stop caused by equipment problems occurred more recently in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Sunderland parents have acknowledged that the timing of Abby's adventure was not ideal but Marianne Sunderland said their daughter had the backing of Commanders' Weather, which has routed several renowned sailors and racing competitors across the the Southern Ocean, and served as router for Abby's voyage.

Abby's vessel, a cruising sled named Wild Eyes and built for Southern Ocean travel, was slammed by a fierce storm that she endured for several days before the boat rolled.

The American Sailing Assn. was critical of the timing of a trip that placed Abby deep into the Indian Ocean when the Southern Hemisphere winter was at hand. Charlie Nobles, the ASA's executive director, acknowledged that storms can develop at any time in this inhospitable region.

"But the likelihood of having to deal with these storms become greater at this time of year," Nobles said.

Meanwhile, there are five younger Sunderland siblings, all of them home-schooled, with a sixth due to be born on July 1. Laurence and Marianne ought to consider themselves fortunate that none of those children, so far, has developed an ambition for extreme adventure.

[meowchi]

As Abby Sunderland spends her last day aboard a French fishing boat whose crew rescued her from a disabled sailboat and is ferrying her to an island in the Indian Ocean, criticism of her parents has intensified regarding -- most recently -- the high cost of the rescue and their involvement in a TV reality show.

"The full cost of chartering an airbus would be so high, you'd think they (Australian rescue authorities) would have to work with the U.S. government for that," Marianne Sunderland, Abby's mom, told the Australian newspaper Adelaide Now. "We're not wealthy people."

The rescue was initiated from Australia last Thursday when Abby activated two emergency locating beacons after her 40-foot sailboat rolled in high seas and lost its mast and satellite communications equipment.

Australia sent a spotter plane and later -- as the fishing boat was arriving -- used two aircraft to monitor the remote rescue, 2,000 miles east of Madagascar and about the same distance from Australia. The estimated cost of the rescue has been placed at about $300,000.

When reached this morning, Marianne Sunderland said the reporter took her comments out of context and falsely implied she was hoping to pass the buck to Australia. She did not appreciate the story's implication that the Sunderlands, a middle-class family from Thousand Oaks, Calif., were broke.

Abby's partially-sponsored trip, however, was the second costly adventure for the parents. Last July, Abby's older brother Zac sailed home to a hero's welcome after completing a solo-circumnavigation of the planet at the age of 17.

In fact, Zac and Abby were supposed to have been part of a TV reality show series and documentary, and now some see this as exploitation of the children for financial gain.

However, the plug was pulled on both projects long before the rescue incident because of reasons that also are a source of dispute.

"The networks didn't want to touch it because of the very thing that happened," said Susan Hartman, owner of 23 South Productions, which owns the footage shot beginning last fall into part of Abby's journey. "They were afraid she was going to die."

Laurence Sunderland, Abby's father, said in a Los Angeles Times story posted today that the opposite is true. "They were assuming Abigail was going to die out there," he said. "They were relying on her dying, and so we cut the ties."

Abby, 16, was attempting to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone and the dramatic episode occurred last Thursday, just weeks after another 16-year-old girl, Australia's Jessica Watson, had successfully completed a solo-circumnavigation.

Abby spent 20 hours out of contact with civilization and before a spotter plane from Australia located the upright vessel and made radio contact with the sailor. During that period there was speculation that she might have been killed, knocked off the boat or trapped beneath an upside-down boat.

Sunderland today will disembark from the French fishing boat and catch another boat to the French-controlled Reunion Island. She's not expected home for at least a week, and given the size of the controversy swirling like a storm cloud over her neighborhood, she probably will wish she were still at sea once she arrives home.

Critics have taken issue with her age, the wisdom of her parents, the costly rescue and, most recently, the reality TV business.

However, even Hartman says the Sunderlands do not deserve the latter criticism because the idea for the show was not theirs.

When filming began, Hartman was working as an independent contractor on behalf of Magnetic Entertainment. Hartman said Magnetic Entertainment came to the Sunderland's with the idea for the show, not vice-versa.

She said that what's misleading reporters now is that Magnetic Entertainment still lists the "Adventures in Sunderland" show and a documentary on the family among its active projects. It describes the reality show as "a family-oriented Adventure show" that follows "the family in their day-to-day lives as shipbuilder Laurence Sunderland and mother/teacher Marianne try to balance work and family."

Hartman said another reason the plug was pulled on both projects was that film crews found Laurence Sunderland difficult to deal with. They also believed the vessel and Abby were not prepared for the task of tackling the turbulent Southern Ocean, especially so late in the season, after the favorable weather window had closed.

"We didn't feel the boat or Abby were properly prepared," Hartman said.

Abby's trip was scheduled to begin last fall but because of numerous delays caused by boat issues. She didn't depart from Marina del Rey, Calif. until Jan. 23. Soon after she was forced into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, because Wild Eyes had experienced more problems.

Another unplanned stop caused by equipment problems occurred more recently in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Sunderland parents have acknowledged that the timing of Abby's adventure was not ideal but Marianne Sunderland said their daughter had the backing of Commanders' Weather, which has routed several renowned sailors and racing competitors across the the Southern Ocean, and served as router for Abby's voyage.

Abby's vessel, a cruising sled named Wild Eyes and built for Southern Ocean travel, was slammed by a fierce storm that she endured for several days before the boat rolled.

The American Sailing Assn. was critical of the timing of a trip that placed Abby deep into the Indian Ocean when the Southern Hemisphere winter was at hand. Charlie Nobles, the ASA's executive director, acknowledged that storms can develop at any time in this inhospitable region.

"But the likelihood of having to deal with these storms become greater at this time of year," Nobles said.

Meanwhile, there are five younger Sunderland siblings, all of them home-schooled, with a sixth due to be born on July 1. Laurence and Marianne ought to consider themselves fortunate that none of those children, so far, has developed an ambition for extreme adventure.

AWKWARD. BEAVER. MOMENT.



"But meow, what IS an awkward beaver moment you ask?" Well I'm glad you asked Billy!




4 coworkers in kitchen at work:
co-worker 1: What are you putting in those eggs?
co-worker 2: a little salt, a little pepper, maybe some garlic powder.
co-worker 3: In America do people call female genitalia a beaver?
co-workers 1 and 2: **AWKWARD Beaver** um.. maybe I guess

co-worker 4 (CEO): (leaves)

[THUNDERDUCK]

As critics continue to take aim at her parents for letting their 16-year-old daughter try to sail around the world, and as the cost of her rescue has now been estimated -- by one publication -- to total more than $1 million, Sunderland has given her first in-depth interview since her dramatic rescue last week and she defended her voyage and her beleaguered parents.

"I think that a lot of people are judging me by the standards they have for their teens and other teens that they know... and thinking, 'She's exactly like them,'" Sunderland said in an Associated Press exclusive. "They don't understand that I've sailed my whole life and I do know what I'm doing out there."

As most of the world knows, Sunderland was walloped by a huge wave last Thursday in a remote part of the Indian Ocean. Her 40-foot boat rolled at least once and lost its mast, its rigging and satellite communications equipment.

The sailor activated two emergency beacons but was out of contact with anyone for 20 hours, leading to wild speculation regarding her fate as she drifted helplessly in rough seas more than 2,000 miles from Australia and more than a day's reach from the nearest boats.

A crew aboard a Quantas Airbus located her vessel, Wild Eyes, after 20 hours. A French fishing boat picked her up Saturday and delivered her to Kerguelen Islands north of Antarctica. Sunderland is now en route to French-controlled Reunion Island, from where she'll begin her trip home to Thousand Oaks, Calif.

"Storms and bad weather, it's the chance you take when you're sailing around the world," Sunderland said. "And I was up for it, and my parents knew I was."

She might not be aware of the extent of criticism her parents continue to face, regarding everything from her age, the timing of her Indian Ocean crossing (during the onset of the Southern Hemisphere winter), a reality show that had been planned but was canceled weeks after the Jan. 23 start of her voyage, and the cost of her rescue, originally estimated to total about $300,000.

The Daily Beast, however, reports the cost to be $1.1 million. It cites the usage of two aircraft -- a Quantas Airbus and a Global Express Jet -- and three maritime vessels, the Ile De La Reunion (which picked Abby up), the Osiris and the Skandi Bergen. The website claims to have factored in per-hour costs of the planes, using data from a private jet-for-hire company, and the cost of sidetracking the boats from their fishing grounds.

Many of the Sunderlands' critics claim they should be footing the bill for the rescue, but Australia is picking up the tab.

That's good for the middle-class Sunderlands, who are still smarting financially from the cost of their oldest son's 13-month around-the-world odyssey, which reportedly set the family back $140,000.

Zac Sunderland, though his voyage also was criticized, returned last July, at 17, to a hero's welcome. Abby, however, has become a much larger celebrity because of what happened to her in 30-foot seas in one of the most remote locations on the planet.

But her celebrity is of the painful variety. Besides the obvious criticisms, there is sniping and feuding between the Sunderlands and those who approached the family last fall about producing a reality TV series.

It was to be a Magnetic Entertainment production and an inspirational saga about Abby and Zac, and their sailing family. But while lots of filming was carried out, the two sides split and the project has been killed.

That show was shopped but couldn't sell because the networks "thought she was going to die," said Susan Hartman, who owns 23 South Productions, which has the rights to the footage.

Those working with the show claimed neither the vessel nor Abby were prepared for the task, and that the producers pulled the plug after Abby was forced into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, not long after the start of her journey, to make repairs.

Laurence Sunderland, Abby's father, denied this during an interview Monday on CNN's "Larry King Live" show. He said he was the one who pulled out after learning the producers were counting on his daughter dying while rounding Cape Horn (she negotiated that treacherous passage without incident two months ago) and that they were out to portray him "as an irresponsible father."

It has also been scantly reported (so far) that Abby wanted to make this voyage to get away from her pushy father.

That seems a long reach. In an interview last July, as Zac was returning to Marina del Rey from a drama-filled voyage, Abby said the celebration was bittersweet for her because she had dreamed of sailing around the world before Zac, but her parents felt at the time that she was too young.

"It's something I've wanted to do since I was 13," she said.

Abby and Zac have extensive sailing experience and as children, both had helped Laurence, a shipwright who runs a yacht management business, with vessel deliveries.

In the AP story, Abby declined to describe exactly what happened to cripple her sailboat and in the moments afterward -- she's presumably saving the juicy details for a prime-time national television exclusive -- but said she was never frieghtened.

"You don't have time to be terrified," she said. "If you get terrified things just get worse. You just deal with what you get given and make the best out of it."

Abby is one of seven Sunderland children and will have a new baby brother any day. She's somewhat shy and has always enjoyed being alone. Zac, who is very close to Abby, has joked that she hates people, but that's not true.

Abby has several friends and many of them were part of a large flotilla of well-wishers that escorted her out of Marina del Rey on Jan. 23.

As Wild Eyes pulled away toward the horizon, one of her friends stood and shouted, "We'll go to Starbucks when you get back!"

Abby will not enjoy the media frenzy sure to accompany her homecoming, but chances are she's looking forward to a casual reunion with friends.

[tru_harmony]

"I think that a lot of people are judging me by the standards they have for their teens and other teens that they know... and thinking, 'She's exactly like them,'" Sunderland said in an Associated Press exclusive. "They don't understand that I've sailed my whole life and I do know what I'm doing out there."

yeah... go drift over to where the Somali pirates are since you know so well how to deal with EVERYTHING at sea

[twissie]

And Norway jumps the trend! Marius Ingebritsen(18) had started his attempt at sailing solo around the world.



Good luck, kid

Link (Norwegian)