Abby Sunderland found alive
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re: Abby Sunderland
I only wish Abby had not abandoned the boat and therefore the expedition. She should have known or been able to hoist something on a spinnaker pole or something to get going. Other people, even her own age, have done it (Graham did it twice before age 19). And it is the mark of good seamanship to jury-rig and carry on, rather than to phone for help and sit it out till you are delivered from your hassle by a third party, and at great cost and risk to others.
I have two daughters, neither of whom likes to sail, and so I would not let them go off on such a stunt. I have, however, let them do their own expeditions their own ways, and they are independent, intelligent and resourceful. Abby is no idiot and has been prepared for this for a long time; I certainly do not think she was or is incapable of success in this. So I am disappointed that she did not exercise a true adventurer's spirit and find a way, even in company with another vessel or after receiving some on-site assistance, to keep going.
I only wish Abby had not abandoned the boat and therefore the expedition. She should have known or been able to hoist something on a spinnaker pole or something to get going. Other people, even her own age, have done it (Graham did it twice before age 19). And it is the mark of good seamanship to jury-rig and carry on, rather than to phone for help and sit it out till you are delivered from your hassle by a third party, and at great cost and risk to others.
I have two daughters, neither of whom likes to sail, and so I would not let them go off on such a stunt. I have, however, let them do their own expeditions their own ways, and they are independent, intelligent and resourceful. Abby is no idiot and has been prepared for this for a long time; I certainly do not think she was or is incapable of success in this. So I am disappointed that she did not exercise a true adventurer's spirit and find a way, even in company with another vessel or after receiving some on-site assistance, to keep going.
Two articles in Latitude 38
Latitude 38 ought to read the first part of 'Dove' once more for a REAL look at what goes through a parent's mind as he sends a 16-year-old off to sail the world... and THAT trip was a lot more dangerous, because of the time and the technology, than Abby's was 45 years later.
Peggie (and others), those aren't news 'articles', they're acerbic, cynical, disrespectful tirades. I haven't seen such scandalous hate in an otherwise dignified magazine in I don't know how long. It's all right to say 'this oughtn't have happened', but these editors and their 'opinion' apparently have it in for poor Abby and her family who are otherwise optimistic risk-takers, whom a lot of us would like to be more like.
Latitude 38 ought to read the first part of 'Dove' once more for a REAL look at what goes through a parent's mind as he sends a 16-year-old off to sail the world... and THAT trip was a lot more dangerous, because of the time and the technology, than Abby's was 45 years later.
Diana,
With all due respect, I must disagree with you. Richard made a few points in the first "article", most importantly the timing of the trip. "Don't sail a circumnavigation in the Southern Ocean in the winter, ever."
As for "article" and your problem with that, please note the last sentence of the first "article': "Of course, all this is just our opinion."
A tirade? Cynical? Disrespectful?
Hardly.
You don't agree?
Sure, but that doesn't mean Richard's wrong, either. He's not calling you disrespectful or cynical.
A little truth and facts and opinions go a long way towards exposing the possibility that there may have been more to the trip that your idea of a simple cruise by a cute kid with kind parents.
To quote from the second article: (since many times I've learned folks here simply don't read the links that have been provided)
And mind you, this was before anyone learned about the role big bucks and fame seem to have played in the proposed circumnavigation. How many of you knew that, before Abby took off from Marina del Rey, an outfit called Magnetic Entertainment of Santa Monica was developing a reality television series called, and we're not making this up, Adventures in Sunderland. It's described as "A family-oriented adventure show, based on the Sunderland Family of Thousand Oaks, CA. We follow the family in their day-to-day lives as shipbuilder Laurence Sunderland and mother/teacher Marianne try to balance work and family. Their philosophy on building strong well-rounded adults is to mentor their seven home-schooled children into setting goals, creating a plan to reach those goals, and implementing them . . . allowing each of them to pursue their dreams of becoming world class adventurers." This will feature Zac, who has apparently moved on to riding a motorcycle from the northern most point of North America to the southern most point of South America. Then there's the Abby's Journey documentary, describing her now-failed attempt to sail solo around the world.
All along the Sunderland team had been promoting Abby's circumnavigation as soulful. Now there are indications that it was about as soulful from the get-go as Wall Street monetizing subprime mortgages.
And this has not been "published" in the magazine, it's on their every-three-days-or-so Electronic 'Latitude, a kinda blog.
Latitude38 has been "telling it like it is" for 30 years, unlike the news media or the "slick" sailing rags.
You're entitled to your opinion of her as a cute little kid sailing around the world alone, but that seems hardly the case once the facts are exposed.
Stu
PS - for those who don't know, "rs" is Richard Spindler, who is an opinionated guy and the founder of Latitude 38, the very best sailing magazine for the past 30 years.
Zac is planning to ride a motorcycle from the most northern place to the most southern place in the western hemisphere. Do you suppose that he will plan to start the day after Thanksgiving Day and arrive at the southern end on the Forth of July? 
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