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16-year old solo round-the-world Abby Sunderland lost at sea

Just that, for me, I think it is irresponsible to seen a teenaged girl on a trip around the world by herself with no physical, nearby, support in the form of a chase vessel.

All I can do is say that and shrug. She's a sixteen year old girl and hardly filled with experience or knowledge on how to do these things and just because others her age, or near it, have done it doesn't mean it's not risky. I mean in the best of circumstances the first five people to play Russian Roulette will be safe. Doesn't mean it's not a risky game to play.

Yeah, that's a bad comparisson.
 
Trekker4747 said:
Just that, for me, I think it is irresponsible to seen a teenaged girl on a trip around the world by herself with no physical, nearby, support in the form of a chase vessel.

All I can do is say that and shrug. She's a sixteen year old girl and hardly filled with experience or knowledge on how to do these things and just because others her age, or near it, have done it doesn't mean it's not risky. I mean in the best of circumstances the first five people to play Russian Roulette will be safe. Doesn't mean it's not a risky game to play.

Yeah, that's a bad comparisson.
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How long have you known Abby?
 
Guys teenagers have no life experience and should not be allowed to navigate ships. We need experienced adults like Captain Smith of the Titanic.
 
Well, she lost her boat, so she's not in the ranks of Captain Bligh, who sailed a 22-foot lifeboat filled with 19 men 3,600 or so miles, without even a compass, or Shackleton who sailed the 22-foot lifeboat James Baird 800 or so miles across the Southern ocean through storms that were sinking large ships, this after he'd been lost for over 500 days. If Abby wants to maintain her reputation as a sailor that French fishing ship needs to sink so she can finsih the journey in a launch packed with starving French fisherman, with nothing but an iPod, three fish hooks, and a keg of Perrier between them.
 
Sarek of Vulcan said:
Trekker4747 said:
Just that, for me, I think it is irresponsible to seen a teenaged girl on a trip around the world by herself with no physical, nearby, support in the form of a chase vessel.

All I can do is say that and shrug. She's a sixteen year old girl and hardly filled with experience or knowledge on how to do these things and just because others her age, or near it, have done it doesn't mean it's not risky. I mean in the best of circumstances the first five people to play Russian Roulette will be safe. Doesn't mean it's not a risky game to play.

Yeah, that's a bad comparisson.
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How long have you known Abby?
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Finn said:
Trekker4747 said:
Just hardly filled with experience or knowledge on how to do these things
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Where do you come off saying that? Do you even know her?
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Let me say this again, as some people seem to be having trouble with it.

She's sixteen years old, she's not filled with life experience or knowledge!

Would you guys be perfectly comfortable with sending your sixteen-year-old daughter on a trip completely by herself around the world in a sail boat? Do you really think the handful of years in "training" she's had, no matter how good, has really prepared her for every possible situation and condition that could pop up?

Hell, do you think she'd really have the mental capacity to do it? Be able to defend herself if she was boarded by pirates (they do exsist, you know) or in the various ports she'd be in along the way. It's an eighteen-month-long trip. Could you people really send your teenaged child away by herself for that length of time? Do you thin someone that age is really pepared for every possible thing that could occur?

The girl is brave, ambitious and all that I grant you that. Qualities that should certainly be admired and encouraged but at the same time all of those need to come discipline. Discipline to know you don't know everything and the unexpected can occur. Reading blogs, stories, and Op/Ed pieces the last couple days I've seen writers say even experienced adult sailors would struggle with a trip like this.

You seriously think a sixteen-year-old child has all of the knowledge they need to make a year and half long journey like this? Do you you really think a sixteen year old child can handle the emotional struggles or the potential dangers from the trip, staying in ports, etc.?

I, personally, do not. Again, her ambitions are laudable for sure, but still it doesn't strike me as wise to send a child like this on such a journey. If something had happened to her out there, if she had died you all would be singing a different tune, one matching mine.
 
^One is not required to have a lifetime of knowledge and experience to sail. As for the pirates, that's why she took that detour. You don't know her at all. There are 16 years olds who are more intelligent, mature and more capable than those in their 30s.
 
Trekker4747 said:
Sarek of Vulcan said:
Trekker4747 said:
Just that, for me, I think it is irresponsible to seen a teenaged girl on a trip around the world by herself with no physical, nearby, support in the form of a chase vessel.

All I can do is say that and shrug. She's a sixteen year old girl and hardly filled with experience or knowledge on how to do these things and just because others her age, or near it, have done it doesn't mean it's not risky. I mean in the best of circumstances the first five people to play Russian Roulette will be safe. Doesn't mean it's not a risky game to play.

Yeah, that's a bad comparisson.
Click to expand...

How long have you known Abby?
Click to expand...

Finn said:
Trekker4747 said:
Just hardly filled with experience or knowledge on how to do these things
Click to expand...
Where do you come off saying that? Do you even know her?
Click to expand...

Let me say this again, *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS *BLAH* *BLAH* *BLAH* MORE JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS
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:rolleyes: Pull your pants up so you can quit talking out of your ass, and stop acting like people as young as 16 are too inexperienced and irresponsible to handle any challenges in life.

You constantly start threads here bitching about how people are self-centered, have no concern for others, act like they should be catered to, etc and here's a shining example of a young person setting out to do something contrary to everything you find fault in others -- and it's wrong.

Are you of this school of thought a lot of people have, where juveniles should be molly-coddled until age 18, and then TADA!!!! they're somehow able and equipped to take on a plethora of challenges in the world? Were she 18 instead of 16, you'd still be here bitching but would instead call her stupid and acting like a self-centered child rather than a young adult.

Be careful up on your high-horse, it's a long, long fall. Look in the mirror and you'll see a prime example of someone without life experience.
 
Trekker4747 said:
Just that, for me, I think it is irresponsible to seen a teenaged girl on a trip around the world by herself with no physical, nearby, support in the form of a chase vessel.
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That I'll agree would have been a wise precaution.
 
Trekker4747 said:
Let me say this again, as some people seem to be having trouble with it.

She's sixteen years old, she's not filled with life experience or knowledge!
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Well, not right now, but my daughter won't be sixteen for at least another twenty years.

And we aren't talking about my daughter. We're talking about Abby Sunderland. Maybe my daughter will be an expert skier, and I'll be comfortable with her taking on a triple diamond slope. I'm sure Abby's parents wouldn't be with her, because it's unlikely she skies as well as she sails.

People, even minors, aren't just little cookie cutouts that are absolutely interchangeable.

Would you guys be perfectly comfortable with sending your sixteen-year-old daughter on a trip completely by herself around the world in a sail boat? Do you really think the handful of years in "training" she's had, no matter how good, has really prepared her for every possible situation and condition that could pop up?
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Well, how old should she be? Will it be okay when she turns eighteen? How about twenty? Twenty-five? How many years old does someone have to be before they can try to circumnavigate the planet?

And, for that matter, would a twenty-five year old who's been sailing for five years be more suitable, in your eyes, than a sixteen-year-old who's been sailing for ten?
 
Well what about Abby's physical size and strength? What if her boat was attacked by a giant squid and she had to fight it off with a boarding axe or cutlass?
 
^I'm sure she has advanced-level sailor ninja training. It's geared toward successfully fighting off all variety of kraken, sirens, Loch Ness-style sauropods - all your standard-issue sea monsters.
 
All I know is I wouldn't let my 16 year old son or daughter do this...period...and I wouldn't be comfortable with them doing it at any age...finding it a bit dangerous and not within my own comfort zone...but at least when they are 18 they can make that decision on their own. I am glad she is now safe.
 
I have a sailboat and enjoy it when I can. I admire anyone who gets the chance to do the around the world alone. Its the ultimate challenge. Joshua Slocum did it first back in the 1800s and having read his book, it just inspires. I am a married man with responsibilities and a job, but this is the type of thing I dream of. I have been in repair of one sort or another all my life so makeshift mast repairs are something she should know, but maybe that comes with age and experience. Sounds like her boat held up ok.
 
STOP THE PRESSES!!!

Fox News bombshell

Sailor Abby Sunderland's Dad Signed Her To TV Deal Before Her Doomed Voyage

Here's a dose of reality.

The father of teen sailor Abby Sunderland told The NY Post that he's broke and had signed a contract to do a reality show, "Adventures in Sunderland" about his family of daredevil kids weeks after she set off on her doomed and dangerous solo sail around the globe.

Laurence Sunderland, a sailing instructor who lives in the middle-class Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks with his pregnant wife and seven kids, opened their home to film crews four months ago.
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Eight kids, so he can afford to lose a few. :borg:
 
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