OT - Abby Sunderland not missing..
they knew where she was just not in what shape she was because she had activated beacons but one set to go off when it touched saltwater hadn't gone off. it's good to see she was healthy and okay though.
I'm not much on Off-Topic items. I'd have no comment on this except that is always fun to mock the self-appointed all-around "experts," Valenti and Foster, who went off on this topic yesterday, decrying "what a waste of a life" this had been. That's a quote, from Valenti.
Every day is a good day to mock Valenti.
Glad that she's alive. Had she died, I would've gotten way too much flak for sending my 2 year old out on a round the world sailboat trip. I can breathe easy now.
when will parents learn that balloon travel is way safer.
Satellite phone relied upon the mast, so mast in water = no satellite phone
Thank God.
Good to see that she is ok, but her folks should pay the Australian government and the French fishing boat for the search and the pickup respectively.
something tells me that a family who send s both of their kids on round the world sailing trips in massive boats can probably afford it.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/ot-abby-sunderland-missing#comment-511736
I am curious to see what the fall out is as well.
Happy to hear it. She's got a little Amelia Earhart in her.
Anyone else find it maybe just a little suspicious that she was found so quickly in the VAST SOUTHERN INDIAN OCEAN, 2000 miles from the nearest piece of land??
No. She lost her mast, and satellite phone antenna, so she lit off her emergency beacons (which send out a distress signal that include GPS positioning). They knew pretty much exactly where to go: the beauty of today's technology.
She's camped out in their garage attic at home eating ho-ho's and Doritos with a stack of Sixteens and Vogues to keep her occupied, and it's a 38-yr-old professional pirate who's actually in the boat.
"...and it's a 38-yr-old professional pirate who's actually in the boat."
Have you ever seen Abby Sunderland and Mike Leach in the same place at the same time? Let me answer that for you; No, you haven't. Have you heard from Mike Leach at all during this round-the world-voyage? Again, no. Don't you think it is slightly coincidental that Mike Leach got himself fired right before this voyage? And you wanna talk about Pirate experience?
It all adds up. It is so obvious:
...in a storage shed. Nobody is sure how long he was there.
I'm delighted that the girl is so far safe, and help is on the way. But, being a parent of a young teenager and a 'tween, I want to beat the tar out of Abby's parents. If this isn't a case of "Just WTF were you thinking!?!" I don't know what is.
Probably that they know a lot more about the dangers and risks involved than you or I. Looks like they took the appropriate steps to mitigate the risk to an acceptable level. In an almost-worst-case scenario, the safeguards were more than enough to make sure the kid was okay. Strapping your kid into a two ton pile of steel going 70 mph a couple of feet away from other similarly large and fast vehicles without protection would be irresponsible. But if you employ the proper safeguards, it no longer is.
I think the risks are significant, but you're right that there are a lot of countermeasures available if you have the $$$. From what I read she had 3 emergency beacons, and an emergency raft with an extreme weather suit. But that needing those is extremely unlikely because her boat is designed for round the world travel, has watertight living compartments and is fine even if it capsizes.
The main issue is probably more one of good judgement...is she mature enough to always use a safety harness on deck during poor weather, etc.
The Australian and French governments should say "We're so glad she's alive and that we were able to help. Now here is our bill. Oh and next time neither one of us nor any other government will be there to bail you out should you try this again."