meowzer
Moderator
Talk about parents letting their kids do STUPID things....WHO THE HECK would allow their 16 year old to sail around the world alone
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/376214...ple/?GT1=43001
Round-the-world teen sailor alive, well
This was a ‘testimony to her will to survive,’ her father says
updated 8:42 a.m. CT, Fri., June 11, 2010
A 16-year-old sailor on a round-the-world journey was adrift in the frigid southern Indian Ocean on Friday as rescue boats headed toward her yacht, damaged by 30-foot waves that knocked out her communications and prompted her to set off a distress signal.
After 20 hours of silence, a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made radio contact with Abby Sunderland on Friday.
Her family told TODAY's Meredith Vieira that the wait for news was "tense."
"They're not enjoyable moments, of course, and your mind does play tricks with you," said her father, Lawrence Sunderland, a shipwright who owns a yacht management company. "It's just a waiting game."
He said the family was fortunate the search and rescue team acted as quickly as they did to find Abby.
When the rescuers located her, they found her boat's mast was broken — ruining satellite phone reception — and was dragging with the sail in the ocean, said search coordinator Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority, which chartered a commercial jet for the search.
But the keel was intact, the yacht was not taking on water and Abby was equipped for the conditions, Kinley told reporters in Canberra, adding that "she sounds like she's in good health."
This was a "testimony to her will to survive and deal with the situation," Lawrence Sunderland said on TODAY.
Boats may reach her Saturday
A lifelong sailor, Abby had begun her journey trying to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop around the world and continued her trip after mechanical failures dashed that dream.
Abby told searchers Friday that she was doing fine with a space heater and at least two weeks' worth of food, said family spokesman William Bennett.
Teen girl feared lost at sea found alive
June 11: An Australian rescue team was able to locate 16-year-old sailor Abby Sunderland, who went off radar in the Indian Ocean as she attempted to sail around the world solo. TODAY’s Amy Robach reports.
Today show
Support team member Jeff Casher said the boat had gotten knocked on its side several times.
The CROSS maritime rescue center on the island of Reunion, off Madagascar, said it had sent three boats in her direction and they were expected to reach her Saturday.
Philippe Museux, CROSS director, told French RFO television station in Reunion that it had asked a fishing boat to head to the zone.
"This zone is not frequented by ships very often. We asked a fishing boat from Reunion to reroute to that zone," he said, adding that a maritime affairs vessel, the Osiris, and the commercial ship Skandia Bergen were also rerouted.
Friday's communication with Abby was the first since satellite phone communications were lost early Thursday.
She had made several broken calls to her family in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and reported her yacht was being tossed by 30-foot waves — as tall as a 3-story building. An hour after her last call ended, her emergency beacons began signaling.
The observers aboard the search plane — a chartered Qantas Airbus A330 jet that left Perth early Friday — spoke with her by close-range VHF marine radio, western Australia state police spokesman Senior Sgt. Graham Clifford said.
He said the jet faced a 4,700-mile round trip from Perth to Sunderland's boat, which is near the limit of its range.
Qantas spokesman Tom Woodward said the airliner flew five hours out to sea to reach the area where the beacons were transmitting, then maneuvered for another hour before spotting the 40-foot yacht.
She’s ‘more than capable’
Abby's family and support team told TODAY that she had all of the skills needed to survive and hoped for the best as they waited for news from the search and rescue team.
"She's proven herself on more than one occasion before now to deal with the adversities of the ocean," Lawrence Sunderland said. "It's not to do with her ability — the boat was demasted because of a condition. And she's proven herself more than capable of dealing with this."
Her brother Zac, who successfully completed a solo sail around the world at age 17, called the Indian Ocean a "pretty crazy ocean."
"No one really gets through it without getting a few fair knocks," he told Vieira on TODAY. "The situation as it turned out was actually a pretty good outcome for the emergency beacons going off."
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/376214...ple/?GT1=43001
Round-the-world teen sailor alive, well
This was a ‘testimony to her will to survive,’ her father says
updated 8:42 a.m. CT, Fri., June 11, 2010
A 16-year-old sailor on a round-the-world journey was adrift in the frigid southern Indian Ocean on Friday as rescue boats headed toward her yacht, damaged by 30-foot waves that knocked out her communications and prompted her to set off a distress signal.
After 20 hours of silence, a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made radio contact with Abby Sunderland on Friday.
Her family told TODAY's Meredith Vieira that the wait for news was "tense."
"They're not enjoyable moments, of course, and your mind does play tricks with you," said her father, Lawrence Sunderland, a shipwright who owns a yacht management company. "It's just a waiting game."
He said the family was fortunate the search and rescue team acted as quickly as they did to find Abby.
When the rescuers located her, they found her boat's mast was broken — ruining satellite phone reception — and was dragging with the sail in the ocean, said search coordinator Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority, which chartered a commercial jet for the search.
But the keel was intact, the yacht was not taking on water and Abby was equipped for the conditions, Kinley told reporters in Canberra, adding that "she sounds like she's in good health."
This was a "testimony to her will to survive and deal with the situation," Lawrence Sunderland said on TODAY.
Boats may reach her Saturday
A lifelong sailor, Abby had begun her journey trying to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop around the world and continued her trip after mechanical failures dashed that dream.
Abby told searchers Friday that she was doing fine with a space heater and at least two weeks' worth of food, said family spokesman William Bennett.
Teen girl feared lost at sea found alive
June 11: An Australian rescue team was able to locate 16-year-old sailor Abby Sunderland, who went off radar in the Indian Ocean as she attempted to sail around the world solo. TODAY’s Amy Robach reports.
Today show
Support team member Jeff Casher said the boat had gotten knocked on its side several times.
The CROSS maritime rescue center on the island of Reunion, off Madagascar, said it had sent three boats in her direction and they were expected to reach her Saturday.
Philippe Museux, CROSS director, told French RFO television station in Reunion that it had asked a fishing boat to head to the zone.
"This zone is not frequented by ships very often. We asked a fishing boat from Reunion to reroute to that zone," he said, adding that a maritime affairs vessel, the Osiris, and the commercial ship Skandia Bergen were also rerouted.
Friday's communication with Abby was the first since satellite phone communications were lost early Thursday.
She had made several broken calls to her family in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and reported her yacht was being tossed by 30-foot waves — as tall as a 3-story building. An hour after her last call ended, her emergency beacons began signaling.
The observers aboard the search plane — a chartered Qantas Airbus A330 jet that left Perth early Friday — spoke with her by close-range VHF marine radio, western Australia state police spokesman Senior Sgt. Graham Clifford said.
He said the jet faced a 4,700-mile round trip from Perth to Sunderland's boat, which is near the limit of its range.
Qantas spokesman Tom Woodward said the airliner flew five hours out to sea to reach the area where the beacons were transmitting, then maneuvered for another hour before spotting the 40-foot yacht.
She’s ‘more than capable’
Abby's family and support team told TODAY that she had all of the skills needed to survive and hoped for the best as they waited for news from the search and rescue team.
"She's proven herself on more than one occasion before now to deal with the adversities of the ocean," Lawrence Sunderland said. "It's not to do with her ability — the boat was demasted because of a condition. And she's proven herself more than capable of dealing with this."
Her brother Zac, who successfully completed a solo sail around the world at age 17, called the Indian Ocean a "pretty crazy ocean."
"No one really gets through it without getting a few fair knocks," he told Vieira on TODAY. "The situation as it turned out was actually a pretty good outcome for the emergency beacons going off."
