This doesn’t look good:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/3800550/Solo-sailor-16-missing-as-beacons-activated/
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Oh boy, this is not good at all…she is being rescued by the French!!
"This from SMSScott who is on Abby’s team and help do repairs during both of her stops:
Between about 3:00 pm PDT and 5:00 pm PDT we had many very short broken calls from iridium phone from inside boat.
Abby had been Knocked Down several times in 60 Kts winds earlier in the day. Last Knock Down stripped radar from gimbaled mount on mast. There was slight amount of water in boat. No other damage was noted running backs were intact. A full damage survey had not been done yet outside.
She felt she was in good shape after these incidents. The main reason for the call was engine would not start. We got engine started and it was working OK. B&G wind instruments atop mast were still in working order she had 35 Kts wind and was sailing. Basically she felt all was OK.
Iridium dropped another call and we expected a quick call back as she had been doing for several hours. 30 minutes to 1 hour passed with no contact.
Then USCG called with first EPIRB deployment this was a manual EPIRB from inside cabin. Short time later Personal EPIRB was also activated. There is also a Class 1 automatic deployment EPIRB in cockpit that has not activated.
Just about the time of EPIRB activation it would have been getting dark.
She does have a life raft and survival suite.
Her last water temperature report June 5 was 54 degrees F and cabin was 60 degree F…since then she has reported a cabin temp of 65 degree F
Search and Rescue has been handed over to the French.
French navy vessel 2 1/2 days away has been diverted to EPIRB position. Fishing vessel 40 hours away has also been diverted to EPIRB location.
Initial EPIRB location was 557 NM NNE of PORT-AUX-FRANCIAS.
That is the extent of what we know.
This is the most full and complete info you will get from anywhere I was on the phone calls with her. If you hear anything else but this it is either not true or it is new info."
That sucks.
Not to be cold but why would anyone let their teenager attempt a solo voyage around the world. At 16 I would have had a hard time convincing my parents to let me take the car to a concert two hours away.
On one hand I think “People enter such challenges fully understand the consequences of taking on such a feat,” however, the fact is that this was still a kid. That makes it a bit sadder that her parents allowed her to do it.
Her parents should be beaten about the head…same with that kid who went up Everest. I was hoping that she would be hanging out with the Baloonatick Foskett and DB Cooper…
A dangerous endeavor at any age.
Regardless of her age, it seems like a ton of resources (money) might be used to in a search and rescue operation. I’m not convinced that’s a wise use of societal resources.
Latest blog post explaining how they lost contact:
We spoke with Abby early this morning and learned that she had had a very rough day with winds up to 60 knots and seas 20-25 feet. She had been knocked down several times but was handling things well. The wind had subsided to around 35 knots which she and Wild Eyes are quite comfortable with.
We were helping her troubleshoot her engine that she was trying to start to charge her systems. Satellite phone reception was patchy. She was able to get the water out of the engine and start her up. We were waiting to hear back from her when American Search & Rescue authorities called to report having received a signal from her emergency beacon (EPIRB). We initially thought that the signal was sent automatically from her water-activated EPIRB and that it had been activated during one of her knockdowns. As we pulled the paperwork from her EPIRB registration, we learned that the signal had come from her manually activated EPIRB.
We were referred to Australian Search & Rescue and while we were on the phone with them another signal came in from her handheld PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). Her water-activated EPIRB has not been activated so we are hopeful that the boat is still upright.
We are working closely with American, French and Australian Search & Rescue authorities to coordinate several ships in the area to divert to her location. There are several ships in her area, the earliest possible contact is 40 hours. We are actively seeking out some sort of air rescue but this is difficult due to the remoteness of her location. Australian Search & Rescue have arranged to have a Quantas Airbus fly over her location at first light (she is 11 hours later). They will not be able to help her other than to talk via marine radio if they are able to get close enough. Hopefully, they will be able to assess her situation and report back to us.
Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. 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. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize.
Thank you for all of your kind emails and calls. We appreciate your prayers and support.
We will update as soon as there is some news.
Laurence, Marianne and Team Abby
Her parents should be beaten about the head…same with that kid who went up Everest. I was hoping that she would be hanging out with the Baloonatick Foskett and DB Cooper…
Agree 100%. I finally got to watch an interview with the father of the climber and just as was reported by other climbers, hes nutty as a fruitcake. On the plus side his son was able to watch someone die when during this very safe climb a giant sheet of ice came down and crushed him. Even the kid said no one his age said attempt it, well of course except him because his dad says its ok because hes different.
Hopefully this young lady is ok and then the parents are locked up.
The good news is that the cockpit mounted EPIRB hasn’t activated, so there is hope the boat is still (mostly) intact and upright.
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And what makes it all worse is she already had to stop for repairs a couple of months ago which ruined her bid to be the youngest to sail unassisted around the world. She was just continuing on to sail around the world solo.
Not to be cold but why would anyone let their teenager attempt a solo voyage around the world.
Parents let their children drive a car and driving is far more dangerous than sailing, particularly for 16 year olds.
Sailing around the world is a dangerous sport but it is at all ages and if she were 35, this wouldn’t even register on the news feeds.
if things end up very bad for this young woman can her parents be held responsible?
“Parents let their children drive a car and driving is far more dangerous than sailing, particularly for 16 year olds.”
Not when the sailing in question is done solo in the Southern Ocean.
“Not when the sailing in question is done solo in the Southern Ocean.”
Keep your facts to yourself.
A dangerous endeavor at any age.
Regardless of her age, it seems like a ton of resources (money) might be used to in a search and rescue operation. I’m not convinced that’s a wise use of societal resources.
Agreed. I am repulsed when people put themselves in foolishly hazardous situations that later result in rescue workers having to be placed in harm’s way to save their foolish asses. Not to mention the financial cost involved. While I wish no harm on this young woman, I hope to hell her dipshit parent are held financially liable for any and all rescue efforts.
A chartered Qantas passenger aircraft left Perth ealier today, Friday 11th and swept the area close to her last known location.After four hours they found her roughly four thousand kilometers off the West Australian coast in the Southern Ocean and have spoken to her.She is fine and is recovering from another knockdown.Her yacht had been dismasted and she is now waiting for a fishing boat to pick her up.They should get to her sometime in the next 18-24hrs.
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“Not when the sailing in question is done solo in the Southern Ocean.”
Keep your facts to yourself.
That is not a fact, it is an opinion. Far more people die in car accidents than in sailing and the rate of accidents in cars is also far higher than the rate of accidents in sailing.
I would have far more trust in the sailboat of this girl than in the car with most 16 year olds.
“I would have far more trust in the sailboat of this girl than in the car with most 16 year olds.”
Were you ever to have the opportunity to sail in 60+ knots with 40+’ waves, your opinion would change.
I don’t disagree that having 16 year olds drive is dangerous, however, I don’t think it is an equal comparison. Having a kid drive, OK; having a kid race NASCAR, no. Solo boating I can understand, solo boating around the world—no. The whole point of attempting it is that no one at that age has done it and because it is an obviously risky challenge. It is one thing to engage in practices that carry inherent risk (driving, boating), it is another thing to poke that bear with a stick—especially when at an age when your parents are still responsible from protecting you from yourself.
**Were you ever to have the opportunity to sail in 60+ knots with 40+’ waves, your opinion would change. **
I am an avid sailor and have done the Newport - Bermuda race on 3 occassions. I have experienced some pretty rough conditions although not to the extreme of those in the Southern Ocean. In my opinion, it is not the age of the sailor but the skill level and experience. I have seen excellent young people sail, they have been in boats since they learned to walk.
If this girl were 35 and never sailed a day in her life, no one would raise a fuss but she is an excellent sailor and I would feel far safer in her boat than most other sailors regardless of age.
In my opinion, it is not the age of the sailor but the skill level and experience. I have seen excellent young people sail, they have been in boats since they learned to walk.
I do not care how skilled she is in sailing. The bottom line is that a 16 year old does not think the same as, say, a 35 year old. The kid does not have the life experiences and the judgment upon which to rely in a pinch. The kid thinks he/she is invincible. You cannot expect the kid to demonstrate the judgment as the adult b/c the kid simply does not have the depth and breadth of knowledge upon which to rely in ANY type of decision-making.