Abby Sunderland

[chris_gerrib]

If you haven't heard, Abby Sunderland (her blog) is a 17-year-old girl that attempted to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. She failed when her ship was dismasted in the south Indian ocean at 40 degrees south latitude. For you non-sailors, 40 south is the start of the Southern Ocean. There's no land there, thus storms and seas build to monstrous heights. It's not a safe place to be.

Various people have argued that her parents are responsible, shouldn't have let her do this, and that Abby's too young. They also argue that Abby pressed on in conditions she shouldn't have. My thoughts are:

1) Yes, her parents are at least partially responsible. Abby didn't buy a 40-foot boat with money saved from babysitting gigs.
2) Seventeen is a bit young, but for most of history, people that age were considered adults. Having not met her, I have no idea if she has the level of maturity needed.
3) Seventeen is not fourteen. There is a world of difference between here and the Dutch teenager trying to do the same thing.
4) Yes, "go fever" or "get-there-itis" is a problem. But when you're stuck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, you may have no choice but to keep going.

In short, I see Abby's case as a gray area.

Comments

[pyropyga.livejournal.com]

At any point when a lawyer announces to the court that their 14 year-old client has "become accustomed to lack of sleep" like it is a good thing, some sort of guardianship fail has happened.

[(Anonymous)]

I say if she got that far, she knew what she was doing and very likely had all the knowledge and maturity necessary. She probably also knew how dangerous it was.

Is it true that you can join the Army at 17 if your parents consent? If that's true, why shouldn't you be able to sail around the world if your parents consent?

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not sure Miss 14 or her parents have their heads on straight. Didn't the girl try to run away and steal a sailboat? Or do I have her confused with somebody else?

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

In the US, one can join the military at 17 with parental consent.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Answered my own question (yes, she is the runaway).

Perhaps not quite ready for prime-time.

[pyropyga.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, there's a mention in the article that she traveled on her own at some point, but it doesn't clarify too much.

There's another angle to this, of course: since this is all about an intense competition to capture the 'youngest' record, each person trying to do it is just making it all that much more likely that the next person to share that dream will push the margin on their readiness and maturity to the breaking point. That's what makes the entire endeavor seem ugly to me. You might well think your child is up to it, but just when is that arms race supposed to chill out with so many people authentically professing this dream?

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

The arms race has to end just like every other arms race - when adults act like adults.

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

In the army the young recruit is given intense instruction in all aspects of his new life. He is surrounded at all times by his peers. He is given instruction on how to perfrm his job and closely monitoried to ensure he can complete the tasks assigned. He is bossed around by sergeants who have many years of experience.

He will not, on taking the oath, be thrown into the ocean all by his lonesome and told to call when he gets to Cape Town.

If you can't see the difference between 'joining the army' and 'sailing solo offshore' then you really should remain anonymous.

[(Anonymous)]

It's really necessary to read Ms. Sunderland's almost-daily pre-dismasting blog, and to do some other research as well, to be able to comment usefully.

(1) It seems that she first went to sea at the age of 6 months. Her parents, with two children (her and her older brother, also a solo, although not non-stop, circumnavigator at 17), seem to have been "sailing bums."
(2) The family eventually moved to California. Now, her father is variously described as proprietor of a boatyard and yacht management service, and as a sailing instructor. During an earlier stage of her voyage, Ms. Sunderland mentioned that a younger brother (I think #3 of 7, to be 8 any day now) was helping their father deliver a sailing yacht from California to Hawaii. This is a family of seafarers of a type that used to be common but is now rare.
(3) Ms. Sunderland herself was sailing single-handed sailboats at 8 and delivering sailing yachts solo at 13.
(4) As Mr. Gerrib mentions, Ms. Sunderland first wanted to circumnavigate at 13. A solo circumnavigation seems to me to be one of the top achievements for a small-boat sailor. It's a very ambitious undertaking. Mr. & Mrs. Sunderland have said that they have deliberately encouraged their children to undertake ambitious projects. However, as also mentioned in the original blog, they challenged their daughter with three years of preparation for her voyage. This included sailing under adverse conditions, although probably not 60-knot winds and 30-foot swells.
(5) A couple of days before the dismasting, Ms. Sunderland did encounter 60-knot winds and 30-foot swells in the middle of the night. Her blog includes a dramatic, but apparently understated, account of that crisis, which she met with resolution and skill. She was apparently working on the engine that runs her generator and bilge pump when a freak wave dismasted her. Other, older sailors have been dismasted in the "Southern Ocean." Jessica Watson, whose record as youngest solo nonstop circumnvigator Ms. Sunderland was trying to beat, was "knocked down," i.e., her mast and mainsail hit the water, seven times during her voyage. Fortunately, she was not dismasted. Some things you can prepare for, some things are just too extreme. Ms. Sunderland knew she was 2,000 miles offshore and after losing her mast was prepared to drift for weeks until she could be picked up.
(6) Ms. Sunderland got a late start and encountered a couple of delays, and in hindsight it might have been better to break off her voyage once she couldn't break the nonstop solo age record (because of a stop at Cape Town to fix her autopilots), rather than sail the fringes of the Antarctic Ocean in early winter. On the other hand, her boat was designed for racing in the Southern Ocean, and had already been used in a circumnavigation.
(7) The Sunderland children are home-schooled. Ms. Sunderland's blog seems to me to be written with grace and good humor. Twenty years ago, when I was looking for a college graduate with decent writing skills, I had a hard time finding one that could handle the English language as well. I have seen a reference to what Ms. Sunderland had to give up to make her voyage including "college courses." Being home-schooled, she was of course not limited to the lockstep annual public-school promotion ladder. In any case, this seems to be one helluva 16-year-old on a lot of dimensions.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Eh, she tried it with the approval and support of her family, it was a good thing to try, and she made a good shot at it. I don't see any reason not to approve of her effort.