For good reason. It is no longer anything special. Technology and safety gear has cheapened it to the point that even a child can do it.

Joshua Slocum did it, and did it the hard way. It has been done, it can be done, doing it again and again whether younger, faster, or with less stops is gilding the lilly.

Nathaniel Hereshoff's accomplishments are in the realm of engineering and art......they have nothing to do 16 yo's setting records.

The truth of this stunt is that it was conceived to make the girl and her parents seem special........both to themselves and to the public. Hence the publicity surrounding it. If it was about the girl herself it would have been done privately.

The fact is that it is very, very likely there is absolutely nothing special about this girl at all. If there was she would not need a stunt to show it. More likely she is probably just another fairly smart, fairly mature 16 yo doing what she has been raised to think she needs to do to gain her parent's approval as she separates from them during adolescence. It is her parent's decision on how they want to raise their children, and surely that is their right and choice, though I would suggest that teaching your kids to think they are special (which is a whole different thing than teaching them to strive to be their best) rarely ends happily. The world will define special as what they do for others, not they do for themselves. Expensive sailboats included.

Please do, likwid. Unlike the 16 yo, I'm past the point of my life where dying would have any great consequence, and if it helps you maintain your delusion of being special it would not bother me.

My dad brought up an interesting point. He actullay has sailed the Southern Oceans and most of all had to buy insurance for the boat. He thinks that the insurance company will not pay any claim becuase there was no one on watch when the wave hit. Her mother stated that Abbey was below deck on the sat phone with her when the wave stuck, thus no one on watch. There was a clause in his policy that stated there must be a crewman on wacth at all times, while at sea. Interesting point.

On watch means "in command of the vessel" not "on deck".
All of the Open class boats are driven by autopilot a vast majority of the time and full access to those controls are both down below and on deck.

Thats one for the lawyers to decide.

Also, there was no single wave that did it, the boat was knocked down multiple times.

Surprise, surprise. A teenage girl is talking on the phone while a machine drives a boat bought by her father to make her famous through a storm and something bad happens. What was she talking about, movie rights?

Breaking News: Stupid comment made by stupid troll. News at 11. :rotf2:

Gee, I thought we were discussing how ocean sailing makes people special :rollem:. My bad.

what were the motives again...
or is it just capitalizing on the fame of the kids....

Abby Sunderland's dad had TV deal as girl risked life at sea - NYPOST.com


glad she is safe

I think most people would agree that we're at the point where even a small dose of fame has tremendous short-term value. In an open society, where such blatant opportunity exists to capitalize on fame - it's unrealistic to expect that people will not engage in risky or outrageous activities that could net them marketable notoriety.

Everyone read rirockhound's most recent post. It came out over the weekend (at least that's when I first caught it) that her dad was trying to put together a reality TV show for her.

Knowingly endangering the life of your 16 year-old for a little bit of money (and I assume they are not a poor family if their hobby is offshore sailing) and 15 minutes of fame.

It's putrid, vile stuff.

I kept my mouth shut on this in case she was ultimately lost but now that she is safe , I got to say this type of thing done by children , boys or girls, is absolutely irresponsible on the part of the parents. Either the parents value whatever alterior thing was motivating them more than they value their kids lives or they are just totally stupid and ignorant as to just how dangerous an adventure like that could be.
The law should make hanging onto those kids one grueling nightmare for those parents. I wouldn't want to see them taken away but a good grilling to hang onto them and the scare of losing them might be just what the parents need to appreciate having them safe at home with them.

Anyway , stupidity can be found under many titles , in this case its under the mom and dad category!

Guess she is not really a spoiled rich kid, just slave labor
:rotf2:

Reminds me of the kid who flew away in the weather Balloon a few months ago.

So what folks are saying it all of this is just stunt like that idiot who said his child floated away in a weather ballon when the whole time the kid was hiding in the attic ?!#@

Every one wants their 15 minutes of fame! Yup, they want the glory, but don't want to put in the sweat!

Kids now a days think they can put a video online and be a discovered sensation overnight?! Yeah, right - don't quit your day job and remember to ask if the customer if they want fries with that, OR if they want to supersize it, LOL.

The worlds in a lot of trouble IMHO. There is no short cut to things. There is no free lunch. Get in line for your enemas now. ;) I hope we survive these bozos the sheeple elected into office.

I'm glad the girl is alive.

LOL, Sandman - you type faster than I do. ;)

this girl will amount to more than any couch potato kid wielding a nintendo joystick. ;)

apparently numbskull is a tv producer too!

Sunderland said the individual who approached him about the project, Ted Caloroso, has "a personal vendetta against me." He said Caloroso was going to take the show in an unethical direction, depicting him as a bad father and predicated on Abby dying in the venture.

Abby Sunderland's Father Denies Plans for Reality TV Show

Dad is a wacko, I wouldn't trust a single thing good or bad that comes out of his mouth.

Maybe she'll become an "engineer" like Nat. :rotf2:

And probably far less than a kid who has to overcome real life challenges to achieve their goals. Those kids don't have the benefits of EPRIB's, rich daddys, and TV deals.

But I don't see this as about the girl. She is just 16 and decades away from establishing her quality as a person. It is about her parents, and this fiasco says little for their qualities.