Quote:
Originally Posted by likwid
Nobody gives a damn about sailing in the US. You know that.
Most have no clue who Joshua Slocum or Nathanael Herreshoff were.
Nor Dodge Morgan, or Mike Plant.
Terry Hutchinson will never be a household name like John Bertrand once was overseas.
Nor will they ever care.
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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.