Is being right for all the wrong reasons.
Will someone please stop the madness?
Her name is Abby Sunderland. She is 16, American & drifting, demasted & without power in the middle of the Indian Ocean. She should not be there. End of story.
It will be 48 hours before the closest vessel can be diverted to rescue her. Qantas had a search & rescue team up looking for her after she activated her EPIRBs on Thursday.
And, as if that isn't bad enough ~ Laura Dekker wants to try this too. Laura was just 13. Dutch authorities put her plans on hold until July 2010. She plans to leave in September when she will have turned 15.
Abby is incredibly lucky. Only a fool sails the Indian Ocean with the winter storms. She has cost a lot of people a lot of money but better that than a dead kid at the bottom of the ocean. Sadly it looks like it will take a dead kid before authorities act to stop this madness!
7 comments:
You know, it's the mentality of the parents that disgusts me (and I don't use the word disgust lightly.) Young people don't get the idea that doing something this foolhardy and vainglorious is a good thing, unless they've had adults around them pumping their heads full of nonsense. I think it's all tied up in pride- the parents are so prideful that they are willing to risk their child's health and welfare all for the sake of notoriety and fame. The child has been wrongly taught to believe that the skills they possess are there only for their own selfish elevation. I wonder what all this "giftedness" would produce if it was instead channeled to a greater good? I certainly know that in the end, these young people would have a more productive and fulfilling life if it were.
What Persuaded said.
words fail...almost
sigh
xc
I just hope that the one's who have pathed the way for this foolishness realise their part in the tragedies or near tragedies that occur.
I am glad she was found - but who will foot the bill of the Qantas airbus flight.
Very sad - I won't never let my 17 year old son go on any sort of trip on his own yet. Our children are too precious. They have plenty of time to discover the world.
What shocks me, people, is the number of people cheering this stupidity on. It really puzzles me ~ & they seem to think the naysayers are armchair livers. Don't know about anybody else but I've sailed ~ both big & little boats; abseiled, caved, climbed, hiked & travelled the world. I understand about risk~taking & pushing the limits. And I still think some things are adult activities ~ like sex & solo round the world sailing.
I was extremely pleased to hear that Abby was alive and (relatively) well. I was less pleased with what I saw as an enormous waste of resources. But then, I think anyone who does the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race is bonkers :-)
There is something majestic and beyond words about being surrounded by ocean with no land in sight. I did it several times as a child, on an ocean liner, which I regard as a darn sight safer than a dinky yacht. I wws always traumatised for days after the lifeboat drills, though; especially the day I wasn't in time to leave the cabin before the safety door closed, trapping me in the bowels of the ship...
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