<p>There are so many details that we may never know. Was there an inside helm station or just one out in the cockpit. Had she given up trying to maintain steerage and control her heading because it was too dangerous to be out in the cockpit alone. Was she trying to rely on an autopilot to maintain a heading in the absence of an inside helm station or because she just needed to try to get some rest. I’ve done a couple of crossings from the east coast to the Caribbean, a load of east coast off shore passages and a ton of inland bay sailing and if you encounter storms, things can happen very, very fast in 10 ft seas with 35 knots of wind, let alone in the ultra extreme conditions she was facing.</p>
<p>MichaelNKat, I’m glad that you have joined the thread, because I am very curious about how sailors approach sailing through storms. I have been on sailboats, but my friends’ response to storms, really to threats of storms, is to leave the ocean immediately!</p>
<p>If you are out in the open ocean on a small boat and faced with extreme conditions, is it better to take down the mast and sails, go inside, and ride it out, or is it better to keep the sails up and try to control the boat’s motion (head directly into the waves, etc.)? I take it sometimes it is possible to control the steering and sails from inside the cabin, rather than having to stand outside in the storm? How strong do you need to be to control a boat in high winds/huge waves?</p>
<p>Is the mast hitting the water that big of a deal? I read her blog back to a few days before her autopilot malfunctioned and she had to stop in Cape Town, and she mentions the mast hitting the water throughout. I figured that must just happen.</p>
<p>She also mentions that when her autopilot broke she was up all night handsteering outside in the cold, which leads me to believe she didn’t have a station inside.</p>
<p>The mast hitting the water is a big deal. Remember, you are not talking about a little Sunfish or catamaran where if you heel over too far and capsize, you can just release the main sheet and right the boat. The forces involved on a cruising boat are exponentially greater. Assuming you don’t get seriously injured by being thrown around in a knock down, you are still dealing with all the tremendous forces generated when a multi-ton vessel is suddenly put on its side. Sometimes the boat recovers without a problem and sometimes things catastrophically break. The variables that can affect the outcome are numerous and often unpredictable. Regardless of the outcome, it is a serious “Oh s**t” moment.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, I’m with your friends who say if a storm is threatening, get off the ocean if you have a choice. If you don’t have a choice, how you handle it depends on so many factors including the strength of the storm, height of the seas, speed and direction of the wind, whether you are just off shore or in the middle of the ocean. Where possible, keeping the sails out but reefed to a “storm” configuration adds to stability, directional control and smoothes the rolling of the boat. Sometimes conditions are too severe and even reefed sails will tear so you just rely on the engine to maintain steerage. Sometimes, if you are close to shore, you really don’t have the maneuvering room to pick a heading that enables you to handle the winds and seas without risking getting blown onshore. I have never been in conditions nearly as extreme as what this girl experienced. In those kinds of conditions, it may get to the point where the only option is to rely on the autopilot and engine and take refuge down below and if the autopilot breaks, as apparently happened here, conditions may be too severe to stay in the cockpit and steer the boat. Then you have little choice but to go down below and hope for the best. I’ve been out in the middle of the ocean with combinations of 10-12 foot seas and 30 - 40 knots of wind and each situation is different. Sometimes we just shortened the sails, turned on the engine and punched through until the storm passed. I’ve been in other rough seas conditions where we just used the sails or just the engine, depending on the circumstances. You ask about the strength needed to handle a boat in storm conditions - even with sophisticated steering systems, the pressure on the rudder is tremendous and it can take quite a bit of strength to control the wheel. I was once out on a little 24 ft sloop when a sudden squall hit and the forces were so great that the tiller snapped off (rolls of duct tape can fix anything). You also asked about taking the mast down. Normally on a cruising sailboat you don’t have that option. Not only is the mast too big and heavy but on larger cruising boats it usually is keel stepped i.e. passes through the deck down to the keel. Your question though raises a good point. The windage from the mast and rigging alone, even without the sails up, is significant. I once came down the Delaware River through a sudden violent storm that hit way earlier than it was called for and even with the sails fully furled, the force of the wind just on the mast and rigging was enough to heel the boat over so that the toe rail was in the water. So you take the situation at issue, give the duration of the storm, 30 foot seas, the strength of the wind, a broken autopilot and the need to take refuge below, it is hardly surprising that the mast ended up in the water and failed.</p>
<p>Thank you for that very full explanation, MichaelNKat. I’m wondering now how large the fuel tank was on that boat, and whether she could have expected to have enough fuel to get through a nonstop voyage.</p>
<p>I am even more astounded that the parents were willing to send any of their children out into these conditions.</p>
<p>Actually I would be much more inclined to read a book written by MnK than Abby.</p>
<p>^^^LOL…me too!!</p>
<p>I am glad MichaelnKat gave such a great explanation. I asked some of these questions to my H who is a lifelong sailor and I would have totally confused his answers.
My H did say that no one can make someone or do such a trip for anyone else. Abby had to have wanted to do this trip. Still my H would not have let any of our kids undertake such a journey at 16.
My H grew up sailing. He did his first ocean crossing at age 13. He was not alone but with his Dad and several other older teens. Many people felt his Dad was crazy. At age 16 my H spent 18 months living on a sailboat and cruising with his family. Not long after I met my H he spent 30 days crossing the Atlantic ocean in a sailboat. Once again he was not alone. A few more ocean crossings have been apart of his life. Sailors who cross oceans are a different breed versus the day sailor. With all that said my H who loves the challenge of an open water sailing hates long crossings. A big difference today versus when my H did his crossings is the ability to communicate with the outside world. My H has no desire nor would I support a solo trip. I value his desire for adventure but I also want him around to help me raise my children.
I do believe those sailing trips have made my H the man he is today. He is calm under any storm. He can fix anything. With a boat anything can go wrong and it always does. We have been on many a charter sailing trip where my H is huddled fixing an engine versus waiting around for the charter company to send someone out.
I think my H at age 18 had the experience and knowledge to do solo sailing had he had the desire. I think sailing is one of those sports that the younger you learn it the more natural you are at it.</p>
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<p>Count me in agreement with your H on this.</p>
<p>I read an interview with Abby she gave before she left. She was asked if she realized that she could die doing the solo attempt. She said yes,-- that people die all the time at sea. She said that thought was terrifying in a way and that was why she took her preparation very seriously. </p>
<p>My S had basically the same reaction with whitewater rafting. Except, he saw what happened even when all precautions are taken. There was unexpected high water, the boats flipped and one guy died. We were able to get the guy in our boat, but he was already dead (heart attack) although the guide worked on him for nearly 5 minutes. </p>
<p>Later my S and I discussed all this. He said “at least the man died doing something he loved.” My S was 13 at the time. I have never had him question any preparation or precautions. We continued to raft frequently. We went parasailing in New Zealand when he was 15 and he asked for parasailing lessons for his 16 birthday. About 10 sessions into the training, he came to me and said he had decided that he was not going to finish the certification. I said fine. I doubt that any parent can really force their child to do one of these activities when they are not willing. </p>
<p>Seems Abby has a passion for sailing, an appreciation of the risks, a dedication to preparation and practice (I also read of her shorter solo trips and her sailing experience since she was a baby), a superb sailing vessel (I asked a woman who purchased an ocean going catamaran and sailed it from Europe to St. Lucia about it and she said this was an excellent boat) and a true belief in prayer.</p>
<p>Not only was she prepared, but the capitan of the rescue operation noted that she was calm and well-provisioned when they arrived. Seems like the attempt ended well and I wish her good luck since she wants to try again.</p>
<p>I watched the video of when she left Marina del Rey for the trip. Part of the escort was the Sheriff’s boat. The idea that what has occurred warrants the involvement of CPS seems far fetched.</p>
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<p>I think the parents were nuts to let her do this at this age, personally, but I don’t think CPS needs to get involved, either. Now, if they have a hydrophobic kid, which given how many kids they are having, they are likely to have, and they FORCE that kid to do these kinds of things? Then, they need CPS.</p>
<p>A new reality show - “A Sailboat Plus 8”</p>
<p>And another way to finance the college degrees of eight kids. lol</p>
<p>Actually, they ought to put the whole family on a boat and circumnavigate the globe and do a reality show. </p>
<p>Call it “too many captains.”</p>
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<p>I disagree with this. I’ve seen a lot of teens and, frankly, adults take risks that I seriously doubt they would have without peer or parental pressure. The most confident teen in the world can lack the strength to say to a parent, “I don’t want to do this.” </p>
<p>While I sympathize and can understand where she is coming from when she says that a knock down can happen to any sailor (true), the fact remains that she was in an area of well known danger during this time of year because she was trying to set a record. It shows a lack of judgement that I attribute to her immaturity. The lack of judgement on her parents part I cannot so easily explain away.</p>
<p>07Dad:</p>
<p>I surely don’t think they forced their kid to take this journey. She clearly wanted to do it. I think it was very unwise given the HIGH degree of risk to life. As her parents, they should not have allowed it given she is a minor. It doesn’t matter that she wanted to do it. When she was an adult, she could decide that and the parents would not have been responsible.</p>
<p>The things your son did don’t even begin to compare in my mind. I find nothing wrong with the whitewater rafting trip (he wasn’t alone either) or parasailing lessons!</p>
<p>IMO a terrific opinion piece on this. Although I don’t necessarily agree with the all implications in the conclusion, a parent does have to know when to step in and draw the line. </p>
<p>[Abby</a> Sunderland Sails Around The World: Superkids And Their Parents | Psychology Today](<a href=“http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/marriage-and-parenting-in-todays-culture/201006/abby-sunderland-sails-around-the-world-superkid]Abby”>Abby Sunderland Sails Around The World: Superkids And Their Parents | Psychology Today)</p>
<p>Of course no one can “make” a 16-year-old sail around the world on her own, and people don’t have 100% success getting their kids to buy into their dreams, either. But to me there’s a huge difference between kids who really come up with some overwhelming passion on their own and kids who mysteriously seem to develop the same passions their parents have and strive to live out what are clearly the parents’ dreams. It’s not as if the latter group is doomed to failure or anything – see, e.g., W.A. Mozart, and G.W. Bush (and G.H.W. Bush, too, for that matter). But I reserve the right to roll my eyes a bit when I hear parents insist that their children have decided completely on their own to live out the parents’ fantasies. Yeah, right.</p>
<p>What’s especially wrong here – and what separates this from Mama Rose and Baby June – is what’s wrong with 07Dad’s assessment that Abby “had an appreciation of the risks”. No, it’s highly unlikely she had an appreciation of the risks – other than the ability to identify them – because THAT’S precisely where 16-year-olds almost universally screw up: risk assessment. Across many cultures 16-year-olds are valued as warriors, team sports players, and hitmen, precisely because they systematically undervalue risk and overvalue exhilaration. (I think they also tend to overestimate the degree of God’s personal interest in them, too.) So don’t tell me that when a 16-year-old says “I know I can die, but I have faith in God”, I should be taking that as a mature decision. It isn’t.</p>
<p>My 16-year-old still sleeps with the light on.</p>
<p>It’s not a matter of “making” the child do something – its a matter of enabling. </p>
<p>I mean… what did that now-abandoned sailboat and all its equipment cost? How much has been spent in the past on sailboats and sailing lessons, etc? </p>
<p>This is not something that even the most enterprising 16 year old could have put together and financed on her own.</p>
<p>Re being able to make a child do something, etc. I’m still trying to figure out how to influence my kid to put his clothes in the hamper. How would I get him to sail around the world?</p>