She's OK!!

[boarderboy]

I don't know what to say.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100612/ap_on_re_us/lost_sailor_found

Mid ocean, huge swells, small boat scares hell out of me. Glad she made it!!

(For some gonzo shots of female surfers charging some of the world's gnarlier waves, check out Patagonia's latest mail catalogue...)

BB

[Alaskan Rover]

Yep....she's a very lucky girl...or WOMAN, I should say, as her feat is not in the realm of girls.

She's actually spent about half her life aboard sailboats (according to her dad), and is no stranger to the open ocean.

I've been offshore sailing for some time now....my boat is a very able and well-equipped Allied Seawind ketch. She's a full keel, famous as the first fiberglass production sailboat to ever circumnavigate. Her offshore design and full keel allow her to heave-to in ANY weather for long periods. She WILL roll-over in huge waves, but she is designed to roll right back upright do to her large heeling moment. The problem is, they don't always come back up with masts INTACT. You often get dismasted in a capsize, due to the incredible forces on the mast as the hull tries to right herself. That is what happened to Abby. A "full keel" boat has a deep, traditional keel below the waterline from bow to stern. These boats are very stable and seakindly in storm conditions, but in contrast to racing boats like Abby's, she is quite slow underway.

Abby's boat is quite different. It's what's popularily known as a "sled"...a very beamy hull, with LOTS of aft volume, and almost NO hull below the waterline, except for a small spade rudder and a quite small fin keel. These boats are built for one thing and one thing ONLY: SPEED. Hers is 40 feet long, giving her a hull speed of 8.2 knots or so...but becaause she is a planing hull, she can actually exceed that...probably closer to 12 knots in a good broad reach!

Because she is built more for speed than seakindliness, she'll tend to overrun her bow wave and bury her bow...resulting in a nasty broach or worse...a pitch-pole. (end-over-end). Not to say the hull isn't seaworthy...it obviously is and has five water-tight bulkheads..it just exchages some sea-kindly attributes for absolute speed underway. These types of "racing sleds" have been known to capsize with their mast intact, and stay capsized. Abby is lucky her mast broke, as her beamy boat might have stayed capsized do to the force of the mast and sails deep in the water. A scary thought on a boat like hers.

She's a STRONG kid, that's for sure!! I've got great admiration for her!!! I don't think this will be the last of her ocean exploits....I'm just glad she's okay!!

She was dismasted in 30 foot swells. I've been in 25 foot swells off the continental shelf...and I KNOW that swells ALWAYS seem WAY bigger, at least a third larger than they actually are. Those 30 footers probably looked more like 40 foot swells to her!!

The spray would have been blowing off the whitecaps horizontally in those conditions...basically your whole world turns a dark grey. You don't really feel the impact of the waves themselves, because you've already been out there for days and are used to it...but the incessant pounding makes sleeping more than 20 minutes at a time nearly impossible. Basically your sleeping in your oilskins and deck-boots, always ready to go back out on deck and clip in at a moments notice. At sea...your mind memorizes every single creak and groan...and you wake instantly if the wind changes direction or a halyard is beating. In a sea-storm, basically your eating out of cold cans, as it's too rough to cook. I've got a really nice storm galley on the boat, with a sea-swing stove, but rarely do I get a chance to use it when I'm soloing a storm. Your world becomes the weather...and every thought is focused on keeping her stern from being pooped by running seas (large waves crashing over the stern and cockpit is what "pooping" means...sort of an "oh Sh!+" scenario!!!). Your either have your stormsail up or your running bare-poles. And the wind is just making this CRAZY, high-pitched scream through the boat's rigging.

It's not a FUN experience and ocean storms last for days, but oddly, I've felt more ALIVE during those storms than at any other point. The oceans, like the mountains, do that to you....they both quicken your spirit, and distill the essence of your soul to its very meat.

I'm sure Abby gets the same charge....luchily, I haven't been dismasted yet...knock on wood!!

Storms at sea...I LOVE em, and I HATE em! Going out now, as a matter of fact. Winds will be hitting 25-30knots and life is sweet. Dulce Vita!!

The Seawind in a williwaw wind: A sudden, strong gust of wind that comes out of nowhere and blows for only a few minutes and settles.

The Allied Seawind "stepping lively" in a nice wind:

The Allied Seawind's deep

offshore hull in contrast to a racing hull

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[softbootsurfer]

Having spent a lot of time in the ocean...

I greatly admire her courage and vision !

[kipstar]

As a slightly different view, I am pleased she's been saved, and will live to sail another day.

That said I think she should never have been allowed to do this trip, on a boat beyond her skill to sail and with a test like this minor storm (this is not that bad compared to what she would face in a full on southern ocean storm) which she couldn't pass.

Jessica Watson did the circumnavigation in a seaworthy cruising boat set up to make the sailing easy; she handled weather as bad as this.

It's frigging dangerous for the other poeple out there to have to help her and her timing is miles off; this is strong winds season going into winter in the southern ocean; no one should be sailing down there unless they really know what they are doing.

Having spent a lot of time in my yacht racing with guys off mini campaigns (a 22 foot boat of similar hull shape that is used to race across the atlantic) the degree of preparation and ability to handle adverse conditions is what separates winners and losers; the first major bad weather and problems, and this girl calls the help and gives up.

Regarding performance, this boat will sit on 20 knots downwind if you've got the grapes to send it; my 6.5m sportsboat does 23 knots downwind on a reach full speed; this thing is capable of more. It's a completely inapprorpriate boat for such a journey, and presumably was only chosen in the family's hellbent desire to set some sort of record which I think she isn't even eligible for anymore anyhow. THis boat is the equivalent of hiking the sherwins on nice thigh deep powder day at Mammoth, and deciding to use a Kessler GS race board. Can be done yes. Not ideal for task.

Regarding how this occured; it seems she wasn't even sending it at the time; she was hove to with a drogue out, and the boat probably rolled in massive seas; a more experienced sailor (e.g. the VO70 crews,the open 60 single handers, the class 40 single handers) is set up to experience weather like this and either starts prepping for it when the system first appears on their weather planning or knows how to nurse their boat throough it.

She was dismasted. COuntless sailors not trying to set records, figure out a way to jury rig and keep going. If only to save themselves. Instead she decided to just sit and wait for people to risk their lives to save her, for what is likely to be their own dollar or some foreign government; the family have already said they don't intend to contribute I think to the cost of the rescue.

Someone so young, there's no way (when I have 40 year old Mini sailors saying to me it will take me 2 years to be ready to race a mini across the atlantic, and that boat is WAY smaller than an open 40) she is ready to nurse a racing 40 footer around the world. The loads of an open 40 are huge.

Great she's safe. Makes one wonder what sort of an idiotic support system she had that would put her in the southern ocean in Autumn/Winter. She should have gone north around the northern tip of Aussie or done what her predeccesors did and stayed further north to avoid the storms and escaped the weather; problem is she wasn't a good enough sailor to sail an open style boat upwind probably, and didn't have the grapes to send it downwind in a storm either. So stuck hove to, lost her rig, and gave up.

Sorry for the slightly less positive view.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Sorry for the slightly less positive view.

Actually thanks for the knowledgeable commentary. I don't know anything about sailing, all I know is I'd like to slap her parents silly for allowing a 16 year old to put herself into such danger.

[boarderboy]

Actually thanks for the knowledgeable commentary. I don't know anything about sailing, all I know is I'd like to slap her parents silly for allowing a 16 year old to put herself into such danger.

I honestly didn't post this as a "troll" for a potentially controversial topic. It was really tough for me to think about how this young woman must feel, "helpless" and alone in the Indian Ocean

But, as a parent, my gut reaction, too, is to believe the "girl's" parents are, at best, nuts; at worst horribly negligent and misguided. That, of course, is not my call to make.

As one who admires (and misses) adventure, applauds the huge gains women are making in all "brands" of sports, and who's experienced the awesome power (and, for me, the overwhelming, breathtaking, terrifying menace) of an angry, totally indifferent, Pacific, I have to admire this "kid's" guts and daring, if not her judgment.

Hope BlueB decides to comment.

Kudos to all of you challenge the sea with such bravery and abandon.

BB

[softbootsurfer]

Having spent much time in the Ocean...

I greatly admire her Courage and Vision !

[skatha]

Actually thanks for the knowledgeable commentary. I don't know anything about sailing, all I know is I'd like to slap her parents silly for allowing a 16 year old to put herself into such danger.

I agree!

In this world filled with pirates, Somali or otherwise, a parent that allows a young girl to sail anywhere solo is setting themselves to have a murder or rape victim for an offspring.

I love sailing, too. Our 26 ft boat takes a lot of "hands on" effort to sail. I'll stick with the bays. Less people need to be shot there...

[BobD]

Makes one wonder what sort of an idiotic support system she had that would put her in the southern ocean in Autumn/Winter.

I know nothing about sailing, but that view seemed to be the opinion of most of experts interviewed by various news outlets.

It seems to me that this is more about celebrity status, than real achievement. What better start in life can rich parents give their kids?

[kipstar]

I thought I'd give you an idea of the difference in how the boats sail. You can see pics of a traditional 4KSB (in sailing palance a 4 knot sh&t box) which is ideal to sail around the world above in the thread.

It's slow, safe, secure, it handles rough weather and you sail around, even if you aren't an expert you will make it. It's like a reliable SUV.

BY comparison, the types of boats single handers race look more like the mini (21 feet long) and the class 40 (a less extreme version of what Abby sailed) which are wide, powerful and designed to be sailed at full speed. Imagine a WRC Subaru Impreza or something - it will go frigging fast but it will break down and you better know what you are doing to keep it under control.

A more logical person would choose something like a 4KSB (like Jessica Watson did) if they were inexperienced and relatively weak rather than a boat that even most of my friends some of whom are full time sailors on racing boats describe as too much boat for them.

A still more logical person, wouldn't sail a boat beyond their capabilities to control in entirely predictable weather also beyond their capabilities; instead just head north, and take a little more time.

With regards to speed, the boat she sails on, can sit on a speed of 20+ knots day in day out for a week in the southern ocean. FOr those who kite or windsurf, go out in 12-15 knots, go full speed, and you are probably doing something like 16-20 knots speed through water. For those who snowboard, this is probably the speed of a carving run on a nice intermediate trail.

Think of the concentration and effort of sailing at that speed or doing a sport at that speed, and imagine that's ALL you do 24 hours a day for a month. THIS is the life of a singlehanded sailor. How a 16 year old with a few years of pottering around in crap boats is supposed to pick up the skills and nuances of sailing and maintaining a boat in this condition for months is beyond me. The top guys have to show logged miles to prove they could handle it; and those guys are fit, smart, they know how to repair everything and they are sailing gods mostly (even if only in their own minds).

[BlueB]

Hope BlueB decides to comment.

Arrr, someone called upon Capt'n BlueBeard?

Yeah, this is a difficult topic... A bit hard for me to go back in my mind and re-live the 18 November days of hell in roaring 40' and sailing through the "eye" of a storm... Anyways, here it goes:

Boat

Has to be a sturdy, non-racing boat, but not a super heavy longkeeler either. I thanked the Heaven so many times that I had the boat I had and not something else. I would have died in any other boats thaty were on the "shopping list" prior to my trip.

You can not just sit there and hove to. You have to sail the storm. No bare poles, storm jib is a must. Keeping the momentum for steering is essential. The real trouble starts when you are at the mercy of the waves. As long as you can sail them, you should be fine.

Route and timing

Pick your route and weather window. It makes all the difference! Ok, for a non-stop around, the timing is a bit less of an option, but you still can pick the appropriate route...

Sailor

Well, you have to admire her for chasing her dream. Sad that the dream was bigger than she could handle... I know that I wouldn't have made it either, in her boat and the lattitude she had chosen for the time of the year...

Parrental support

It's a tough one too... At that age, she couldn't have earned the means for the trip, by herself, so I guess she had plenty of support, right? Now, wether it sounds right or not to send own child, out there, well that's very individual...

Here's how it went with my familly: When (at the age of 34) I anounced that I'd definitelly do my trip, solo, or with those who wanted to join me, my mom ordered my dad to come with me! It didn't take to hard convincing, though :D Fast forward to our "perfect storm" - I would have died on my own, from exhaustion :( It wasn't too far, even with 2 of us on board.

Summary

Ocean is not to be taken lightly...

[boarderboy]

Arrr, someone called upon Capt'n BlueBeard?

Summary

Ocean is not to be taken lightly...

My "respect" was gained on 170 foot wooden minesweeper, round-hulled, top heavy (new electrics in OPS), and powered by finicky stainless steel, constant rpm diesels. Top speed was 12 knots, attained by varying the pitch on the screws.

That 12 knots was mostly theoretical, given that at least one of our five-MSO Division was usually under tow. One rare, day when we really were at max speed, a Destroyer appeared on the aft horizon, overtook us, and as it pulled away in the distance, semaphored over, "...are you dead in water? do you need assistance?" (Hell yes, we needed assistance. We were the 'men of iron on the ships of wood' according to the Wall Street Journal.)

A few of our crew of 60 actually fit that description. I did not.

I remember day after day after day of undogging (?) the starboard hatch, inching out on deck and looking at those insane waves, towering over our fantail. And then there was "The Blob", a huge vulcanized bladder, lashed near the stern. It held the extra fuel we needed to get from atoll to atoll to replenish. Wave after wave after wave, Blob rolling and rolling and rolling back and forth, back and forth like a 3-D amoeba. Aargh! (They called me "Buckets.") Lost almost 30 pounds in that crossing.

Anyhow, ever since then, the men and women who take on the open ocean in mere wood, and glass and sailcloth have always occupied a special place in my pantheon of heroes.

Here's to you, one and all.

And I'm really glad the girl made it!

Salud!!

BB

[KingCrimson]

Uh this one time I was sailing in San Diego Bay, and the waves were almost over my bow!

I'm really glad little dinghies are all I need to get my high..

[BlueB]

For the ultimate high (and workout), get a single hander dinghy into some swels 4+ ft! ;)

[KingCrimson]

I do need that. Still digging around for the change to buy a Laser..

Catalina 22s are a mental exercise. While headed to an upwind mark, I was asked, "Where are you going?? The mark is that way!"

[Karvin Marvin]

All I can say is I have a LOT of respect for this 16 year old when most 16 yr olds are sitting on the couch, she is out battling the elements on a round' the world trip!!! Amazing!!

Remember...those seas that dismasted her were 25-30 feet.

Just to survive that storm shows her skills and courage.

Here's to HER, in my book!!

[kipstar]

Maximum respect for having a go.

But she clearly didn't have the skills to survive much and is frigging lucky that a bunch of other people were willing to risky their lives to go and save her when she obviously couldn't save herself. Her parents incidentally already kindly commented immediately that they had no intention of paying for the cost of the rescue (although the Aussies said after they didn't plan to charge anyhow). I wonder why Americans aren't talking up Jessica Watson, the Australian 16 year old who SUCCESSFULLY sailed around the world doing the same trip but without all the stops and a whole lot less stupidity/accidents.

Now there's another dutch girl wanting to have a go. Each time these little s&*ts go out and need a rescue, are they so selfish they can't at least plan properly so they will actually have a chance to make it? She had zero chance of making it across the southern ocean with her very limited sailing experience.

In the yachting media, the real story is coming out now, basically weather routers are pulling attention to the fact that she should never have been in that piece of water in the first place, especially given she's a novice/intermediate who doesn't know how to sail a racing boat. The more sailors read, the more they wonder why at age 16 she didn't set a realistic and acheiveable goal, or at least modify her unrealistic one of sailing single handed across the most fierce ocean.

BTW 30 foot seas is not even that bad; all single handed racers sail in this. To give you an idea, here's a few videos of the same patch of water that professional sailors race in but not during the stupid time she chose to go there.

Volvo 70s - similar design but sailed with a crew of 17; seas at 40 sec in are similar

when stuff goes wrong (southern ocean, volvo 70) then you need to fix it. When you race single handed, you fix it yourself.....or you just leave it to break and call in people to rescue you instead.....(this is what sailors, not kids do, to fix stuff)

This is what she would have looked like if she had chosen a suitable boat (like Jessica, the successful one) did - more wind, no problem

These are the single handers that race arond the world...similar boat....lot more experience

To give you an idea, this is what that wind strength looks like in a harbour, and back home in Auckland, people go out and race f&*king quick boats in it - these are the 18s in 30-35 knots in a boat designed to sail in quite a bit less:

This from Mark Michaelson:

The Boat - Wild Eyes. After looking around at various options last summer, the Sunderlands decided to make an offer on a Open 40 sloop rigged boat named Wild Eyes on the East Coast. For unspecified reasons the deal kept getting delayed. Months after the original offer had been tendered a deal was closed, and the Sunderlands owned a used boat.

The Sponsors. It is my understanding that Shoe City came on board to support Abby through a personal relationship formed at the Sunderland’s church between themselves and the Owner of Shoe City. Sponsorship played a critical role in making the voyage even possible for Abby. Even with the reported $250,000-400,000 in sponsorship dollars, the Sunderlands were said to be “broke” and unable to reimburse the Australian government for the rescue of their daughter should they be asked to do so. The Australian government has since stated that they would not be seeking any money from the Sunderlands for the rescue effort.

The Motivation. The motivation for Abby’s trip has been the subject of a lot of speculation in the media. Many of the sailors around the world flocked to the forum for discussion in Sailing Anarchy, the worlds largest website for sailing. No one but the Sunderlands will ever know the real answer as to why this adventure ever came about in the first place. Laurence Sunderland has maintained that the trip had long been a dream of Abby’s and that he was simply enabling her to fulfill her dream. Admirable to be sure if in fact that is the case but others have speculated that Laurence got a taste of fame when his son Zac circumnavigated the Globe last year and Laurence liked the attention. The media company that was filming the documentary noted that Abby did not really appear to have any interest in making the film but that Laurence jumped at the opportunity to get face time with the camera whenever possible.

The timing of the trip too has been suspect ever since Abby was rushed out to sea in what evolved to become a nonstop circumnavigation of the planet by the youngest sailor ever to accomplish the feat. Australian Jessica Watson completed her trip around the planet at the tender age of 16 and if Abby was going to break her record she would need to get moving and fast. Things did not go as planned almost right from the start with Abby’s trip. She had to make an unplanned stop almost right away - about 1000 miles from her start - in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico where a variety of problems had to be sorted out. “Team Abby,” as they came to be known, flew down and as quickly as possible readied the boat for departure again. Abby started out anew, successfully rounded Cape Horn, but then needed to stop again in Cape Town, South Africa for more repairs to the boat. It was now May and the chances of setting a record were fading fast. The media company shooting the documentary pulled the plug on the deal after citing “Concerns about the preparation and safety” of the boat and the voyage as a whole.

So now we are in the waning weeks of Fall in the Southern Hemisphere. Winter is right around the corner and the Southern Indian Ocean storms loom large. The boat could be left in South Africa for the Winter and the team could return in November to continue the trip during what is widely considered the only safe time of the year to make the trip…but then the record as the youngest to circumnavigate the planet would be gone. So here is when I have to ask the question that has been bothering me since that fateful day when Abby pulled the EPIRB cord on June 10th, 2010: Was it Abby’s dream to “sail around the planet” as her father claims, or was there a more sinister force at work here? If her dream was to sail around the planet, then there is no time limit for that as she had already stopped a couple of times on a planned non-stop trip. Yet, something caused her routing team to press the “launch” button despite the fact that June and July are arguably the most dangerous months to venture into that part of the world.

Weather Routing. One of the most important parts of any ocean voyage is the weather routing and then how you manage that data. For experienced and sophisticated navigators with unlimited bandwidth (read money) there is a fair amount of information available from the Internet and today’s routing programs do a pretty good job with the big picture information. But the satellite signals are not always perfect, satellite phones can go down from time to time, and Abby isn’t a meteorologist or a navigator as I understand it. Abby’s “Team” consulted with Commander’s Weather (A very professional weather routing group out of New Hampshire) and then took the Commander’s weather briefings and planned her route for her.

In defense of Commander’s Weather (and I am purely speculating here) I think that over the previous months Ken and the rest of the fine folks at Commanders came to know Abby. Being the likeable girl she is, the folks at Commanders formed a relationship with her. They cared about what happened to her and when the decision was made to “Go for it” in the Southern Indian Ocean, they felt compelled to not abandon her, but rather to provide her team with the best information available. They made their best effort to keep her from almost certain peril if “Team Abby” were left to do the routing on their own.

The course that Team Abby selected was in my estimation too far south for a safe transit. Historically she was right in the storm belt and at 40 degrees south latitude; it isn’t an “IF,” it is a “WHEN” and “HOW OFTEN” you get pounded. In Commanders defense, as the storm wound up and closed in on Abby they were definitely trying to wind her North but it was simply too little too late. This was completely predictable given the time of year and the course Team Abby had selected for her.

Why so far South? The official statement on the AbbySunderland.com web site spoke about not wanting to run into headwinds. It is true, a boat too far north in the Southern ocean will be faced with some headwinds from time to time , but unless there is a record at stake, what’s the rush? Headwinds are no big deal and not particularly ferocious when they do come up. This leads us back to The Motivation.

There was some discussion about Somali Pirates or some such non-sense but that was quickly sidelined in favor of the “headwinds” idea.

Timing is everything. There are few people in this world that I would travel into the far reaches of the Southern Oceans with. If you did have to select someone to go there with it would likely be world-class navigator Stan Honey. Stan has been in the Southern Ocean breaking records and capturing the round the world race championships for two decades. I chatted with Stan this last week just to get his take on the situation with Abby. He concurred that the timing for Abby’s trip was not ideal and that she was sailing too far South to avoid serious weather. He went on to note that “the Winter storms are not necessarily all that much more violent but they are very cold and they are more frequent this time of year.” This adds another level of danger to an already potentially life threatening situation.

Training Day. Abby did not get the years of training most sailors who seek to challenge the Southern Oceans would generally seek out. Her father Laurence has described Abby as a girl that grew up on the water but in this writer’s opinion Abby’s most useful training on a high performance boat came “On the Job” as she wound her way South toward Cape Horn. Those who spent time with Abby alone have reported that she was a completely different girl when out of the earshot of her Dad. Engaged and interested in learning what she could, the days before her February departure were spent trying to understand all of the systems on her boat and how to manage what may have been the highest performance boat she had ever sailed on. Abby took the sailing lessons seriously and gleaned as much as possible in the minimally challenging conditions off of Southern California’s coastline. No one I spoke to was aware of Abby ever getting any “Real weather” experience prior to her departure sans a small bout of wind and rain on the delivery from the Northeast to Miami where the boat was then cradled and freighted to the West Coast.

One of the questions I had for Mr. Sunderland prior to them asking the public for “Privacy” was whether or not he had a log for the days Abby trained on the boat in advance of the attempt to ail around the world. As a reminder, he had “no comment” for me on anything. Just doing the simple math though it is difficult to envision that Abby was able to get much training in between her home schooling and the short period of time available between the boat arriving in California and Abby’s departure in February.

In God we trust. Certainly faith can provide one with strength and conviction, but not training, preparation, planning and wisdom. As a parent, a navigator by trade, and a sailor, I think it was a serious error on the Sunderland’s part to send their child into near certain calamity given the route that was selected and the amount of experience available to deal with the situation.

I am all for those who cheer Abby’s effort. I too congratulate her on what she did accomplish on her trip to Cape Town. I cannot, however, stand with those who applaud the parents for enabling their children to attempt to “live their dreams.” Gaining sponsorship and fame isn’t enough. You must bring sound intelligent judgment to bear on the decisions you make with regard to preparation and routing. Leaving Cape Town in May is questionable; sending her on a route well south of 40 degrees south is in my mind unthinkable.

From what I understand Abby did indeed keep the faith during the peak of the storm. To her credit, she realized that panicking leads to bad decisions and that while you may be scared virtually senseless, senseless is what you cannot afford to become or you may very well perish. Those who have been through this sort of experience and quash the fear for the moment often receive a revelation days later when they come to grips with how close to death they really came. I suspect Abby may have gone through this process in the days after rescue on her way to Kerguenlen Island. This is not something I would want my daughter to have experienced at 16 years of age.

I am happy that this story had a happy ending. Abby is safe and making her way back to California via La Reunion Island. Hollywood could hardly have scripted the story any better. Which once again leads us back to “The Motivation.” Please tell me again why Abby was so far South in the middle of the storm season if there was no interest in setting a record. I am pretty sure “Abby’s Dream” of sailing around the world did not end this way in her vision. This adventure was supposed to be about enabling the dreams of a little girl. I doubt she could have ever envisioned the true nightmare that became her reality last week at the hands of a storm, a boat, and a monster.

Mark Michaelsen