BREAKING NEWS – ABBY SUNDERLAND NOW MISSING AT SEA!
Grind TV reports that 16 year old Abby Sunderland,
who had been attempting to sail around the world alone is now missing at sea.
“Sunderland,” says Grind TV, “endured multiple knockdowns in 60-knot winds
Thursday before conditions briefly abated.
“However, her parents lost satellite phone contact early this morning and an
hour later were notified by the Australian Coast Guard that both of
Sunderland’s EPIRB satellite devices had been activated.
“One is apparently is attached to a survival suit or a life raft and meant to
be used when a person is in the water or aboard a life raft.
“Abby’s father struggled with emotions and said he didn’t know if his daughter
was in a life raft or aboard the boat, or whether the boat was upside down.
“’Everything seemed to be under control,’ Laurence Sunderland said. ‘But then our call dropped and a hour later
the Coast Guard called.’”
The Cypress Times published an article on May 25,
2010 about Sunderland’s attempt to sail around the word:
By Tony Ashlin
Special to ASSIST News Service
LONG
BEACH, CA – (ANS)- Abby Sunderland has been training all her life in
the art of sailing skills and seamanship. Since she was thirteen years old she
has been dreaming of sailing solo around the world. Now at the age of sixteen
her dream has become a reality. Abby set sail on January 23, 2010 from Marina
Del Rey near Los Angeles, California on her Australian built 40 foot solo
rigged sloop named “Wild Eyes.”
The Sunderland family lives in
Thousand Oaks, California and Abby has an older brother, Zac, along with five
younger siblings. Last year, Zac broke records by being the first person under
the age of 18 to solo-circumnavigate the world in his 36 foot sailboat,
“Intrepid.”
Zac’s voyage was quite an adventure
riding out storms and avoiding close encounters with pirates. After a
considerable amount of investigation and prayer, Abby and her parents, decided
that it would be safer for the teen to pursue a non-stop voyage. The course would
entail leaving Marina Del Rey in Southern California, sailing South to Cape
Horn at the tip of South America, around the horn along the Drake Passage and
then Eastward hugging the bottom portion of the world to South Africa,
Australia, New Zealand and back to California.
This is not an easy trip and all
along the way, Abby will have to keep a constant watch for hazards to
navigation such as whales who could cause considerable damage in a collision.
Changes in weather, other vessels and icebergs from the Antarctic region are
also a risk factor.
“Wild Eyes” is well
equipped with the latest marine state of the art technology including collision
alarms, Global Positioning Satellite Systems, chart plotters, computer
navigation system and radar to reduce the factor of risk. The boat is also
equipped with solar panels, wind generators and gasoline generators to recharge
the battery cells that power the navigation system and warning systems. Still,
with all the safety gear and technology, Abby’s skills will be put to the test.
Abby’s voyage has been well recorded
on her blog, which she updates on a regular basis. Her web site is located at: http://www.abbysunderland.com/ and
contains videos, photos, answers to questions, links to her blog and access to
a web page called “Where’s Abby” where visitors can track her
progress. Abby is also writing a book about her adventure and intends to
publish it when she returns.
Even with the best laid plans, spare
parts, safety gear and back up systems, Abby had to cut her trip short in the
first week of her trek with a stop in the Mexican resort, Cabo San Lucas, for
some repairs. After leaving Cabo San Lucas she was met with rain. She blogged,
“I’ve had a lot of squally conditions. Nothing too big or bad, but enough
to keep me from getting much sleep at night with the frequent sail
changes.”
While traveling South along South
America, Abby blogged about some days of doldrums and other days where she had
experienced calm winds and warming weather as she inched toward the Equator.
Abby was three thousand miles off the coast Chile when an 8.8 on the moment
magnitude scale earthquake hit in the Maule Region near Santiago Chile on the
27th of February. Fears and concerns were raised that young Abby was in the
direct path of a Tsunami. A phone call to her parents assisted her in preparing
the boat for a possible encounter with information relayed from the U.S. Coast
Guard. Abby was assured that she was in no danger and blogged, “I went
over the boat and made sure everything was ready just in case, but in the end,
I didn’t even get a big swell.”
In late April, Abby encountered
problems with the auto pilot while crossing the Atlantic Ocean and was unable
to repair them while underway. The auto pilot is the equipment keeps her boat
on course while Abby spends time performing minor work on the boat or sleeping
in short periods while underway. Since sleep deprivation is a major risk factor
Team Abby decided that it was for the best to stop in the closest port, Cape
Town, for repairs. To make matters worse, the sleep deprived Abby was met by a
rain shower and thick fog on her approach to the South African safe harbor.
A local boat with her Father and
brother who flew over to assist with repairs went out to meet “Wild Eyes
and escort her skipper to the marina. The sailboat with the tired and rains
soaked Abby was met at the dock by the press, and a special delivery from the
local hotel- a cheeseburger, chips and a hot soda. This was Abby’s first hot
meal in a long time, a pleasant change from the dehydrated meals that she eat
during her voyage. Abby has spent 16 days in Cape Town catching up on lost
sleep and working to get her boat prepared for the rest of her trip.
On Friday, May 21, 2010 Abby blogged
that the completed repairs were successful and that “Wild Eyes” and
she are heading back to sea to continue the adventure.
Abby is very well aware of the life
threatening risks involved in such a voyage and it is quite a leap of faith for
her and her parents who not only granted permission but to assisted, equipped
and encouraged both their teen-aged son and daughter for such a risky voyage.
In a video interview posted on her web site, Abby’s father, Lawrence said,
“We are Born Again Christians, and we don’t make any decision just based
on feeling or even on sound knowledge. We also pray about it. The conviction of
prayer and the answer to prayer has led to where we are with Abigail’s campaign
and definitely has help in the whole process and scope of making
decisions.”
Abby’s father puts it best when he
said, “We have our dreams and our aspirations but we have to remember that
the LORD is in control of everything.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR –
Tony Ashlin is a Christian radio producer, eRumor investigator for www.truthorfiction.com and
a sailor who volunteers his spare time as a recreational boating safety educator
for the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.
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