One heck of a long SAR flight!

[Brewguy]

Looks like the Aussies have found that 16 year old US girl who was trying to sail solo around the world...
Boats head to teen sailor drifting in Indian Ocean

...The search plane — a chartered Qantas Airbus A330 jet that left Perth early Friday — jet faced a 4,700-mile (7,600-kilometre) round trip from Perth to Sunderland's boat, which is near the limit of its range.

Qantas spokesman Tom Woodward said the airliner flew five hours out to sea to reach the area where the beacons were transmitting, then manoeuvred for another hour before spotting the 40-foot (13-meter) yacht. In all, it hovered over the site for two hours, Qantas said.

The Australian maritime authority did not say how much the rescue mission would cost but said it would not be seeking compensation for the search, which initially fell just outside of Australia's search and rescue region...

[mag check]

I wonder how much it cost to charter a 330, and who picked up the tab on that one?

[FlyYukon]

I wonder how much it costs to hover an A330..

[moocow]

Well at least they found the boat, I hope she's still okay.

[Charles the Equestrian]

Anyone have a 14 year old that they send out in a boat to try to beat this record? Usually this kind of stupidity is infectious.

[mag check]

There was a 14 year old that was going to go, but the government shut her down, about 6 months ago.

[. ._]

If I had kids, I'd think twice about them having the car when they're 16- but to let them take my couple hundred thousand dollar yacht around the world on my dime? No friggin' way!

[mag check]

I don't know ISTP, kids usually get in trouble when they are goofing around with their friends, on these trips, the kids are alone, and are 100% in tune with the challenge.

These "kids" probably have 100,000 sea miles behind them by the time they are 16, and would feel totally comfortable at sea, as it's all they know.
Kinda like those sea gypsy kids that can free dive more than 100 feet to get fish, and sea cucumbers, by the time they are 4 years old.

[Pratt X 3]

Here is an interesting nugget of information regarding this SAR operation.

http://www.gcmap.com/featured/20100612

[Siddley Hawker]

Anyone have a 14 year old that they send out in a boat to try to beat this record? Usually this kind of stupidity is infectious.

Depend on it. I also question the insanity of sending the kid into the southern Indian Ocean in what is now their winter in a boat that was a racing design as opposed to a boat designed for the ocean down in the Roaring Forties.

[Nark]

I'm almost double her age, yet pale in comparison to her skill set as a sailor.

This is no different then sending Rinker Buck across the country with his brother, Kern in a J-3 they restored themselves. (15 and 17 at the time)

[Icebound]

...

I applaud her and her family.

We are living in an age where all curiosity is killed because of "danger"

These days, a kid scratching his knee is worthy of a trip to emergency. The way things are going, we will soon be mandating helmets for crossing the street.

She is obviously capable enough. She has learned more about life and about herself in this one trip than most people do in a lifetime.

She failed... and that, too, adds to her life lessons maybe more than succeeding.

Yeah, I know somebody printed that her boat was a "racer"..... but if all that happened in 30-foot seas is a lost mast, we can be sure it was a lot more seaworthy than your average America's cup entry.

Good on her.... Do it again next year.



...

[Siddley Hawker]

I wish her luck on her future attempts. Maybe she has learned enough this time not to try it again in the winter.

[Meecka]

Glad the girl is ok. Unfortunate that she failed this attemp, however, the life experience she gained is worth more than anyone can tell. I hope she will try again.
It's good to see that the instinct to explore hasn't been totaly wiped out from our species.

[xsbank]

"You go, girl!"

More balls on this girl than you'll find in the average crew-room. I guess you would prefer that your teens hung around the mall and played video games, or learned the latest techniques for spray-painting a bus shelter?

How can any of you, members of our "profession," think this is "stupidity?" Look at her boat and her equipment - plenty of planning and care in this enterprise, not a slap-dash project. We get all excited when a CL215 crosses the Atlantic...

I would also like to know how you can sail in both hemispheres over 280-odd days, avoid certain continents and avoid winter?

There sure are a lot of old poops on this board.

[Just another canuck]

It's been awhile since I've read it, but there must be others who have read "Dove" by Robin Lee Graham. It was 1965 when he set out solo to sail around the world. He was only 16 and had a 24 footer.

Great book for those who haven't read it...
http://www.amazon.com/Dove-Robin-L-Graham/dp/0060920475

[iflyforpie]

It's been awhile since I've read it, but there must be others who have read "Dove" by Robin Lee Graham. It was 1965 when he set out solo to sail around the world. He was only 16 and had a 24 footer.

Great book for those who haven't read it...
http://www.amazon.com/Dove-Robin-L-Graham/dp/0060920475

I never read the book but I am an avid reader of National Geographic and I remember his journey featuring in a few issues in 1965.

Pretty intense story though IIRC. Cose encounter with a large vessel at night, having to sail a good portion of the voyage under jury rig, and getting married on the way .

[mdscientist61]

Ah yes, I remember reading that book. He started before he was old enough to take driving lessons, and he only learned to drive after he completed the voyage.

He was caught in a brutal storm off Madagascar, so bad it almost made a Christian out of him.

That jury-rig you remembered was when he got his main mast broken off in the Indian ocean. However he salvaged the spar from the bottom of the sail and stuck it vertically to jury-rig a small main mast and kept sailing until he got a new mast.

About half-way through his voyage he had to get a fibre-glass technician to re-glue the top part of his boat back to the hull because it was weakening.

About 3/4 of the way through he ended up having to get a new boat because the orginal boat was so beaten up.

These round-the-world solo voyages are not for the weak-hearted at all.

Edit: Here's a wiki page about him
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Lee_Graham

[mag check]

Dove is a great book, but if you are into sailing, you must read Webb Chiles's books, even though he is a bit of a weirdo, with an obvious death wish, he has tried some insane feats(like sailing around the world in an open 18 footer).
Possibly the best read though is Joshua Slocums "sailing alone around the world".
He was the first guy to ever sail around alone, in 1895. Fantastic read.
There is also some excellent bio's on his life, and I think few people would argue that he had one of the most interesting lifes, and possibly the most adventure of anyone ever.

Here's a free e book from Webb.
http://www.inthepresentsea.com/the_actu ... ASSAGE.pdf

[mag check]

Actually, here are all his books, for free
http://www.inthepresentsea.com/the_actu ... books.html

I love authors that put their books in pdf format and post them to the web for free.