Sailing Movie: Wild Eyes: the Abby Sunderland story

[Ixneigh]

Beh. I don't think it's a good idea, and if the parents are soooo sailorly, they would know all sorts of things could happen, to even a full grown man. And anyway, what does it prove? With enough money I can outfit a boat that a five year old could "sail" that's mostly automated except for waving at the press, the child would still have to do that...
There should be a caveat that there will be no book movie or media deals, to lessen the temptation to cash in on the child's voyage. If the kids still hull bent on doing it, fine. The most they will get is a short write up in the news and that's all.
Re tech failure, if the yacht will not lie a hull, or be manageable towing a drogue, it has no place off shore. What insane person would try that without a wind vane backup? True offshore boats should be able to function with no electricity.
Re macs crossing the straights of Florida, yes they aren't made for that. Can't wait to get mine over there though. I will go over everything as carefully as I can.
Ix

[DaveB]

All goes back when Rob at age 16 tried to set the record around the World on Dove.(He didn't make it in two boats)
Just these kids are to young to know better. Don't tell me a kid 16 years of age has the experance. Takes years of sailing Blue Waters to semi master for this type of trip. A one month shake down cruise is not the same as Around the World cruise.
I would never had let my 16 year old daughter (24 now getting her PHF) to even think of in much less to encourage her to do so. Love her to much.
I at the age of 16 wanted to take my fathers 20 ft. wooden lyman from FL. to Cape Cod. All my father needed to supply the fuel for the Gray Marine 45hp Inboard.
That was logical back than.
Don't laugh, I might of made it if Dad paid the fuel bill, but will never know.
Dave

The entire premise of this argument is based on the assumption that these children are being exploited. Free will gave that french fisherman the ability to choose what extent he would help in the rescue, and in doing so he accepted the duty to take on the consequences of his actions. It is also true that most of our societies do not embody freedom in anyway shape or form in modern times, and in no way should one persons personal freedom affect any others, but to what extent should we limit personal rights and freedoms based on the opinion of others?
What do we define as civilized? I guess Germany where the legal age to purchase alcohol is 16 and drinking age with an adult is 14, guess they're uncivilized? The same could be said about Canada and Australia compared to the US. This is a very fine line to walk in an arguably grey area. Where do we draw these lines and who decides where to draw them , maybe we need to reconsider how we distribute freedom based upon age, gender, sexual preference or even race?

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.-D.D.E.

[mastreb]

Mods, can we move this to the Pub? Because I've got a lot to say, but this thread isn't in the correct forum to say it.

Matt

[J--]

I watched this flick and for a guy (the father of this girl) to claim to be a seasoned delivery skipper, I was really pretty surprised at the amount of electronics that this boat relied upon.

Dual auto pilots....no windvane?

I was also speaking with a buddy that had been in the coast guard for 20 and I asked him about rogue waves and how many had he seen. He said none, so my thinking is she is either extremely unlucky for being hit by two in less than a year, or did not know how to heave to in heavy air. There was no talk of drogues, sea anchors or storm sails. Instead, she was dismasted when trying to start the engine.

One other thing that irked me about this film is that it was produced by the family, and was really slanted in favor of the family with no mention of faults or lessons learned.

[Ixneigh]

Did she at least have a towel??
Here's a new reality show we could have. A person sails the boat, and the audience votes on what they should do. It would require a satellite uplink for data, not too hard, and a survivors type person to be on the boat. The viewers could vote from a dozen options for any situation, assembled by the shows producers, who for maximum entertainment value should have no sailing experience what so ever.
Ix

[J--]

Did she at least have a towel??

I don't think so....towels aren't electronic, unless we're talking about the pot smoking kind invented by the military.

Better yet, let's combine a single handed offshore sailboat race with Chopped. Then viewers could vote on three of the weird ingredients stored on the boat and they'd have to make something out of it....regardless of the weather.

I can't wait to see the squid ink - oatmeal - parsnips - canned chicken episode on a nice rolly day.