Oops! (Abby)

[Roger Long]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/14/world/main6580918.shtml

[TimH]

What do you mean oops?

[htom]

So Mr. Sunderland is an idiot who perhaps should be done for child endangerment. This would go a long way to explaining her decision to resume, going across the Southern Indian Ocean as the depth of winter approached.

[Boatguy1972]

sounds like another balloon boy story...

[TimH]

balloon boy was a hoax.

[Matt J.]

it's hard to argue that this is good when the dad goes and provides so much compelling evidence that he's got other motives.

I really don't have a problem with her going; but with the parents doing all they can to make it look like a publicity stunt...

[TimH]

Her brother did the same thing. Was that a publicity stunt also?

[mmd]

If a sailor goes off to circumnavigate to "find himself" or "challenge his limits" or "fulfill a life's dream", it is a noble challenge and a (sort of) reasonable exercise. To set off to sail around the world - not for money or to try to win a race - to get in some record book (especially such a dubious record as "the youngest ever"), well, that is a stunt performed for vanity only.

Should a teenager go off on extended solo cruises? In some cases, yes.

Should a teenager go off on an extended solo cruise to get a line in the Guinness Book of World Records, a record that will likely not stand long until a level of absurdity is reached (possibly with a few losses at sea involved)? No, IMHO.

[Boatguy1972]

balloon boy was a hoax.

Yes, it may have been a hoax, but what I meant is that it was a parents attempt to use their children as a publicity stunt to help get or pitch a tv reality show..

I'm all for her wanting to sail around the world. Her parents trying to make a $ off of it, not so much.

[Roger Long]

Her brother did the same thing. Was that a publicity stunt also?

I think that was for real but the cost probably got them in their current situation. I haven't seen him in the news or heard of him being on the talk shows enough for them to have made enough to recoup the costs of the voyage. Abby will probably be a hotter property but it's hard to imagine it covering the costs of an Open 40.

IMAO it was a fine thing for the parents to let them do in both cases as long as the kids weren't pushed. I have a friend whose son has been in far more danger constantly since about the time Zac started his trip just from the life he is leading hanging around in his home town. The boat and route selection for Abby were questionable but that's a different level of decision making.

I think the edge of the reasonable envelope for age has been reached though and I hope there won't be any more of this except maybe kids their age who use it as a chance to get to see and know the world as they sail around it. The less publicity there is about any further 16 year olds doing circumnavigations, the better I will feel about their efforts.

[Roger Long]

What do you mean oops?

My illusions about the motivations of the parents just took a hit.

[John Turpin]

That's very disturbing revelation.

[Yeadon]

I think if you do anything unusual in America, that you'll get a reality tv agent calling to inquire and learn a bit more. If you were the slightest bit broke, you might be tempted to bite.

I wonder what came first ... the agent or the trip? If the trip was authentic, and the reality people came a calling, then that's one thing. If the dad went and pitched this, then the trip was organized, that's another thing.

Glad the kid is fine.

[boatbuddha]

Should a teenager go off on extended solo cruises? In some cases, yes.

Should a teenager go off on an extended solo cruise to get a line in the Guinness Book of World Records, a record that will likely not stand long until a level of absurdity is reached (possibly with a few losses at sea involved)? No, IMHO.

hear hear!

[Hwyl]

Is this thread number 5?

[TomF]

If a sailor goes off to circumnavigate to "find himself" or "challenge his limits" or "fulfill a life's dream", it is a noble challenge and a (sort of) reasonable exercise. To set off to sail around the world - not for money or to try to win a race - to get in some record book (especially such a dubious record as "the youngest ever"), well, that is a stunt performed for vanity only.

Should a teenager go off on extended solo cruises? In some cases, yes.

Should a teenager go off on an extended solo cruise to get a line in the Guinness Book of World Records, a record that will likely not stand long until a level of absurdity is reached (possibly with a few losses at sea involved)? No, IMHO.agree.

[TimH]

My illusions about the motivations of the parents just took a hit.

My feeling is that it isn't what it appears. I could be wrong, but I don't think a reality show is what they were after.

A record - yes. Perhaps not the right reason for a circumnavigation. Not my reason. To me circumnavigating is about seeing the world. The southern ocean is not the part I look forward to seeing. Shortest path will not be my path.

But then if Abby and her parents are offered all this money they wont turn it down. Neither would I.

[Lew Barrett]

I'm telling you guys: Oprah. It was always in the plan.

[Roger Long]

I just read in today's paper that the family is reporting that the story is false. They signed an agreement with a company shortly after Zac's departure and the company couldn't deliver. They took back the rights and have no plans or pending deals to capitalize on the adventures of their children at this time.

I feel better now.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

In the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies, "They would say that, wouldn't they?"

[Roger Long]

By strange coincidence, I was paying my boat excise tax just as Abby's father came on the air over the talk radio going in the town clerk's office. He sounded quite sincere as he complained about people taking a little bit of information and spreading it all over the Internet out of context. I'm satisfied now that none of this was motivated by making money and they really were letting their kids follow their own dreams.

[Michael D. Storey]

In the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies, "They would say that, wouldn't they?"

Where else can we turn for inspiration but from the Greats of History?
And who better to deliver it?

[RFNK]

My illusions about the motivations of the parents just took a hit.


Oh, I assumed it was the father's parting comment about encouraging other kids to do it .....
Rick

[Chris Coose]

I'm satisfied now that none of this was motivated by making money and they really were letting their kids follow their own dreams.

When I was 12 I wanted to scale the Eiger North Wall.

[Roger Long]

When I was 12 I wanted to scale the Eiger North Wall.

How did you like the view?

[Chris Coose]

I suppose I should be grateful that my parents didn't catch wind of this dream and begin to blaze the trail for me to follow.