If you all have seen the news recently, you must’ve seen the story about Abby Sunderland, a 16 year old that had the goal to circumnavigate the world via sailboat. On June 10th, Abby ended up going through a rough storm in the Indian Ocean causing the mast to snap off of her boat. Because of this, Abby activated two of her emergency beacons which caused a massive search and rescue effort. On June 11th, the Australian Maritime Authority sent a Quantas Airbus A330 passenger jet over 2000 miles (almost to that aircraft’s limit) to Abby’s location. Once the plane found her location, they gained radio contact with Abby, who then stated that she was fine. On the 12th, a French merchant vessel name the Ile de la Reunion rescued Abby from her stranded boat.
Since then, the Sunderland family has been criticized for not paying any money towards the cost of the rescue. The Australian search and rescue refused to give out the cost of the rescue, but many people say that the Australian people have paid thousands in tax money for the rescue.
One problem I see with this is since when did people have to pay the Coast Guard for their rescue? If you get lost near Australia, do you have to pay the Australian authorities for your rescue? I think that since she was so young and under 18 and was doing something no one else has the guts to do, everyone is now wanting to single them out for money. Many people get away with getting rescued offshore by the Coast Guard each year and they don’t have to pay a cent for their rescue and now the people who have expensive boats now have to pay a pretty penny to be rescued. That is ridiculous. What kind of low-life people think of something so damn stupid like that?
I hope Abby gets back on her feet and saves up for a new boat and tries to do this again. This is a girl that is an expert (yes, at 16 you can be an expert at something) at what she does. She knows this is dangerous. This girl has a true dream and she’s doing a damn good job at making this dream come true. Go Abby!
Check out:
Abby’s official web site
And
Her blog
Since then, the Sunderland family has been criticized for not paying any money towards the cost of the rescue. The Australian search and rescue refused to give out the cost of the rescue, but many people say that the Australian people have paid thousands in tax money for the rescue.
One problem I see with this is since when did people have to pay the Coast Guard for their rescue? If you get lost near Australia, do you have to pay the Australian authorities for your rescue? I think that since she was so young and under 18 and was doing something no one else has the guts to do, everyone is now wanting to single them out for money. Many people get away with getting rescued offshore by the Coast Guard each year and they don’t have to pay a cent for their rescue and now the people who have expensive boats now have to pay a pretty penny to be rescued. That is ridiculous. What kind of low-life people think of something so damn stupid like that?
I hope Abby gets back on her feet and saves up for a new boat and tries to do this again. This is a girl that is an expert (yes, at 16 you can be an expert at something) at what she does. She knows this is dangerous. This girl has a true dream and she’s doing a damn good job at making this dream come true. Go Abby!
Check out:
Abby’s official web site
And
Her blog
