Headline PH: Sea of criticism for adrift young sailor's parents

LOS ANGELES – What were her parents thinking? Many people were asking that question as a 16-year-old girl sat adrift and alone in the frigid southern Indian Ocean, her ship's mast dashed along with her around-the-world sailing effort.

Abby Sunderland's ship was rolling in 20- to 30-foot waves as she waited to be rescued by a boat that was expected to arrive early Saturday morning Pacific time.

She set off a distress signal Thursday after rough seas disabled her ship and her satellite phone reception. There were 20 hours of tense silence before a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made brief radio contact with Sunderland and found her alive and well Friday morning.

"The aircraft (crew) spoke to her. They told her help was on the way and she sounds like she's in good health," said Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority, which chartered a commercial jet for the search.

"She's going to hang in there until a vessel can get to her," Kinley told reporters in Canberra.

Many people criticized Sunderland's parents for allowing the high-risk adventure, one of several by young people looking to make the record books. Some veteran sailors said it's all but irresponsible to send a teenager off alone in a small boat, knowing it will be tossed about like a toy for 30 or more hours at a time by the giant waves that rake the Southern Hemisphere's oceans this time of year.

"In Abby's case she was lucky," said Derrick Fries, a world sailing champion and author of the standard instruction manual "Learn to Sail." "It's only a matter of time until we end up with a tragedy on our hands."

Sunderland's family defends her trek, saying that as a lifelong sailor she was as well prepared for the journey as anyone could be. Her brother successfully circled the globe last year when he was about the same age.

"Sailing and life in general is dangerous," her father, Laurence, told The Associated Press. "Teenagers drive cars. Does that mean teenagers shouldn't drive a car? I think people who hold that opinion have lost their zeal for life. They're living in a cotton-wool tunnel to make everything safe."

By JOHN ROGERS,
Associated Press Writer

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