StanUpshaw
06-10-2010, 05:13 PM
http://i.imgur.com/zmOs8.jpg
Sailor Abby Sunderland, 16, missing in Indian Ocean
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 16-year-old California girl trying to sail around the world alone was missing in a remote area of the Indian Ocean on Thursday after sending distress signals in heavy seas, her family said.
U.S.
Abby Sunderland was last heard from about 6 a.m. Pacific time (9 a.m. EDT) on Thursday, when she broke off a satellite phone call with a member of her support team, her brother told reporters outside the family's Los Angeles-area home.
Zac Sunderland, who at age 17 completed his own solo voyage around the world in 2009, said his sister activated two emergency signals shortly after that call.
"The distress beacons mean she's in some kind of trouble," he said. "She's a very accomplished sailor but she's in the Indian Ocean right now and its a really dangerous place."
Abby Sunderland's last-known location was far from land, about 2,000 miles east of Madagascar and 2,000 miles west of Australia and the closest ships were said to be some two days from reaching her.
Australian airline Qantas said it chartered an Airbus A330 aircraft to assist in the search for Sunderland. A Qantas spokeswoman said the aircraft was scheduled to leave Perth at 7 a.m. local time on Friday to fly over the search area.
'ROLLING AROUND LIKE CRAZY'
Carly Lusk, a spokeswoman from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, told 3AW radio in Perth the flight would take about four hours to reach the location as it is 2,000 miles west-southwest of Perth.
"We've got Qantas crews on there, as well as 11 trained air observers from the West Australian fire and emergency services, and two Fremantle water police officers," she said.
During a blog entry written on Wednesday, Sunderland, who began her trip in January, described sailing her boat, Wild Eyes, through several days of extremely rough weather, which apparently damaged a sail.
She said she was able to patch the sail, but added: "It wasn't the most fun job I've had out here. Wild Eyes was rolling around like crazy."
Sunderland said her Internet system was also down and it was possible she would not be able to fix it.
In a post on her blog, her family wrote she had battled 60-knot winds and 20-to-25-foot (6-to-7.6-meter) seas before going missing and had been "knocked down" several times -- a reference to the boat tipping until the sails touch water.
Family members say they believe Sunderland is still alive because an emergency beacon that is triggered automatically when the sailboat sinks had not gone off.
The two beacons that have been transmitting signals are attached to the boat and Sunderland's survival suit and are activated manually by the sailor.
"We know that she's alive and she's most likely floating there," her father, Laurence, told reporters.
Sunderland had hoped to become the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe alone nonstop but had to give up her chance at that record when she was forced to pull into a port at Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs to her boat.
Her parents have been criticized by some in the media for allowing her to undertake the solo voyage at 16.
Sailing experts have said that she was ill-advised to leave California in January, because she risked arriving in the Indian Ocean at the start of the winter season.
This is like balloon boy all over again.
Sailor Abby Sunderland, 16, missing in Indian Ocean
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 16-year-old California girl trying to sail around the world alone was missing in a remote area of the Indian Ocean on Thursday after sending distress signals in heavy seas, her family said.
U.S.
Abby Sunderland was last heard from about 6 a.m. Pacific time (9 a.m. EDT) on Thursday, when she broke off a satellite phone call with a member of her support team, her brother told reporters outside the family's Los Angeles-area home.
Zac Sunderland, who at age 17 completed his own solo voyage around the world in 2009, said his sister activated two emergency signals shortly after that call.
"The distress beacons mean she's in some kind of trouble," he said. "She's a very accomplished sailor but she's in the Indian Ocean right now and its a really dangerous place."
Abby Sunderland's last-known location was far from land, about 2,000 miles east of Madagascar and 2,000 miles west of Australia and the closest ships were said to be some two days from reaching her.
Australian airline Qantas said it chartered an Airbus A330 aircraft to assist in the search for Sunderland. A Qantas spokeswoman said the aircraft was scheduled to leave Perth at 7 a.m. local time on Friday to fly over the search area.
'ROLLING AROUND LIKE CRAZY'
Carly Lusk, a spokeswoman from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, told 3AW radio in Perth the flight would take about four hours to reach the location as it is 2,000 miles west-southwest of Perth.
"We've got Qantas crews on there, as well as 11 trained air observers from the West Australian fire and emergency services, and two Fremantle water police officers," she said.
During a blog entry written on Wednesday, Sunderland, who began her trip in January, described sailing her boat, Wild Eyes, through several days of extremely rough weather, which apparently damaged a sail.
She said she was able to patch the sail, but added: "It wasn't the most fun job I've had out here. Wild Eyes was rolling around like crazy."
Sunderland said her Internet system was also down and it was possible she would not be able to fix it.
In a post on her blog, her family wrote she had battled 60-knot winds and 20-to-25-foot (6-to-7.6-meter) seas before going missing and had been "knocked down" several times -- a reference to the boat tipping until the sails touch water.
Family members say they believe Sunderland is still alive because an emergency beacon that is triggered automatically when the sailboat sinks had not gone off.
The two beacons that have been transmitting signals are attached to the boat and Sunderland's survival suit and are activated manually by the sailor.
"We know that she's alive and she's most likely floating there," her father, Laurence, told reporters.
Sunderland had hoped to become the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe alone nonstop but had to give up her chance at that record when she was forced to pull into a port at Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs to her boat.
Her parents have been criticized by some in the media for allowing her to undertake the solo voyage at 16.
Sailing experts have said that she was ill-advised to leave California in January, because she risked arriving in the Indian Ocean at the start of the winter season.
This is like balloon boy all over again.