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Teen sailor's mom: 'We can't afford to pay back rescue costs'

Jun 14, 2010, 11:30 AM EDT

508 Comments

Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old southern California girl who attempted to sail around the world but succeeded only in churning up controversy, is safely aboard a French rescue vessel at this hour, and is soon to be deposited on La Reunion Island, near Madagascar. Meanwhile, the preliminary bill for her rescue has come in, and it’s … oh, my … an estimated $300,000. That’ll happen when you have to charter a Qantas Airbus.
Sunderland’s parents, however, say that they can’t afford to repay the Australian government for rescuing their daughter, and anyway, shouldn’t the Australian and U.S. governments get together and take care of that? Oh yeah, and Abby is already planning another round-the-world voyage. And there may be a TV reality show in the works.

“What price would you put on a child’s life?” Maryanne Sunderland said yesterday when questioned about compensation.

“We’re not wealthy people.”


More from the Brisbane Courier Mail:

“The full cost of chartering an Airbus would be so high, you’d think they (Australian rescue authorities) would have to work with the US government for that.

It was also revealed yesterday the American Sailing Association refused to sponsor Ms Sunderland’s solo circumnavigation bid, citing concerns about the timing of her trip.

So in essence, the Sunderlands are saying ‘tough beans, Australian taxpayers.’ What we did is not illegal, and if our daughter gets into trouble out there, it’s up to you to subsidize the rescue.
Abby, meanwhile, is also lashing out a her critics on her blog:

Within a few minutes of being on board the fishing boat, I was already getting calls from the press. I don’t know how they got the number but it seems everybody is eager to pounce on my story now that something bad has happened.

There are plenty of things people can think of to blame for my situation; my age, the time of year and many more. The truth is, I was in a storm and you don’t sail through the Indian Ocean without getting in at least one storm. It wasn’t the time of year it was just a Southern Ocean storm. Storms are part of the deal when you set out to sail around the world.

As for age, since when does age create gigantic waves and storms?

She’s right. As we all know, storms are caused by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. And apparently he’s pissed at her.
UPDATE: Excerpt from a new blog entry by Abby:

The captain is a big, friendly, bald guy with a big beard. He speaks English pretty well and he says, “Is no good to worry about the boat. Is just a boat, you is safe. You should not think about the past.” Which is true, but its hard to keep my mind off everything that’s happened.

This is all starting to sound very familiar. Ha! It’s becoming a Rudyard Kipling novel.
***
Family cannot afford to pay back teen sailor Abby Sunderland’s rescue costs: mother [Brisbane Courier Mail]
Abby’s Blog

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508 Comments (Feed for Comments)
  1. iowa - Jun 24, 2010 at 8:17 AM

    you’re kidding, right??

  2. Sd - Jun 24, 2010 at 4:10 PM

    It is winter, in the southern hemisphere… dolt

  3. Scott - Jun 25, 2010 at 3:36 PM

    Oh.. so if it’s summer for you, it’s summer for everyone in the world?
    Lets just ignore the fact that Australia is below the equator and it is winter there. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle an idiot.
    Let me break some scary news to you.. the world is round.

  4. Always get the short end - Jun 25, 2010 at 3:45 PM

    1) Her family is not poor if they can afford a sailboat of this size and the related expenses.
    2) She didn’t wait for the proper season because then she wouldn’t have “beaten” her brother’s age. They definitely were reckless in that regard. Though some might see it as a calculated risk.
    3) As a tax payer, I don’t want to pay for this. There should be a mandatory boat insurance, just like on cars, which funds the coast guard. Why should someone who is never going to own a boat have to foot the bill for these rich jerks to play around?

  5. Rick Chandler - Jun 25, 2010 at 3:51 PM

    Let me break some scary news to YOU, Scott. You were the 161st person in this comments thread to point out that the seasons are the opposite south of the equator. Please read this:
    http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/06/apparently-the-seasons-are-different-in-the-southern-hemisphere.html.php

  6. spencer - Jun 26, 2010 at 12:02 AM

    P9X “Since when is JUNE the dead of winter!!!??? what an idiot!” You have shown yourself to be an idiot and a horse’s aXX. It is one thing to not know basic knowledge regarding geography; it is another thing to insult someone who you think is wrong when in actuality you are wrong!

  7. hoffman - Jun 27, 2010 at 10:36 AM

    eh, dude, its the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed – duh!

  8. Aesop - Jun 27, 2010 at 3:27 PM

    What a depressing set of comments. If most of them are from Americans, they show why the good ol’ USA is world champion at ignorance in every international test of knowledge about just about anything. I’ve read as much as I could find on the Internet about Ms. Sunderland and her family. It took some time for adequate information to become available.
    (1) An international treaty, in force for nearly 100 years, divides the ocean up into rescue zones and requires the adjacent countries to perform rescues. It’s done on the basis of reciprocity–”We’ll rescue yours, you’ll rescue ours.” The US Coast Guard won’t send a bill to the next Australian or Frenchman they rescue.
    (2) Sailors rescue each other pretty much automatically. Although it would have been a tight fit for five of them, Ms. Sunderland would have picked up the French fishing boat’s crew if THEIR boat had been disabled or sunk.
    (3) Ms. Sunderland’s boat was designed for racing in the “Southern Ocean,” where you get storms at any time of the year. That design (the boat was not built by her father) was chosen specifically. The particular boat was used–it had been around the world before. It is true that the chance of storms is HIGHER in late fall/early winter (NOT “mid-winter”) than in the middle of summer, but there are storms year-round.
    (4) Before the dismasting, Ms. Sunderland had already navigated “Wild Eyes” through 30-foot waves and 60-knot winds. That weather was less severe than Jessica Watson, whose record she was chasing, had encountered in the southern hemisphere SUMMER.
    (5) Nobody knows exactly what happened to “Wild Eyes” yet, because only Ms. Sunderland was there and she and her family have been freaked out about saying anything by this column and all of the vicious and ignorant comments it and others like it have stimulated.
    (6) Although the Sunderland family had been approached about a “reality show” after Zachary Sunderland’s circumnavigation, the producers were not able to sell the concept, and the deal had expired before Ms. Sunderland set sail.
    (7) Although the Sunderland family did put substantial financial resources into the two circumnavigations, much of the cost, especially of Abby Sunderland’s voyage, was underwritten by sponsors. If you look at pictures of “Wild Eyes,” you will see “Shoe City” covering most of the hull. While not impoverished, this isn’t a wealthy family.
    (8) The Sunderlands are a family of sailors. Sailors sail. A solo non-stop circumnavigation is one of the most challenging voyages a sailor can make. It’s certainly ambitious for a 16-year-old, but Abby had been sailing single-handed since she was 8 and delivering yachts solo for her father since the was 13. That was when she got the idea of making a circumnavigation herself. At least three others have made solo circumnavigations at only a slightly older age, including her brother. Her parents vetoed an immediate voyage, but helped her prepare for the trip over the next three years, including finding a suitable boat and financing, as well as making sure that she had as much skill and experience as possible. This was no sudden, spur-of-the-moment lark.
    (9) The voyage was well supported, with extensive communications to a “support team.” One can argue that that means it wasn’t really “solo,” but Sir Francis Chichester, knighted by Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth for a solo circumnavigation in (IIRC) the 1960′s, would have loved to have cell phones, satellites, and GPS. It’s not plausible to suppose that either Abby or her brother Zac would have been allowed to make the trip, or have wanted to, without that kind of support. Columbus wouldn’t have turned down a GPS and EPIRB, either.
    (10) Of course, the family did not PLAN ON a dismasting 2,000 miles offshore, regardless of insurance or international treaties. Despite the survivability of Abby’s boat, getting dismasted in a strong gale is dangerous, although probably not as risky as many drama queens propose. But it’s not something that can be fixed in mid-ocean in 40-foot boat, even with a multi-person crew, much less once sailor, however expert: once the mast is gone, it’s gone, there’s no getting it back. Abby herself was prepared to drift for two or three weeks after setting off her EPIRBS, aware that shipping was pretty sparse in her part of the ocean. That would have been uncomfortable, but she had the food and water for it, and confidence in the unsinkability of her boat. She hadn’t lost her keel, and while the boat might roll more without a mast and sail, without top hamper it would be a lot less likely to roll over.

  9. Sid Joy - Jun 28, 2010 at 3:35 PM

    P9X: Sorry, you are showing your lack of understanding. In the Southern Hemisphere June & July is the dead of winter, like our December & January in the Northern Hemisphere.

  10. Jay - Jun 28, 2010 at 3:56 PM

    Hey smart guy, it’s the opposite side of the equator. Which means, if you were paying attention when in tax-payer funded schools, that their seasons are opposite of the Norther Hemisphere. I know, it’s mind blowing, but those are the facts of Planet Earth.

  11. Diane Susan Glazier - Jun 29, 2010 at 11:53 AM

    I SERIOUSLY BELIEVE THESE PARENTS SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR POOR LACK OF JUDGEMENT TO SAY THE LEAST. THEIR ATTITUDES ARE RIDICULOUS. I REALLY HAVE SOME ANGER BOILING INSIDE, BUT BECAUSE I’AM A SPIRITUAL PERSON, I WILL SAY..MAY GOD BLESS THEM! HOWEVER, I DON’T THINK THE RESCUE/GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE RIDICULED.

  12. Ray Pittman - Jun 29, 2010 at 6:09 PM

    Aesop – Well said! Not too many people did their research before spouting off and making accusations/assumptions about a topic they know nothing about.
    I followed the story as it broke, then was amazed at the ferocity of people willing to beat the hell out the parents for letting their little 16 year old girl go on such a dangerous adventure.
    There are 486 comments above mine right now (most re-stating the fact that the indian ocean is on the other side of the equator – we get it! here’s a clue – the guy who wrote the first message about the summer? He’s never come back! Get a clue!) I wonder how many of these folks have 16 year olds with babies, or doing drugs, or hanging with gangs, or have a police record? If the worst thing my 16 year old girl wanted to do was circumnavigate the world in a boat, I’d be estatic! Most 16 year olds wouldn’t even know how to pronounce circumnavigate. I’d be proud to have a kid with some high aspirations.
    As for the rescue dollars – if the countries want it, they’ll get it. They can sue, just like anyone else. I personally would love to see people who do extreme (aka stupid) things to get charged when they have to be rescued. Hikers getting lost, mountain climbers getting hurt, people not leaving their homes with bad weather, etc. Some of these rescues cost big bucks.
    But so does it cost when the fire department comes and puts out the fire, or when the ambulance comes to an accident. So, Diane (I only mention you as you are right above my comment box), if you were to go out on a stormy night, lose control of your car and get in an accident and knock down a telephone pole, should YOU be charged for the fire department and firemen, the ambulance and EMTs, the volunteers who directed traffic, cops who investigated, public works who comes in to clean up the mess, the electric company, the dispatcher who took the call, and anyone else who might be involved, plus the cost of the pole? We’d never venture out of our homes.
    The parents prepared. The girl was prepared. There was a run of bad luck. My guess – if this girl was 28, we’d not even be talking about it. I’m not sure who sent the Airbus, but I seriously doubt the parents ordered that up. “Hi, my kids is missing, can you fly a really big plane to find her?”. There was someone in trouble, they worked with what they had. I applaud them in their efforts. They were concerned about a person’s life.
    Maybe we should be too.

  13. rb - Jun 30, 2010 at 6:24 PM

    Those things are completely different. No one can help them. It’s stupid to compare this utter lack of parenting skills and responsibility to those people who were victims of natural disasters.

  14. Petite Loup - Jun 30, 2010 at 8:56 PM

    You better hold off calling someone an idiot when you are the one who is wrong! It’s winter in Australia.

  15. RB3 - Jul 1, 2010 at 6:44 PM

    “Those things are completely different. No one can help them. It’s stupid to compare this utter lack of parenting skills and responsibility to those people who were victims of natural disasters.”
    I’m amazed by comments like this where people find so much fault with the parents. I say good for the parents. They raised a kid with guts and skill and perseverance which is way more than most Americans can claim. Kids like this are leaders and inspirational and we need more of them. Life is for living, not hiding in your box. As for the rescue bill, the title of the story was designed to rile people up about the bill and the title worked because most people are like lemmings (look it up!). Abby is not a lemming, thank god. I’m sure there are more than 150,000 people like myself who would be happy to donate $2 to pay the rescue bill.

  16. David J Silvestri - Jul 1, 2010 at 8:50 PM

    my guess is you. its not summer everywhere at the same time idiot

  17. bagle - Jul 4, 2010 at 12:04 PM

    I agree! The only way some people learn about responsible behavior is if they pick up the tab. Parenting 101.

  18. wag - Jul 4, 2010 at 7:33 PM

    We as taxpayers should not have to cover this. Make her parents pay and she can stay on shore cleaning boats until she pays them back. Charge them with child abuse and maybe she can live with a caring foster family while they are in jail.

  19. wag - Jul 4, 2010 at 7:41 PM

    We as taxpayers should not have to cover this. Make her parents pay and she can stay on shore cleaning boats until she pays them back. Charge them with child abuse and maybe she can live with a caring foster family while they are in jail.

  20. Patricia Mansker - Jul 5, 2010 at 5:01 PM

    Actually, for the Southern Hemisphere it is Winter in June, as their seasons are the opposite of ours. So June would be the dead, or middle, of winter.

  21. cari - Jul 5, 2010 at 5:04 PM

    this story just reinforces that we Americans are rude and selfish at everyone elses expense.

  22. admiral snackbar - Jul 6, 2010 at 3:49 PM

    In the southern hemisphere…

  23. Rick Chandler - Jul 6, 2010 at 6:34 PM

    Your comment was the 224th in the string to mention the hemisphere thing, so FAIL. But your nickname, Admiral Snackbar, is a WIN. So you wind up even. Thanks for playing.

  24. Paul - Jul 13, 2010 at 4:25 PM

    First off JAZ, thanks for doing what you do. Second, if I ever need a paramedic and ambulance, it will be paid for already because there is charge monthly on my water bill that entitles me to your service….you know, like insurance, which is what this family should have had. And then my medical insurance will pick up the balance….which that family should have had some sort of insurance, because when you do something as risky as sailing around the world to think that everything will be peachy keen all the time is folly and irresponsible. They should be billed and expected to pay any and all costs incurred in the rescue.

  25. OR - Jul 14, 2010 at 9:37 AM

    June IS winter in the southern hemisphere……geographically challenged yank again I assume….

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