TEEN SAILING CONTROVERSY

Remember last year’s big story about the BALLOON BOY HOAX, where Richard and Mayumi Heene attempted a fake stunt of their son being lost in a runaway hot air balloon, so as to reap attention, fame and fortune?  Well, it appears they now have a rival “copy-cat” family.

Meet the Sunderland’s of Thousand Oaks, CA — a middle-class family with ambitions for television fame and financial gain. 16-year-old Abby Sunderland has been a fan of sailing since she was a small child. So her father, Laurence Sunderland, thought it would be a good idea to put the young teenaged female on a sailboat ALONE, and have her sail around the world ALONE, for a reality television series and an expected huge cash payout.  It didn’t work out!

If you’ve been following the news, you’ll know that young Abby Sunderland never completed her sailing adventure.  For a while last week, she was thought to be missing at sea after setting off her distress signal and losing communication. Fortunately, Abby was found and rescued alive by an Australian rescue team. But unfortunately, Abby’s parents are now facing a sea of criticism for allowing their teen daughter to even attempt such a dangerous stunt ALONE, and authorities are considering filing charges of child endangerment.

The rescue was initiated by Australia last Thursday when Abby activated two emergency locating beacons after her 40-foot sailboat rolled in high seas and lost its mast and satellite communications equipment.  Australia sent a spotter plane and fishing boat, while using two aircraft to monitor the remote rescue, which was about 2,000 miles east of Madagascar. But this has turned out to be a rather costly stunt, since the estimated cost of the rescue (charged to Australia) is estimated at around $300,000.

Abby and her brother Zac were supposedly hounded by their father to attempt solo sailing stunts (Zac successfully completed his prior to Abby’s) in an attempt at a TV reality show and a separate documentary. But the plug was pulled on both projects long before Abby’s rescue, because of the exact outcome that producer’s feared.  “The networks didn’t want to touch it because of the very thing that happened,” said Susan Hartman, owner of 23 South Productions, which owns the footage shot beginning last fall and continuing into part of Abby’s journey.  She acknowledged producer’s thought the stunt was just too dangerous for a young teenaged girl, and said “They were afraid she was going to die.”

So the harrowing ordeal is over and young Abby Sunderland is safe and sound. But not everyone is happy for this daring family and the successful rescue of their daughter. Australia has been most critical of what they are calling an incredibly “stupid” stunt, saying it put the lives of their rescuers at risk and cost them financial liability of which they want immediate reimbursement. Others see the parent’s actions as exploitation of the children for financial gain.  But the parents are just glad to have their daughter back and are hoping everyone will just let bygones be bygones.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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