Quote:
Originally Posted by JediKooter
With your knowledge of sailing, I'm sure you know how difficult it is for an adult to navigate in bad weather. Imagine a 16 year old kid trying to do it regardless of training. It sounds like their plan was, 'You get in trouble, sail for the nearest port". I hope they also prepared her on how to get OUT of that trouble so she can actually get to the nearest port.
|
EXACTLY. It's one of those "with age (and experience) comes wisdom" things, and I have to wonder how many times she did smaller things and what kind of training she has. If I were to do a trip like that, I'd arrange a series of "practice" cruises, maybe just trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific, with at least one other hand at first, then maybe solo. I'd also maybe do one or two runs around the tip of South America and, if possible, the Cape of Good Hope, which is notoriously challenging even for fully-crewed sailboats (to say nothing of single-hand). I doubt, at 16, she's had the opportunity to do any of those things, but they would without a doubt be first steps before a round-the-world endeavor.
Reading her blog, I have to wonder what kind of technical training she has. I'm not saying I know how to fix everything on the boat, but between my dad and I, I'm confident we could fix many of the things that can break. We've done a lot of work on the insides and out both on dry land and in water. I have experience climbing rigging and doing ropework, plus I'm an engineer with basic knowledge of stuff like soldering and stuff, and my dad knows even more about the electrical stuff than I do.
To boot, both my dad and I can navigate using a compass and charts and have SOME familiarity with determining location based on stars, etc (when you're not near land). We wouldn't have a lot of fun if our instruments died, but we could probably figure out where we were and then make a valiant attempt at fixing things.
I really can't fathom her being ready/trained enough at 16. But before making TOO many judgements, I would like to know what her training/prep involved. I know in the other thread some have said they'd rather do a thing like that at 16 than at 39, but I think she'd have had better preparation at say 24 than 16, and would still have the fitness etc to do it. I don't even want to get into my feelings on the kid who climbed Everest. It's similar in some ways but way different in others, and I think Everest kid pisses me off more than I could ever potentially be about this girl.
But I digress.
/tk