I'm sorry, but I think this record-chasing is just wrong.
In the recently posted article, it quotes someone as saying that the girl's motive is not the record, but just to sail.
BS. It is about the record.
She is going to sail on a 26 foot yacht? That is a VERY small boat. She is a very inexperienced sailor. It is emblematic, that she'd not even had an appropriate first aid course, and had not seen the need for it. This is the problem with people of that age....they cannot see that bad things might happen.....and on these voyages, they DO happen.
One of the most difficult things in these types of voyages, is the need to keep watch, 24/7. When do you sleep? It is very problematic. And yet, how to you keep a watch on what is going on? You trust to luck.
A very telling tale, is that of the first, Robin Knox-Johnston, in "A world of my own". Truly hair raising, at a time when none of the electronic safety stuff existed. However, he was a professional sailor, with many years of experience on the high seas.
This chick sounds like a typical clueless teenager, not fathoming what is possible.
I don't agree with this, I don't agree with the progressively younger attempts on Everest, or even such things on Whitney.
The statement:
"The good news today is that we have established Laura is capable of making this voyage," her lawyer, Peter de Lange, said.
is just so wrong on so many levels. The ocean establishes whether Laura is capable, not a court, and not some oaffish self-serving lawyer.
I'm getting grouchy in my old age.
