Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Jessica

Abby caught a fish (sort of).

She's also posted some photos from the Indian Ocean.

Jessica's on the way up the coast, has a busy and back on the water post up now.

Here is some MSM coverage of Abby's restart. Late, and maybe not so MSM.

Abby's drying out after her last big weather. This is short notice, but apparently she will be featured on ABC around 7 pm WZT today. (That's Whitney Zone Time).

Correction:

That would be 10 pm WZT, also features Romero (13 yo Everest Climber). I think.

Jessica should be arriving in Mooloolaba sometime this evening WZT.

Abby's got her heater working, which is helping with drying out.

Jessica's last post from the water.

Abby just posted from half-way across the Indian Ocean.

Abby's had a tough few days, big winds, tore her sail and the Internet has gone down again. She called her report in from her satphone.

Emergency rescue effort is launched for teen sailor Abby Sunderland

Oh hell, this isn't good. Hang tough Abby!

Oh wow... prayers being sent...

Access to the main page of her website is either blocked or swamped.

I was just on her blog a minute ago... but every news article out there (including on just picked up by CNN) is linked to it...

Her parents just posted an update on her blog:
"We were helping her troubleshoot her engine that she was trying to start to charge her systems. Satellite phone reception was patchy. She was able to get the water out of the engine and start her up. We were waiting to hear back from her when American Search & Rescue authorities called to report having received a signal from her emergency beacon (EPIRB). We initially thought that the signal was sent automatically from her water-activated EPIRB and that it had been activated during one of her knockdowns. As we pulled the paperwork from her EPIRB registration, we learned that the signal had come from her manually activated EPIRB.

We were referred to Australian Search & Rescue and while we were on the phone with them another signal came in from her handheld PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). Her water-activated EPIRB has not been activated so we are hopeful that the boat is still upright. "

People have survived for weeks in a life raft - with good emergency supplies. However, because the salt-water-activated EPIRB did not go off, it's probable she's still in the boat.

"Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize."

This is latest from the LA Times.

This is not good. I've been following her blog daily, and the picture is one of a person with progressive fatigue, who is sometimes making poor decisions. For example, a day or two ago, she went to bed with the wind rising, without reefing her sails, a standard precaution. This happened apparently, because she hoped it would settle down. It didn't. She did this in the most problematic area on her trip. Bad decisions in this environment tend to "stack", creating much more dire situations. I'm not quite sure what would have made her trip her manual EPIRB, but not trigger her automatic. The problem is that all the electronics that were enlisted to compensate for her inexperience and lack of strength, are failing.

Let's hope she is ok, but time is critical, and a lot seems to have passed.

Everything I've read says that the nearest waterbased support is 40 hours away (down to about... 28-30 now? It's been about 10 hours or so...)... and the family is having to actively search for air support teams because of the location where Abby triggered her message...

This seems to be the most-frequently-updated news source.

Steve C are just about to leave for the webcam sortie, will be thinking about her, will post if we can.

They apparently are going to have a commercial aircraft fly over tomorrow and see if they can contact her via VHF radio. However, she was attempting to start her engine to recharge her batteries.....one wonders if she would have it on, if she is trying to conserve battery power.

She was contacted by the commercial aircraft, and is fine, although her rigging is down. A French ship is on its way to pick her up sometime in the next ~24 hours, from what I read on her website.

CaT