As Abby Sunderland spends her last day aboard a French fishing boat whose crew rescued her from a disabled sailboat and is ferrying her to an island in the Indian Ocean, criticism of her parents has intensified regarding -- most recently -- the high cost of the rescue and their involvement in a TV reality show."The full cost of chartering an airbus would be so high, you'd think they (Australian rescue authorities) would have to work with the U.S. government for that," Marianne Sunderland, Abby's mom, told the Australian newspaper Adelaide Now. "We're not wealthy people."
The rescue was initiated from 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 later -- as the fishing boat was arriving -- used two aircraft to monitor the remote rescue, 2,000 miles east of Madagascar and about the same distance from Australia. The estimated cost of the rescue has been placed at about $300,000.
When reached this morning, Marianne Sunderland said the reporter took her comments out of context and falsely implied she was hoping to pass the buck to Australia. She did not appreciate the story's implication that the Sunderlands, a middle-class family from Thousand Oaks, Calif., were broke.
Abby's partially-sponsored trip, however, was the second costly adventure for the parents. Last July, Abby's older brother Zac sailed home to a hero's welcome after completing a solo-circumnavigation of the planet at the age of 17.
In fact, Zac and Abby were supposed to have been part of a TV reality show series and documentary, and now some see this as exploitation of the children for financial gain.
However, the plug was pulled on both projects long before the rescue incident because of reasons that also are a source of dispute.
"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 into part of Abby's journey. "They were afraid she was going to die."
Laurence Sunderland, Abby's father, said in a Los Angeles Times story posted today that the opposite is true. "They were assuming Abigail was going to die out there," he said. "They were relying on her dying, and so we cut the ties."
Abby, 16, was attempting to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone and the dramatic episode occurred last Thursday, just weeks after another 16-year-old girl, Australia's Jessica Watson, had successfully completed a solo-circumnavigation.
Abby spent 20 hours out of contact with civilization and before a spotter plane from Australia located the upright vessel and made radio contact with the sailor. During that period there was speculation that she might have been killed, knocked off the boat or trapped beneath an upside-down boat.
Sunderland today will disembark from the French fishing boat and catch another boat to the French-controlled Reunion Island. She's not expected home for at least a week, and given the size of the controversy swirling like a storm cloud over her neighborhood, she probably will wish she were still at sea once she arrives home.
Critics have taken issue with her age, the wisdom of her parents, the costly rescue and, most recently, the reality TV business.
However, even Hartman says the Sunderlands do not deserve the latter criticism because the idea for the show was not theirs.
When filming began, Hartman was working as an independent contractor on behalf of Magnetic Entertainment. Hartman said Magnetic Entertainment came to the Sunderland's with the idea for the show, not vice-versa.
She said that what's misleading reporters now is that Magnetic Entertainment still lists the "Adventures in Sunderland" show and a documentary on the family among its active projects. It describes the reality show as "a family-oriented Adventure show" that follows "the family in their day-to-day lives as shipbuilder Laurence Sunderland and mother/teacher Marianne try to balance work and family."
Hartman said another reason the plug was pulled on both projects was that film crews found Laurence Sunderland difficult to deal with. They also believed the vessel and Abby were not prepared for the task of tackling the turbulent Southern Ocean, especially so late in the season, after the favorable weather window had closed."We didn't feel the boat or Abby were properly prepared," Hartman said.
Abby's trip was scheduled to begin last fall but because of numerous delays caused by boat issues. She didn't depart from Marina del Rey, Calif. until Jan. 23. Soon after she was forced into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, because Wild Eyes had experienced more problems.
Another unplanned stop caused by equipment problems occurred more recently in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Sunderland parents have acknowledged that the timing of Abby's adventure was not ideal but Marianne Sunderland said their daughter had the backing of Commanders' Weather, which has routed several renowned sailors and racing competitors across the the Southern Ocean, and served as router for Abby's voyage.
Abby's vessel, a cruising sled named Wild Eyes and built for Southern Ocean travel, was slammed by a fierce storm that she endured for several days before the boat rolled.
The American Sailing Assn. was critical of the timing of a trip that placed Abby deep into the Indian Ocean when the Southern Hemisphere winter was at hand. Charlie Nobles, the ASA's executive director, acknowledged that storms can develop at any time in this inhospitable region.
"But the likelihood of having to deal with these storms become greater at this time of year," Nobles said.
Meanwhile, there are five younger Sunderland siblings, all of them home-schooled, with a sixth due to be born on July 1. Laurence and Marianne ought to consider themselves fortunate that none of those children, so far, has developed an ambition for extreme adventure.
Top image of Abby Sunderland during her departure in January courtesy of 2010 Lisa Gizara/GizaraArts.Com
Bottom image of Zac and Abby Sunderland by Pete Thomas
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