Reply #51: Several thoughts here.

[HooptieWagon]

I don't know either girl (Abby or Jessica), and can't be a judge of their maturity or sailing skill. However, I am an experienced sailor, and attempting such a feat (sailing around the world non-stop) requires a high degree of skill to do safely... skills that take thousands of miles of sailing and many years to acquire. Most adult sailors don't have those skills, and I doubt that a teenager (of either sex) can acquire them in a short time.

That said, Jessica's advisors have appeared to have put much more thought and preparation into her voyage. The boat selected was a proven, solid, and safe workhorse that was easily handled by a solo sailor. The time of year selected meant the southern ocean was sailed in the summer months. There wasn't an over-reliance on electrical gadgetry (electronics and saltwater are a troublesome mix)... Jessica's self-steering was a tried and proven, easily repaired, mechanical unit.

Abby's trip has appeared from the start to be a rush job. Jessica's departure forced the Sunderland's to move up the timetable (in order to beat the "record"), and rush to acquire and prepare Abby's boat. Also, the boat they purchased, while much faster than Jessica's, was also a much more difficult and demanding boat to sail for any sailor. There was little time to practice in the boat (and those "practices" appeared to be more like photo-ops). As a consequence, Abby's voyage was plagued by equipment problems (mostly with her electrical system and electrically-powered auto-pilots) and slow progress from the beginning, which also forced her into a stormy winter passage in the southern hemisphere - not a good decision by ANY skipper in ANY boat.

I assume there was pressure to continue the voyage (despite the problems) from the commercial sponsors (much like National Geographic did with Robin Lee Graham back in the 60s)... even if Abby was 100% capable of handling the boat at her age, was she also capable of judging the risks and making a decision to continue without outside pressure? Did her parents? Questions that will probably be debated for some time. I am glad that the records people have now eliminated the "youngest" categories - I don't think that was a healthy path to take.