Abby Sunderland, her critics and the pressures of sponsorship

by Nancy Knudsen on 14 Jun 2010 Abby Sunderland, dismasted, her round world attempt foiled and her boat abandoned, is now headed for the French-owned Kerguelan Islands on a fishing boat that went out of their way to rescue her... But even before she has touched dry land, the inevitable controversy about her voyage – and future voyages by teenagers – has begun.

A couple of months ago, in a piece about the teen solo circumnavigating sailors, who were then doing well in their respective oceans, I wrote: ...their critics, so loud previously, seem to have gone quiet. Quiet, not dead. It would probably take one tragedy to bring them from their hiding holes with renewed energy. Since seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff set off in July 1996 in a blaze of publicity to fly across America and become the younges flyer to do so, then crashed, killing herself, her father and her instructor, there have been no copy-cat attempts. Everybody loves a winner.'

Certainly it seemed that everybody in Australia loved the winner in Jessica Watson, and the critics, if any, were drowned out by the adulation that she engendered across Australia and the world.

Now it's a different story, and there's a range of hindsight statements coming from pundits everywhere.

In Australia, which sent a chartered aircraft to overfly Abby and confirm her survival, the chief executive of Yachting Australia, Phil Jones, said Abby should not have attempted the voyage. He said the route she took was especially dangerous at this time of year, and that she should not have continued after being delayed in Cape Town. Experience was important, he said, because it helped sailors cope with the unexpected.

Veteran round-world solo sailor and 'Clean up the World' founder Ian Kiernan, has weighed in. He says her trip was 'badly planned, given the mountainous seas and huge wind strengths of winter in the area,' and went on to comment:' I don't know what she's doing in the Southern Ocean as a 16-year-old in the middle of winter. It's foolhardy.'

Others are asking the hackneyed question of 'Why should taxpayers pay for rescues when individuals voluntarily put themselves at risk? In Europe they are questioning the fact that while in the 21st Century risk-taking is an individual affair, rescues are nationalised.

Even in her home country of America, the critics were having a great day, much of it tongue-in-cheek:

'I barely trust my girls to operate a blender,' wrote the Washington Post's Joel Achenbach, 'The day l let one of my kids sail solo around the world is the day I let my ancient cat Phoebe drive my Honda.'

The Los Angeles Times's Steve Lopez commented that should any daughter of his express an interest in sailing around the world, 'I'd compliment her bravery and then lock her in her room, chain her to a tree or slip sleeping pills into her oatmeal.'

On a more serious note, American Sailing Association's executive director Charlie Nobles confirmed that the association had knocked back the teenager's appeal for sponsorship help, fearing commercial endorsement might encourage her to take too many risks.

'We chose not to be sponsors of Abigail because we did have concerns about the timing of her departure,' said executive director Charlie Nobles.

'She had a lot of sponsors that were behind her and I think that puts pressure on her,' Mr Nobles said. 'We made a prudent decision not to contribute to that.'

Noble's statement, however, is curious. When Abby Sunderland was searching for both sponsors and a suitable yacht, her planned departure time was November. Her PLANNED timing was never to be where she was when the 'long wave' took away her mast.

With a November departure and a six-seven months voyage, as planned, she would have been almost home in Marina del Rey by June. The more-than-two-month delay in starting, the one week lost in Cabo San Lucas, and then the one week lost in Capetown, plus the detouring time to reach those ports, had put her around three months late - just enough to put her into the Indian Ocean in winter. (See my earlier http://www.sail-world.com/CruisingAus/Abby-and-her-winter-rescue---why?/70701!story about her timing with these dates in more detail).

However, beginning an enterprise such as this is a little like getting on a nightmare carousel which is increasing in speed - getting off becomes harder and harder as the speed increases, and Noble's comment about the pressures of sponsorship are telling. Sponsorship, however, is only one of the pressures, albeit the strongest one, to be felt by someone, no matter what age, when they undertake the extraordinary.

In Abby's case, first, if she was going to become the youngest sailor to circumnavigate, she had to do it immediately or she would be too old. That's is a pressure by itself.

Then, as world publicity gathered around her and the other teen sailors, backing out would have been a serious embarrassment.

Third, once the sponsors had been won, and paid serious sponsorship fees, and the money had been spent on the boat, the pressure to continue would have multiplied dramatically.

In the middle of Mike Perham's voyage, he took the sensible decision not to attempt Cape Horn when the timing was wrong and because he had already stopped a couple of times - making a Panama transit an option.

In Cape Town, with the imminent winter bombs which the Indian Ocean is fabled for, and the recent example of Jessica Watson's rough voyage south of Tasmania, she and her team must have considered the idea of sailing north through the Indian Ocean past the northern shores of Australia and home. After all, by now, three months late, and no longer going for a non-stop journey, it would have been a viable option, and she would still have had a chance of becoming the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate.

Admittedly she was in a downwind racing boat, her Open 40, and she would have experienced much contrary wind on that route - but so did Mike Perham, on his Open 50.

Why it was decided that Abby continue into the Southern Ocean is a question which is unlikely to be answered in the near future. Abby, Team Abby and her father Lawrence Sunderland, surrounded by the new media storm that has erupted, are now firmly in defense mode.
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Letters from Readers:


Sender: Brenda Cartwright

Message: A very enlightening article. Frequently, the barb in criticism hits because there is always an element of truth that we can't ignore. Negoitating corporate sponsorship could also be likened to sailing the lows of the southern ocean. Even experienced sailors get shipwrecked. I do admire the courage of Abby. Was she ready? Was she wise? - we need to remember the adventuring spirit also includes a healthy dose of the maverick factor - often it means the difference between achieving the end or never beginning at all. Mavericks can be loose cannons - but they're frequently the individuals we admire the most because they never say die and they often achieve the impossible.

You posed some very real questions, without the 'I told you so' smugness. . Abby and her team will need to visit these questions and others like them to move on. This soul searching will not be unlike experiences of Jesse Martin and Kaye Cottee for example who came a cropper after their big successes. Yet through facing the demons bare-faced they became better and wiser individuals. I hope this is the direction Abby and her team take. As for corporate sponsorship I'm sure they had contingency plans in place long before she set sail.
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Nancy,

Recent solo sailors and their boat sizes

Mike Perham 50 foot ocean racer, he had trans-oceanic experience at a young age. Dee Caffari sailed similar racers but she was a tough PT instructor in her late 20's.

Kay Cottee 34 foot

David Dicks 34

Jesse Martin 34

Jessica Watson 34

Zac Sunderland 36

Abby Sunderland 40 foot Australian built ocean racer, circumnavigated once before under its original name. Why did they put Zac's younger sister in bigger and more difficult to handle boat? I was surprised and concerned to hear she had chosen 'the wrong boat'.


Abby’s journey ended for 2 main reasons, the wrong boat, the wrong time in the Southern ocean.


'Wild Eyes was built for races, it's a very hard to handle sailboat. According to experts this particular kind of sailboat requires a very strong man, so it doesn’t matter how much experience Abby has'.

Jessica ploughed through the Southern ocean in a safer more robust boat just in time to avoid the worst of it.

Respected experienced Australian experts say that winter in the Southern ocean is really a no-go zone for such a craft.

From her blog, Abby takes no responsibility and just blames the storm, she is in denial.

I know from airlines that incidents and accidents are usually due to a combination of factors, Abby's decisions contributed and that includes the boat selection.

These ventures are doable but when delays put you in dangerous waters because you seek records, that shows immaturity and poor risk management by Abby and 'her team'.

I wasn't a critic of Jessica Watson, she ticked all the boxes and had no reason to fail, the collision with the bulk carrier was the type of incident that gives you a reality check. Life knocks us all down, it's our choice alone to get up again.

Albert Devivo
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