Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

[unbusted67]

Ewww, they are putting her around the Horn in an open 40 to. This one definitely falls on the dangerous/stupid side of the coin. Her brother's trip was less intense, I think.

[imagine2frolic]

Not if she's texting, and driving......i2f

[Southern Star]

Why must we assume that a 16 year old is incapable of wanting to do this and arriving at a decision to make the effort without parental coercion? My family did not sail, yet I bought my first sail boat (if you can call it that, it was a 'Sea Snark") at age 12 with money from paper routes, washing cars, cutting lawns etc; I bought my second boat (a Snipe) at age 14 and I have had a unbroken chain of boat ownership ever since (and even in times when I could ill afford one).

Like many of my generation, my passion for boats and the sea arose from reading pirate stories, watching 'swashbuckler' movies and episodes of 'Adventures in Paradise' on television. Had I been offered this opportunity at an early age I know that I would have jumped at it - and done so IN SPITE OF my parents imput (much as my boats were purchased against their express wishes). The decisions of these young adults and the support/imput of their parents is none of our business.

In addition, I see no evidence that her decision was motivated by anything apart from a sincere desire, and perhaps some envy of what her brother experienced and accomplished. I've got a suggestion for those who question her motives and her right to choose - perhaps they can petition the government tro outlaw sibling rivalry!

Brad

[First Mate]

Outlaw sibling rivalry? now that is some pretty funny sarcasm. thank you. I needed that.

[George Wade]

Originally Posted by First Mate

Even capable adults can die at sea.

Is it right to encourage a child to go somewhere intrinsically dangerous, even if they're as capable as an adult?

Should they spend a few more years alive before they risk the gift of being alive? .....

Somebody should have noted how childish Christopher Columbus' dreams of finding the Indies by sailing the wrong way around the world, were: and locked him up for his own good, and ours. But in those days who could have told how carefully protective the future inhabitants of those Indies were going to be; how afraid of the rest of the world ?

[First Mate]

just asking questions.

It's a thought process.

[First Mate]

huh - the first post starting this thread has a link to a news article on this subject. This 16 year old is looking for a sponsor to pay $350,000 that she will need for this circumnavigation - good grief.

why so much? does it really take that much? that is a lot of money!!!

I think I'll put a link in my signature line that gives you folks a way to donate to a senior citizen needing a little additional help to pay the costs for a wannabe circumnavigation.

I'm sorry - this whole idea is a bunch of hooey. I'm with you David.

[Tellie]

Should they spend a few more years alive before they risk the gift of being alive?


What is the risk worth? To hold a title for a relative moment in time only to lose it to a peer that's a few days younger, perhaps two years younger with parents even less responsible for their charge?

I'd like to start a list of the things I wanted to do when I was 15. Feel free to add.

1) I wanted to join the Marines
2) I wanted to quit school
3) I wanted a Harley and be Dennis Hopper
4) I wanted my Dad to buy me the neighbors ratty Dune Buggy
5) I wanted to put a four barrel carb on my Moms six cylinder Ford Falcon
6) I wanted my 9th grade civics teacher Miss Calabash (real bad)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)

[Red Mantis]

Originally Posted by Tellie

I'd like to start a list of the things I wanted to do when I was 15. Feel free to add.

1) I wanted to join the Marines
2) I wanted to quit school
3) I wanted a Harley and be Dennis Hopper
4) I wanted my Dad to buy me the neighbors ratty Dune Buggy
5) I wanted to put a four barrel carb on my Moms six cylinder Ford Falcon
6) I wanted my 9th grade civics teacher Miss Calabash (real bad)

7) I wanted to get elected to public office so that I could tell strangers that they are unqualified to raise their children.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Red Mantis

7) I wanted to get elected to public office so that I could tell strangers that they are unqualified to raise their children.

Well sailing around the world the hard way is a lot easier.
There's been a long line for a long time trying to grab that public office.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Should they spend a few more years alive before they risk the gift of being alive?


What is the risk worth? To hold a title for a relative moment in time only to lose it to a peer that's a few days younger, perhaps two years younger with parents even less responsible for their charge?

I'd like to start a list of the things I wanted to do when I was 15. Feel free to add.

1) I wanted to join the Marines
2) I wanted to quit school
3) I wanted a Harley and be Dennis Hopper
4) I wanted my Dad to buy me the neighbors ratty Dune Buggy
5) I wanted to put a four barrel carb on my Moms six cylinder Ford Falcon
6) I wanted my 9th grade civics teacher Miss Calabash (real bad)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)

8) At 18 I wanted to fly a helicopter in The Nam.

[Ex-Calif]

9) I wanted someone to give me $350,000 so I could sail around the world, not go to school and not have to work...

[GeoPowers]

You guys were ambitious 15-year olds! There was only 1 thing I wanted to do when I was 15 , but that didn't happen until a year later!

[imagine2frolic]

Originally Posted by GeoPowers

You guys were ambitious 15-year olds! There was only 1 thing I wanted to do when I was 15 , but that didn't happen until a year later!

A wee bit of honesty is so refreshing.......i2f

[captmick39]

Was racing Lightnings & Flying Scots, had alreadly built and sold 3 15' "knockabouts" (that cost more for the used trailers than the materials (including making the sails on Grandpa's commercial machine), and had dreams of racing across the Atlantic & Pacific (meanwhile never having crewed on a boat w/greater than 2 of us), read and dreamed about the America's Cup (and WATCHING, not participating) seeing it return to America...circumnavigating, single handed, was the farthest thing from a thought process that could be.

Joining the ranks of Josh Slocum is now a singular driving force, and trust me, after 7 years of planning, 5 years of equipping the boat, and 2 solid years of WAITING (because of a wife with health issues that won't be resolved now for a while)...I can testify that it doesn't take $350k;
Less than a third of that.
Which includes a complete spare rig and the money set aside to have it shipped (by air freight) to almost anywhere in the world and "spares" of everything You could possibly factor, as well as the proverbial "spending money"...it's not about "spending money", or breaking records;
It's about joining the most elite "club" in the world, while knowing 5x more people have climbed Everest...and those who've done both say joining Josh more difficult.

It's about setting a personal goal and achieving it.
Where DID the $350k come from anyway? Her Brother did it for Far Less?
We 'adults' can do it for far less than a THIRD of that figure?
I don't need a brand new boat, just a seaworthy one, a plan, and sealegs. It took me more years than this girls' been on the planet, just "THINKING" about this task to determine it a driving goal to be pursued.

I don't think she has a clue (nor did her Brother, initially, and he frankly, got LUCKY) the challenge before her. Yes, a blind man has done it (escorted), and yes, a 17yo has done it.

That doesn't make "it" easy.
& once offshore, NOTHING is guaranteed except that the sea claims her victims for-ever.