Search for teen sailor: airbus nears last known location
Andrew Heasley
June 11, 2010 - 12:57PM
It's in God's hands: father
Boat could be upside down
Treacherous rescue conditions
Watson's message of hope
Aussies anxious for Abby: Gillard
The Qantas Airbus A330 dispatched this morning from Perth to search for distressed solo sailor Abby Sunderland has passed the halfway point to the sailor’s last known location in the southern Indian Ocean.
But her father says even if the specially chartered Qantas jet can find Abby’s stricken yacht, rescue vessels will not reach the 16-year-old American sailor until late tomorrow afternoon.
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Laurence Sunderland said the nearest ship was hundreds of miles away from his daughter’s location and would take up to 40 hours to reach the search zone from the time it was diverted.
The jet, flown by a regular Qantas crew with search and rescue personnel on board, is currently about 90 minutes away from reaching the area from which distress beacons were activated.
It is expected to be in yacht’s general vicinity by about 2pm (AEST) today.
Read Abby's blog
The flight from Perth to the ocean area communicated via the sailor’s emergency beacons — one of which transmitted the global positioning system coordinates — takes four hours.
The jet will be passing over the area at low altitude — about 2000 feet (600 metres) above sea level — to help rescuers obtain a visual fix on the stricken craft, Wild Eyes, subject to prevailing weather conditions, a Qantas spokesman said.
Abby set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey on January 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping.
It's in God's hands: father
Earlier today, Mr Sunderland said the fate of his daughter, whose emergency beacons were activated in treacherous seas more than 3000 kilometres off the Australian coast, was "in God's hands".
"As of the initial search and rescue [alert] ... Reunion Island diverted a French fishing vessel 450 nautical miles and it would take them approximately 40 hours as of the distress went out," Mr Sunderland said.
Accordingly, the rescue ship would arrive alongside Ms Sunderland’s 12-metre yacht about 5pm tomorrow (AEST).
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said today: "The aircraft mission will be to attempt to communicate with Ms Sunderland from high level and, if necessary, to descend and make visual contact to assess the circumstances.
"The detections are currently in position 40 48 South 74 58 East, approximately 2033 nautical miles west south west from Perth in the central southern Indian Ocean. There are currently no communications with Wild Eyes."
But what they find was a matter of great concern, Mr Sunderland said.
Boat could be upside down
"I believe that the boat is upside down," he said.
"I believe that the keel is probably not on the boat and she’s got a 40-foot life raft in 40 to 45 knots of wind with 30 foot seas.
"She’s gone around Cape Horn, she’s been in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties. This isn’t something she’s not used, although it’s very hostile and obviously we’re very concerned."
Mr Sunderland, who is Australian and is now based in California with his family, said he spoke to Abby five or six times by phone yesterday to help fix a problem with the boat’s engine, but shortly after the last call dropped out the family learnt an emergency device had gone off.
"Initially I though it was her remote device that may have gone off inadvertently ... because the blow was abating," Mr Sunderland told Radio 3AW.
"Then, when I checked the corresponding numbers with the emergency beacon device, it was in fact her handheld device that would have had to have been set off by her."
He said the family immediately knew it was dealing with an emergency and contacted the relevant rescue agencies, but said his daughter’s ability to handle the emergency was "in God’s hands" and "there are a lot of people praying for her".
"It’s going to take something out of the ordinary for her pull through this one," he said.
It is understood one of the beacons is attached to a survival suit or life raft and is activated only when a sailor is in the water or in a life raft.
Treacherous rescue conditions
Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Carly Lusk said one of the biggest challenges faced by rescue teams was the treacherous weather conditions in the search zone.
"There are extremely rough seas so spotting her from an aircraft could be challenging," she told 3AW.
"From all accounts she’s as well prepared as she can be ... but obviously a two-beacon activation is a concern.
And obviously the weather - around about 90km/h winds and six-metre seas - it’s extremely rough.
"As in all rescues, we remain hopeful."
Ms Lusk said it would take the aircraft about four hours to reach the search area, located approximately 3200 kilometres west-south-west of Perth.
"It really is out in the middle of the ocean," she said.
"One of the beacons she actually has GPS enabled, which is brilliant because that allows us to pinpoint her location much more accurately and quicker."
Ms Lusk said three rescue vessels had had been dispatched from Lower Reunion, a tiny French territory east of Madagascar, but would take some time to reach the sailor.
Watson's message of hope
Abby is a friend of Australian teen sailor Jessica Watson, who last month completed her own solo around-the-wold sail and today sent a message of hope to the stricken sailor.
Ms Watson sailed into Sydney Harbour on May 15 after her solo, unassisted around-the-world trip.
Speaking to the ABC, Jessica's mother Julie said the two girls had been communicating, as had the families.
"Jessica says Abby will be very busy doing all the things she needs to do under those circumstances," Mrs Watson said.
"We heard from [the family] this morning ... they’re just waiting for information. Our hearts go out to them."
Earlier Jessica’s spokesman Andrew Fraser said everyone was hoping for the best.
"We are hoping she’s OK and are trying to stay positive," he said.
Aussies anxious for Abby: Gillard
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her thoughts were with Abby and her family as the search-and-rescue mission continued.
"Australians, having watched the journey of Jessica (Watson) around the world and back again safely will all be hoping that this young woman experiences the same journey and that she is returned home safely to her family, who are obviously very, very anxious,’’ Ms Gillard said.
The deputy Prime Minister said the federal government was constantly monitoring the situation.
"I think we all know she’s in a very remote part of the ocean with the nearest vessel some journey away, but everything is being done to get that vessel to her last reported site as soon as possible," she said.
