Sea Rescue Paid For By Australia

June 18, 2010 - PRLog -- The Aussie government has stated it cannot recover the cost of rescuing the U.S. A. teen sailor, Abby Sunderland, 16, after her boat was demasted and left crippled in the Indian Ocean.

The French fishing vessel, Ile De La Reunion, heading for the Kerguelen Islands, a French archipelago, was happy to take Abby on board.

Anthony Albanese, Transport Minister, said Australia couldn't charge Abby and her backers even if they wanted to. "That's not the way the law works. The Australian taxpayer at the end of the day makes a contribution.”

"We have to put this in context,” he went on to say. “If there was an Australian lost at sea we would want every effort to be made to save that person," even though the search fell just outside of Australia’s search and rescue region.

A chartered Qantas plane, costing $10,000 an hour, was sent from Perth to search for Abby, approximately 3700km off the coast of Western Australia. The 12m yacht, Wild Eyes, was spotted within four hours of Qantas being placed in charge of the rescue operation.

Albanese commented the episode corroborated Australia was a world leader in search and rescue. "We can be very proud of the efforts of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. They have pulled off a remarkable rescue."

The US ambassador phoned Albanese to thank the nation for its efforts. Abbey says in spite of being lost in a storm in the turbulent Indian Ocean for three ‘crazy days’, she will make another attempt to sail solo, nonstop, around the globe.

On January 23rd Abbey left Los Angeles, in the hope of being the youngest person to solo, nonstop, circumnavigate the world without any help, attempting to beat Australian Jessica Watson’s record.

Abbey said, in speaking to her numerous critics “Storms are part of the deal when you set out to sail around the world. As for age, since when does age create gigantic waves and storms?”

Abbey’s father said she simply ‘caught a bad wave’. As a boat builder, he said his daughter had thousands of miles of solo sailing experience, before she began her solo attempt.

The captain of the French fishing boat fell into the water and had to be rescued, during the rescue operation. It is not clear whether the French vessel will seek compensation.

Jessica Watson, Australian lone sailor, completed her unofficial solo circumnavigation of the world on May 15th, three days prior to her 17th birthday. It however, remains unofficial, as Guinness World Record has now removed the ‘oldest and youngest’ categories of solo circumnavigation. Jesse Martin, from Melbourne, Australia, achieved the solo unassisted record in 1999, aged 18.

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