She's alive

Looks like Abby lost her mast and with it all her antennas, as well as her engine. It's great that she's still alive and will be rescued, but I think this is yet another example of what not to do. She had the wrong type of boat, seemed to rely too heavily on high-tech gear, and let an arbitrary date dictate her choice of time and route. Plus, she's now put a number of other people at risk in near hurricane conditions who have to rescue her.

Again, glad she's okay, but I think she, and her family, need to pick up the bill for this one. But, she'll write a book and make lots of money from it. And if one of the rescuers is killed saving her, she'll make even more. Btw, the boat isn't sinking and most likely won't, and she has plenty of food. The only problem she really has right now is that the mast is down and the engine is out, so she currently can't sail or make headway. But the reason she's getting saved is that she has no way to communicate.

With all the gear she has on the boat, she could easily jury rig some sort of sail and could most likely fix the engine too, but since she's just 16, she pops her EPIRB's instead. There is no imminent threat to life, just an inconvenience and the fact that she won't be able to set a record. I think she should have at least made an effort before declaring an emergency.