Saving solo sailors

If you engage in extreme sports, by definition you accept there is a high degree of risk.

Climb Mount Everest and there is a possibility you won’t make it down again. Abseil in a remote gorge and there’s a chance you may experience difficulty.

The onus has to be on the participant to ensure their own safety in the event of a disaster.

Sailing solo around the world should be a self-managed risk.

From my perspective, this activity in a 12-metre yacht is destined to be problematic. Trouble is almost assured.

But time and again, authorities are called out to mount predictable rescue operations, the latest being to assist 16-year-old Abby Sunderland.

While I admire the teenager’s ambition and tenacity, there’s no way I’d let my 16-year-old daughter take on a mission like this. The notion is inconceivable.

And if any person undertakes such a high-risk non-essential leisure activity, surely it is their responsibility to protect themselves.

I’m not suggesting stricken sailors should be abandoned to their own devices, but they should be discouraged from starting in the first place.

You need a certain degree of wealth to attempt an around-the-world voyage. If a person wants to cross the southern Indian Ocean in winter, they should have a support vessel accompanying them.