[pct-l] Sorta OT - Reaction to Abby Sunderland's Rescue

[gwschenk at socal.rr.com]

---- Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com> wrote: 
> Ken wrote:
> >
> I've met a lot of phenomenal youth sailors, including world champions.  I
> would NOT have any of them do this, and Abby in not in their class.  I've
> never understood the argument that because you CAN do something, you SHOULD
> do it.  
> >
> 
> ...
> I think Abby Sunderland's age is not really the issue here; the issue is why
> she was in that ocean at this time of year in that boat.  Youth or adult,
> that was pushing the boundary of irresponsibility.  There's a difference
> between doing something that is normally safe, though some unusual accident
> might occur, vs. doing something that has a very significant chance of
> disaster.  I'm not a sailor but my understanding is that the Indian ocean in
> winter is known for its ferocious storms.  An outcome like this was entirely
> foreseeable.  She lost her boat but could easily have lost her life and she
> wouldn't have been the first, not by a long shot.
> ...


    "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."