Rescued mother had doubts about sailing adventure

[deleted-05292014 331]

Bad Parenting. Who takes a 1 and 3 yr old on a around the world sailing adventure.....but I bet you they won't be charged with child endangerment.

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2023324720_babysailorsxml.html

LOS ANGELES — As her family began what was supposed to be a monthslong journey in a 35-foot sailboat from Mexico to New Zealand, Charlotte Kaufman wrote openly of her misgivings about taking her two daughters — ages 1 and 3 — to sail the South Pacific, with her husband as captain and herself as the crew.

“I think this may be the stupidest thing we have ever done,” she wrote in her trip blog, before concluding: “It is a difficult self-imposed isolation that is completely worth it.”

Less than two weeks later, 900 miles off the coast of Mexico, Charlotte and her husband, Eric, unable to steer their ship, the Rebel Heart, called for emergency help. Their younger daughter, Lyra, who had been treated for salmonella just weeks before the trip, was covered in a rash and had a fever. After a complicated rescue effort orchestrated by the California Air National Guard and the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, the Kaufman family was on a Navy ship heading to San Diego, scheduled to arrive Wednesday. Lyra was reported in stable condition Monday.

But well before they set foot on dry land, the Kaufmans have become the focus of a raging debate over responsible parenting. Some readers of their blogs have left blistering comments suggesting that the authorities should take their children away, seizing on such details in Charlotte Kaufman’s postings as the baby rolling around and unable to sleep because of the ship’s violent pitch, and soiled diapers being washed in the galley sink.

Experienced sailors have also shaken their heads.

“I have a rule in my mind that I would never bring a kid less than 2 years old,” said Matt Rutherford, who has completed several solo journeys across the seas and plans to sail to Japan from Northern California this month.

Still, other observers said the family was doing the right thing by following their passion and involving their children early. Pam Wall, who began sailing with her children when they were infants and traveled around the world for nearly seven years, said the Kaufman family — whom she does not know — had seemed to take the necessary precautions. “There were probably a series of events that two people just couldn’t handle,” said Wall, who has served as a consultant for dozens of families contemplating similar trips.

She often tells them the sooner they get their children aboard a boat, the better. “The whole idea of being a family that goes out to sea is that you are totally self-sufficient,” Wall said.

But critics have borne down not only on the couple’s parenting judgment but also on their qualifications as sailors and the expense involved in their rescue, with some calling for them to be forced to pay the tab. The rescue effort involved three state and federal agencies and had California Air National guardsmen parachuting from helicopters into open waters to escort the family into inflatable boats before the ship was purposely sunk.

James Gardner, 56, a fisherman from Oceanside, Calif., who said he had spent 45 years on the sea and now owns a bait shop near the docks, called the decision to take such young children on such a journey “ridiculous.”

“Teenagers, maybe, but kids of those ages — I think it was asinine,” Gardner said.

The couple had spent months preparing for the ocean crossing. They chose a route that is generally considered safe by experienced sailors — traveling along trade winds and waiting for the right conditions. Charlotte Kaufman posted pictures on her blog and Facebook of mounds of food and diapers nestled into the boat’s crevices.

Just days before they were to set sail, Charlotte Kaufman and Lyra were told they had salmonella and given antibiotics, according to posts on her blog. They postponed the trip for a couple of weeks and apparently had clearance from their family doctor in a small town on the coast of the state of Nayarit, Mexico, where they had been living since last year preparing for the trip.

[Danno 1,228]

I'll refrain from being so judgmental, as the nation was built by people who struck out when staying put would have been safer.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Probably not the wisest parenting decision, but calling for authorities to take away the children is equally stupid, IMO.

And Danno, these parents weren't desperate, just reckless. A little common sense parenting.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Porterhouse

[Danno 1,228]

Probably not the wisest parenting decision, but calling for authorities to take away the children is equally stupid, IMO.

And Danno, these parents weren't desperate, just reckless. A little common sense parenting.

Who said anyone was desperate?

I agree with your summation.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Who said anyone was desperate?

I agree with your summation.

People moved westward and risked life and limb for the promise of better life, not for a sense of adventure. I was challenging your flawed comparison.

[Danno 1,228]

People moved westward and risked life and limb for the promise of better life, not for a sense of adventure. I was challenging your flawed comparison.

I would agree, they did go west to get free land and all that but your first claim was "desperation"... they went west in desperation and that was almost never the case. One only need look at the cost of the trip to see that.

[Danno 1,228]

People moved westward and risked life and limb for the promise of better life, not for a sense of adventure. I was challenging your flawed comparison.

I would agree, they did go west to get free land and all that but your first claim was "desperation"... they went west in desperation and that was almost never the case. One only need look at the cost of the trip to see that.