News story: family rescued at sea by the Navy

[skdenn]

Did you all hear about the family with two little girls that had to be rescued at sea? The parents were trying to sail around the world on their yacht. The little girls are only 1 and 3 years old. The 1-year-old got real sick with a rash, fever, v, and d. The boat started having trouble. A U.S. Navy warship had to rescue the family about 900 miles off the coast of Mexico. They even had to jump in parachutes to get to them. What do you all think of this? I think if the parents want to sail around the world, it would be better to wait until the kids are much older, like in their teens.

Susan

[mdgirl1977]

Um, it cost an insane amount of money (I feel like I heard a million dollars) to get them. I am all for adventure but it is way too young to take kids that tiny on trips. Nope. Reckless parenting. I have a 7 year old and I am debating taking him to NYC for a weekend later this year. That seems like a lot!

[jkl81]

I wouldn't go so far as to say reckless parenting. These people weren't abusing their kids or neglecting them. I guess that they were probably well aware of what you need to do to stay safe out at sea and had lots of experience to attempt something like this. Me personally, I'm always a little bit anxious on the ocean mostly due to my emet, but I also don't want to die! The ocean has a way of teaching you some humility and how small you are in this universe, and this is just my experience from (mostly) inshore and nearshore fishing. I think kids like that are a real liability in the open ocean: they can't do anything to help you and you could have a scenario like this where they need fast medical attention...though the same could happen to an adult or a teenager. Most of the stuff little kids get comes from their peers, so it's a little surprising these kids got whatever that was out there with just their parents.

[KimberlyP]

They're thinking it's salmonella.

[jkl81]

So perhaps the family's food preparation and storage left something to be desired. It can be really challenging to store food properly on a small vessel. Even on a big vessel, if you lose enough power, you're soon going to run out of something you need or eat some risky food.

[skdenn]

Even if nobody gets sick, in some parts of the world there's a higher risk of hijacking by pirates, especially around Somalia.

Susan

[Mamafear]

I think it's awesome to do stuff like that with kids but I agree, waiting until the children have sturdier immune systems and able to swim well are imperative. Poor parents out at sea and so afraid though.

[MaybeBaby]

1 and 3 is crazy to take on a boat trip like that. I think kids should at least be able to swim before a giant boat trip. Maybe that's just my opinion. And historically pirates, and navy sailors couldn't swim... but today swim lessons are pretty easy to come by

[mrsjacks]

According to the news reports, the baby had salmonella poisoning (nasty, nasty stuff!) the week before they set sail, but the parents allege that they had a pediatrician's approval to take the baby out to sea with them. WTH is wrong with some people? It's one thing if you're out at sea and your child takes ill, but to take a baby that has been sick with something as taxing on the body as a food borne illness is just...I don't know. I get that they must have been terribly worried, but they put their baby's life in danger and cost taxpayer's a lot of money for a sea rescue.

ETA: According to news reports, the mother was pregnant when they began their sailing adventure. She gave birth in Mexico and that's where the baby picked up the bacterial infection, apparently. Their boat sank and they lost most of their possessions. They could have lost their child!