Navy Warship On Its Way To Rescue Sick Toddler On Crippled Sailboat In The Pacific

[Purveyor]

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Navy warship was headed Saturday to rescue a 1-year-old girl who fell ill on a crippled sailboat that was attempting to circle the world.

Slicing the Pacific at 25 knots, the USS Vandegrift was expected to reach the Rebel Heart in the late afternoon or evening.

The 36-foot sailboat was about 900 miles off the Mexican coast when it sent a satellite ping for help to the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday about a sick child. A family member says the boat is owned by a San Diego couple, Charlotte and Eric Kaufman, whose daughter, Lyra, had developed a fever and a rash covering most of her body and who wasn't responding to medications.

The California Air National Guard dispatched a team of rescuers, who parachuted into the water and reached the disabled vessel. The team was able to stabilize the girl and pointed the sailboat toward Mexico, though officials didn't immediately release what was wrong with the vessel.

more...

http://www.startribune.com/nation/254041521.html

[Boom Sound 416]

1. As a boater and sailer and parent

You gotta be a friggin moron to take an infant on that kind of passage.

They ought to be arrested IMO.

[Tsiyu]

4. High fevers and rashes happen to children well-landlocked

Hope this little one makes a fine recovery and is ready to sail soon.

[Boom Sound 416]

7. Really,

REALLY!!

[Strelnikov_]

10. Point made

(I think)

[Tsiyu]

16. Brilliant discussion

Really, REALLY!

Was there a point?

[Boom Sound 416]

17. Yes

[Tsiyu]

19. OK

[LordGlenconner]

76. Yes, you were supposed to be in awe of their internet bonafides

[Tsiyu]

78. Oh

Well, I am in awe of your username

[Arugula Latte]

44. True but the landlocked kids are usually within a reasonable distance from a hospital.

[Boom Sound 416]

46. The prevalence of a cooler head.

[snooper2]

61. Pediatricians are usually landlocked as well :)

Of course there are a couple on a barge in the middle of the Atlantic but they are "freemen" or "moors" or something LOL

[BuelahWitch]

13. They are definitely morons.

Not a brain in their fluffy heads. Lots of green in their pocket though.

[Boom Sound 416]

14. Could be, but with you on the first point for sure

A lot of people who aren't gazillionaires do try it.

My folks life insurance man was one. Never heard from again. They figured he fell overboard and that was that.

They really ought to serve some jail time for child endangerment.

On edit: it was his second attempt

[Historic NY]

2. They should be sent a bill.

[Control-Z]

5. I hate to say it

but it is usually the wealthy who participate in these daring and/or dangerous actvities that require expensive rescues.

So, yes, send them a bill.

[Separation]

25. Hate to say it buuut

You couldn't be more wrong. Doing search and rescue both in Kodiak Alaska, and Florida/Bahamas most cases are just your normal run of the mill type people. Lots of Haitians and Cubans in the Bahamas though.

If people started to think that they were going to be billed, a lot of people would call resulting in a lot more deaths/injuries.

Now, if you run out of gas or need a tow, you will normally be pointed to SeaTow and they send you a nice bill.

[bluestate10]

8. Yes, they are fucking stupid to take an infant into a situation like they found

themselves in.

[LanternWaste]

54. I'm much more satisfied with my tax-dollars supporting war-ships being used to rescue people than...

I'm much more satisfied with my tax-dollars supporting war-ships being used to rescue people rather than to blow them up.

[DefenseLawyer]

58. Are you for "pay as you go" fire and police protection too?

Do you actually think the cost of an operation like this is even noticed in the Navy budget? It's not. We pay for the boat, let it do something worthwhile, even if it's saving people with less than sound judgment.

[Control-Z]

3. Fever with rash is

something I would be quite worried about. I hope the baby recovers quickly and completely.

[tularetom]

6. I hope the child recovers quickly and is placed with a family that doesn't do stupid crap

like put a 1 year old on a boat and attempt to sail it around the world.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. How many people/resources are at risk for these meatheads?

Good effin' grief.

Send them a bill for every last cent.

[ecstatic]

41. agreed. nt

[Ex Lurker]

79. The PJ's train for this, it's what they do

If they weren't doing it for real, they'd be on a realistic exercise doing the same thing. It probably cost a little more, but not a whole lot more than doing it on a training op.

[handmade34]

11. So...

Charlotte and Eric Kaufman take their 2 little girls (1 and 3) on a sailboat ride around the world... assuming the risk if 'something' were to happen and they couldn't get to a hospital...

the authorities send "the USS Vandegrift" to rescue them...

meanwhile Shanesha Taylor, homeless and desperate in Arizona leaves her 2 children in a car while she goes for a job interview... assuming the risk if 'something' were to happen...

the authorities put Shanesha Taylor in jail and charge her with a felony

I am not going to be one to judge either situation... we just need to look realistically at how we respond to people of different classes

[pangaia]

12. Look nothin'.

These parents should pay the bill to the Navy and be put in prison for child endangerment.

[theHandpuppet]

22. +1000

Best post of the day.

[Iggo]

23. .

[adirondacker]

24. +1000. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. plus 1000

[Anansi1171]

30. Bless you for telling this sick country the truth! -nt

[LiberalElite]

38. +1,000,000,000 n/t

[GoCubsGo]

70. Well said.

May I also add: They couldn't wait until those kids were old enough to appreciate and learn from a trip around the world? They'll remember none of it, and that's a damn shame.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Ships at sea have a responsibility to respond to mayday requests.

One of the three missions of the Coast Guard is safety. That's what they are there for. If the tax dollars I spent on the Navy today were spend on saving a life, I can live with that.

I'm intrigued at the objections to the cost of saving a baby's life, from the very same people who accused me of callousness because they thought I was questioning the cost of a public funeral.

Seeing these responses takes away what little sting those original accusations held.

[Boom Sound 416]

18. Actually you criticized the incorrect assertion

Fire fighters are paid to sleep and attend outlandish funerals.

Let me ask you, if any of those naval
Sailors die on this rescue attempt, are you going to bitch about the burial at sea ceremony.

You know i bet some of those seamen are asleep right now too.

[Skittles]

20. dup

[Boom Sound 416]

47. Dup this

[Scootaloo]

28. What a weird response

I mean really, I can't figure out what in the world you're trying to say.

[Boom Sound 416]

33. Do you understand ljj's response?

[okaawhatever]

31. I'm with you. I don't agree with taking your child on an around the world trip, but a person in need

of rescue is a person in need of rescue, period.

[Inkfreak]

34. Indeed.

Such callousness is ugly as hell. I would think it's awesome this day & age that 3 people in the ocean could get such help. Bet folks 100 or even 50 years ago would of loved it.

Btw, I understand the publics need to have a big funeral for public servants like firefighters or police. But your point about it bring an offensive question with an offensive answer is correct. I dislike elevating others above in such a way. Death is tragic no matter the profession.

[hunter]

21. Why not?

Must be a nice change of pace for these military people to actually do something positive rather than being some kind of very expensive and abstract "deterrent" or, God Forbid, actually getting shot at.

I wouldn't take a kid that age on a round-the-world sailing trip, but I wouldn't go myself either 'cause I don't know anything about that kind of sailing.

My wife and I did take our kids camping at that age, and we lived in not-so-good neighborhood. Were we "endangering" our kids? I don't think so. We knew how to camp and we knew how to live in not-so-good neighborhoods.

If the parents are truly clueless, I'm sure they could find plenty of ways to endanger their children on land too.

[Scootaloo]

29. Well, you have to understand, this is DU...

Where a lot of people like to pretend they are the pinnacle of parenting. They all raised their children perfectly, all the kids are perfect angels and absolute geniuses, and of COURSE everyone here is entitled to cast judgement - mostly in the form of anger and spite, of course.

Proper parenting, according to DU, means locking your child in a foam rubber-padded room with at least eight security cameras giving you a live feed at all times. Every eight hours, the room must be hosed off with lysol, and the child must be complimented about how bright and perfect they are. Then they will be served a meal of fair trade organic broccoli mash and mineral water. They must never hear any music produced after 1968, because of course to hear DU talk, that's when history froze anyway. When the kid is eighteen, you must staple their genitals together to make sure they can't get infected / pregnant / masturbate, and then you send them off to an ivy league college, because you are the perfect parent and they are the perfect child and everything is perfect. Above all, you and the child are each other's prisoners; make sure to instill codependency early, how else will this creature be a xerox of your ambitions and desires?

[Inkfreak]

32. This post is full of win! Made my morning!

[The Straight Story]

35. We don't always agree on things on DU, but when we do it is because one of us is drinking Dos Equis

And it's not just for parenting. Some want the government to wrap us all in bubble wrap, take away fast food, smokes, personal choices, big drinks, etc to make sure that others can't do things they don't.

[Tsiyu]

37. [phone]

The US ( just like the rest of the globe ) has always been a hazardous place to raise a child.

From tribal life, where one is often a victim of the elements; to making your way here in a nasty ship sailing from across the Atlantic, to living in rudimentary villages lacking adequate food stores or access to water and medicine; to crossing the prairies in wagons; to living in tenements; to working in factories alongside children who also worked 16 hours a day; to modern homeless families; to upscale coastal and fire-country dwelling families, raising kids has always been hazardous.

Personally, I don't see how people raise kids in cars. Spending hours commuting in bumper-to-bumper traffic five days a week is insane, but millions of US parents do it.

When my twins first came home - weighing less than 4 pounds each, you didn't need any sort of car seat. You could carry on your lap, or in a car bassinet, or in a flimsy little plastic carrier.

If I drove them home that way today, I probably wouldn't get out of prison until they were grown.

Great post

[LiberalElite]

39. Hey - keeping them from hearing music produced after 1968

protects them from ever hearing disco. Worth it to me!

[Scootaloo]

42. I don't get the hate for disco...

It's not as if "Freebird" is some sort of fucking magnum opus of music, after all.

[Arugula Latte]

48. So there's no middle ground between locking a kid in a room and taking a baby on a dangerous ocean

voyage?

Wow, you learn something everyday.

[Boom Sound 416]

50. My thoughts too

[Scootaloo]

60. We're not talking about the Kon-Tiki here

It's not a raft made of palm trees and banana leaves where the only resources are what you scoop out of the sea and eat raw. It's a full-sized, well-stocked sailboat captained by a guy with Coast Guard licensing. The girls were evaluated and deemed healthy enough for the trip by a doctor whom I presume was licensed, as well.

Now if you can come up with a rational explanation for why it is a great, deep, unfathomable evil for these parents to take their kids on a transpacific sailing trip, please, bring it to bear.

'Cause right now the main argument seems to be unthinking horror at the notion of doing anything that might possibly involve a risk of anything, ever. Which is, I'm sorry, a fucking stupid position.

[Boom Sound 416]

63. Have you been to sea before?

Fully stocked for what? Obviously not viral rash.

Obviously didn't have enough spare parts or needed tools to make repairs.

Love the raft analogy. Plenty of straw left over for this argument.

[Scootaloo]

64. So no, you don't have a rational position

It's just generic outrage for the sake of showing off how outraged you can be.

[Boom Sound 416]

65. That would be a great comeback if you answered the question

Guess you haven't been to sea before

[Javaman]

53. Simply Brilliant!`

You win for today.

[Aerows]

73. Taking a 1 year old and a 3 year old

on a sailboat in the middle of the fucking Pacific Ocean and then being *shocked* when something goes wrong is a far cry from locking them in a padded room.

Hyperbole is hyperbole. Anyone that thinks it is good parenting to take a 1 year old on a sailboat in the middle of nowhere is an idiot. Then they need to be rescued at taxpayer's expense because they are dumbasses and are defended as good parents?

Sometimes it is the damn truth. Fucking up is one thing, but fucking up on such a massive "what could go wrong" scale is another.

[Javaman]

52. I agree...

I posted on another website that it was nice to see the military used for peace rather than waging war.

I'm okay with my taxes paying for this.

[CFLDem]

27. Trashing this thread.

It's just oozing waaay too much compassion for my tastes.

[mike_c]

36. nothing brings out the nasty on DU...

...like a thread about people trying to do something awesome and running into unforeseen trouble.

[Blue_Tires]

43. I think we've just seen too many stories like this in recent years:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/121890156

[Glassunion]

67. Ok... That would make two stories.

[Blue_Tires]

69. There have been others -- That one is just the most recent...

[Glassunion]

71. Still quite anecdotal.

The child is more likely to suffer an accidental death in a car than on a sailboat.

[Blue_Tires]

75. ok...and?

For that matter, the child is probably safer on a commercial airliner than a sailboat...

[Glassunion]

77. You stated that you've seen too many stories in recent years.

I was just pointing out that the parents were taking part in an activity where the child would be far safer on a day-in day-out basis than they would be commuting to daycare 5 days a week.

[NCTraveler]

55. An extremely young child getting sick is in no way unforseen.

Sorry if I am not recognizing your post as sarcasm. Sometimes the sarcasm here flies right over my head. I'm sure this is one of those situations.

[whistler162]

62. Bingo!

[Jesus Malverde]

40. I'm not clear whats going on.

The sailboat was disabled but they keep focusing on the baby's illness. The sailboat had lost it's steering. I'm confused why the focus is on the baby's rash since the whole family was in a boat in danger of sinking.

Is a rescue of a sick person at sea cheaper for the family than a broken boat rescue? Its a confusing narrative.

[Paladin]

45. The evening news had interviews with the wife's family.

Sounds like they were against this sailing venture and tried to talk the Kaufmans out of it. I think they were right to do so; at some point, adventure can devolve into endangerment, with a huge military cost to make things right.

[FSogol]

49. To everyone griping about the bill. The Navy ship exists and is on manuvers anyway, what more cost

is incurred?

Rescuing a boat, parachuting into the water, etc is just an excellent training opportunity.

Edited to add: bet the poor fuckers on that Navy ship were glad for some excitement.

[FSogol]

51. To everyone griping about a family going on an adventure with an infant:

That kid will end up with more memories and fun experiences (as long as the family keeps it up) than all of the dour, tv-watching, glued-to-their-E-devices crowd that feels obligated to complain about every thing. Much better to DO things than to COMPLAIN about things.

That kid is in awesome hands. Turn off your tv and phone and go outside once in a while.

[NCTraveler]

56. That kid is in awesome hands.

The US Military? Correct you are. Within a short period of time the child went from sick and stranded in the ocean with incompetent parents to being on board an amazing military vessel with competent individuals and the medical staff necessary. Why does it have to be that one is either so out in nature that they are doing extremely stupid things putting the lives of each member of their family at risk, or you are a couch potato. The either or thing is kind of flawed.

[FarCenter]

57. Chicken pox or measles? Probably anti-vaxers? Hope the sailor are up to date on their immunization

[Nine]

59. And for a slightly less sympathetic scenario...

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?id=9170930 (the two teens who went hiking, used meth, got lost, and had to be rescued by Orange County Fire Authority)

I seem to remember popular opinion at that time was that the teens should be required to pay restitution for rescue efforts. I was thinking about this back then. Is it fair, generally, to force rescuees to pay for their rescues? I can certainly understand the resentment over taxpayers footing the bill for other people's poor choices, especially if those people are well off.

On the other hand, we don't want to turn into this:

[Glassunion]

66. I love the "Let's take the child away from her parents" posts.

[Auntie Bush]

68. They need to get a bill for this.

One year old children frequently get sick. I don't see how loving parents could take such a risk.

[Aerows]

72. Stupid parents

making stupid decisions, that nearly cost their child her life, and taxpayers have to pay the bill.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assert that her parents are well connected, if not wealthy, because if it was a kid anywhere else in the US that wasn't well connected, they can just drop dead at school, the playground, or where ever they stand.

Let's not pretend that doesn't happen. That said, if I was foolish enough to haul my 1 year old and 3 year old out on a sailboat for a trip around the world and one of them got sick? I'd use every connection in the universe to get my child to safety.

And then I would expect to be paying the bill for my stupidity.

[Boom Sound 416]

74. The navy just might send them a bill. Never know