As a general FYI, and related to the marine survival.

As I understand it, the couple were experienced adventurers, and two weeks into a circumnavigation, their 1 year old daughter developed a fever and rash. The daughter did not respond to any of the medications on board, and they used a sat phone to call for help. Sometime between that call and when the medics from the National Guard parachuted on board (Bravo Zulu guys), they lost steering and most of their commuications gear. Guessing from their blog, they were taking a bit of a pounding from the weather. I'm not enough of a sailor to evaluate it. Every evacuated safely to the USS Vandergrift several days later and the boat (Rebel Heart) was scuttled.

http://fox5sandiego.com/local-news/stories/san-diego-family-rescued-at-sea/#axzz2yEFneaK6

http://www.therebelheart.com/blog/

EDIT: I'd be curious to see what they had on board as far as medical and emregency maintenance. It sounds like they were experienced, but experience and competence are not mutually inclusive.

+1 for Iggy. Just how unprepared were these people? Two weeks in and the boat is taking on water, no comms, can't steer and a baby who recently had salmonella. I don't know about y'all, but I remember about zip from when I was 1. Don't recall age of other kid, but what possible benefit could that toddler derive from the trip. Two very selfish and greedy parents.

Kudos to the PJs tho. As usual, they pulled someone's butt out of a fire and made it look easy.

I don't really understand the risks of a voyage like that, and I don't know what the parents have done to prepare for the risks. Maybe the mom is a pediatrician. Maybe they had really bad luck. So I am unable to pass judgment.

There are people who'd tell you you're a fool for: joining the army; going camping; rock climbing; owning a gun; not owning a gun; riding the bicycle; living in the country; living in New York; etc. The list goes on. People are afraid of risks, and different people are afraid of different kinds of risks.

Me, I've sailed small boats on a lake in good weather. I wouldn't go anywhere near open seas.

I thought about it too but on a bigger boat, nothing under 40' (preferably bigger), rigged for short-handed/solo sailing and able to handle heavy seas. A well built and outfitted boat would not be cheap. I wouldn't consider doing this in a boat I can actually afford

As for partaking in such an adventure with children? Nahh, that would not ever a good idea. But who am I to judge?...

Infuriated beyond words when I saw this.

Actions have consequences. In this case, a sick kid (which, statistically speaking, probably wasn't all that sick). Our country is running out of money fast as can be, and we have to divert an entire frigate (which, BTW, don't have physicians!) to rescue them?? Hope they get a fat bill from Uncle Sam.

CPS needs to be called when they get back to California.

I'm all for family trips, and that seems like a really cool one, but wait til the kid isn't going to fall overboard every time you turn your back.

It's done all the time just fine. No reason for it to be a problem.

There is a subtle difference between "experienced" and "nothing went wrong last time I tried it", and I wonder which side of the line these people were on? Where were their spares, and why didn't they fix the equipment that broke?

Abby Sunderland, 16 y/o girl who tried an around-the-world trip a few year ago, had spares for everything that broke on her trip except the mast, and was able to fix every other failure except the autopilot (and after returning to Cape Town none of the adults were able to fix it or the backup either). In other words, she trained and equipped for the kind of trip she was likely to experience - what kind of trip did this family plan for?

PS. The fact that they used a satellite phone and not a 406 beacon says a lot right there.

The Eric Kaufman in the story was a licensed captain and his boat was equipped with a distress beacon.
His daughter got sick and he phoned for help. In this case the sat phone really does make more sense than using the beacon.

Kids get sick, that is a fact of life no matter where you are.
Although from reading their blogs there might have been some sanitation issues because of diapers being washed and reused there is really no way to know if that was a factor in the illness.
They seem to have been living on their boat since 2007 and they had already been sailing on this trip for one year before their daughter got sick

He decided to evacuate his vessel and scuttle it when his wife and daughters were aboard the rescue ship.

It does not sound like there was a lack of preparedness there. He seems to have been quite handy at doing the repairs that needed to be done. .
Everybody survived, the rescue expense was relatively small.

It turns out that he has a USCG 100 Ton license. Prior to starting on their circumnavigation he worked as a "delivery skipper", which means people paid him to move their expensive boats up and down the west coast. He seems highly experienced. They apparently sold everything and invested in a decent used boat during the downturn, when prices were low. The boat was their home.

Long distance cruising is actually generally a fairly safe activity. Lots of people do it. Quite a few of them do it with young children aboard. It is only when something bad like this happens that it makes the news. I suspect they just got caught by a string of bad luck. It is easy to ask, sitting shore side "...why didn't they fix the equipment that broke?", but in bad weather it can be very difficult to impossible at sea, even when you have the spares. Given half a break with the weather he probably could have fixed it and we wouldn't be having this thread.

So far the only real information is what has been in the mainstream press. I think we all know how accurate that is likely to be? Until we get a lot more info, I think people are going a bit over the top in condemning these people.

Thanks AKSAR for your reply before I jumped in on the bandwagon. Around the world voyaging is done all the time with small kids (some born enroute). The boat they owned is a capable world cruiser and has done it plenty of times. 36 feet is not TOO small and some cruisers would say that it it too big (Google Lynn and Larry Pardy). The boat has to be the right size for you, but not too big to handle single handed. It did look from the pictures as though it was rigged properly (and should be for a two person crew). The sat phone was the proper response since they (in all likelihood) were talking to an MD stateside for remote assistance, not making a MADAY call. Things can and do spiral out of control. As for scuttling the boat, remember they just lost everything, nobody tows from 900 miles out, and it would have been a hazard to navigation. Correct, but very hard call to make.

Regards,
Bill

Oh, yeah, my two hour commute up I 95 here in northern VA was a hell of a lot more dangerous than what they were doing. That sail to the Marquesas is normally a quiet, 30 day, downwind easy ride.

Cloth diapers can be washed and reused safely, almost indefinitely. We cloth diapered our three kids. Unless they did something pretty foolish with how they were washed, I doubt cloth diapering could have had any negative impact on the child's well-being.