Lost At Sea
Talk about your Hardcore Outdoor. 16 year old Abby Sunderland of Marina Del Ray, California is attempting a solo circumnavigation of the globe in a 40 foot sloop called Wild Eyes. If successful, she will be the youngest ever to do it.
Hey, take a minute today to think about Abby Sunderland. We're not sure what the problem is but we know that something bad happened because she manually turned on her EPIRB near Reunion Island in the Southern Indian Ocean. That's about 2000 miles Southwest of Australia. The closest ship is 40 hours away so Quantas is redirecting an airliner to overfly her position at first light.
I don't care who you are or how big and bad you think you might be, single handing a circumnavigation of the planet should impress you. It certainly impresses me, especially when you consider she is only 16 years old. Interesting to note that her brother, Zac, did it in 2009. He was the first person under the age of 18 to do it and it took him 13 months and 2 days.
Abby set sail from California on January 23 with the intent to one up her big bro with a non-stop solo circumnavigation but two weeks into the trip she was forced into port due to equipment problems. After repairs she continued on and has been at sea since.
Anyway, we wish Abby and her family the very best and hope this remarkable woman is alive and well.
UPDATE - ABBY HAS BEEN FOUND AND PICKED UP. SHE IS SAFE.
This picture was taken from the Quantas airliner that was chartered and dispatched by SAR authorities in Australia. Look closely and you can see a faint image that is just below the surface and trailing the boat. That is the mast and rigging that was torn off during the storm.
It will be interesting to hear the whole story but we know that Wild Eyes was dismasted during a storm. Her Iridium satellite telephone used a fixed antennae mounted to the mast so when it went done so did her sat comms. Don't know what kind of EPIRPs she was using but I will try to find out. They did their job and probably saved her life.
There is a lot of controversy on this incident. The two big ones are her age and the other is the time of year that she chose to cross the Indian Ocean. I don't sweat the age thing so much. She has literally been sailing her entire life and has been out there for almost six months by herself so she is obviously competent. Storms and big waves don't care how old you are. I figure it is between her and her parents.
Surprisingly, my own 17 year old daughter had a big problem with the age thing. She doesn't think that Abby should have been allowed to make the attempt because if something happened, as it did, other people would have to risk their lives to save her, "...and for what, a record." Well, you have to remember that for the first 14 years of her life she didn't see much of me because I was one of those guys that was regularly put into harms way to help those in distress and sometimes it probably didn't make sense to her. Looking back, it doesn't make as much sense to me now as it did then but that is a different story . So, what does my knot headed, 17 year old little girl want to do with her life? Be a firefighter. A "B" shifter like Scham.
In any event, Abby is safe and sound and on her way home to her family. That is a good thing.
Thanks. Sorting through the fads and fashion of the outdoor equipment industry to identify and promote the very best wilderness gear for high end recreational users, backcountry professionals and government agencies.
Wade Nelson
Editor
Hardcore Outdoor is dedicated to those who won't or can't turn back.
Posted by Wade Nelson at Thursday, June 10. 2010 
Categories: Catch All
Tags: circumnavigation abby sunderland solo sailor
Categories: Catch All
Tags: circumnavigation abby sunderland solo sailor
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