courtesy of http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978292997
by Matt Clark
Abby Sunderland is the 16-year-old girl who was sailing around the world in attempt to set a record as the youngest ever to do so. According to The Asscociated Press she is currently missing between Africa and Australia. Reports came from her brother that the teen navigator lost contact with her family this past Thursday when she was in the Southern Indian Ocean. Reportedly, Abby was sailing into a storm at the time and her emergency beacons were activated.
The family provided an update on the situation at abbysunderland.com. They've noted that Australian Search and Rescue will be sending an airbus over her location as soon as possible. However, the best they will be able to do is communicate with her via marine radio and provide her support to address her emergency situation, if needed. According to the note posted here, Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis.
Sunderland first set out on her journey back on January 23 of this year from Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles, California. The search will continue for Abby Sunderland between Africa and Australia. Hopefully it was a glitch with some equipment that caused the distress/emergency beacon signal. Let's hope she is located soon and everything is fine with Abby.
courtesy of http://news.spreadit.org/abby-sunderland-16-year-old-sailing-around-the-world/
Abby Sunderland 16-Year-Old Sailing Around The World Lost At Sea – A teen sailor named Abby Sunderland/Abby Sutherland who is a 16 year old from Thousand Oaks may have accidentally sailed into a storm in the Southern Indian Ocean while attempting a solo sail around the world. During the course of the events, she lost contact with her family who was never able to re-establish communication with her after the storm was over. She had signaled an emergency beacon after her satellite phone was no longer able to contact her family.
She had left on a 40 foot, orange and yellow racing yacht named “Wild Eyes.” She had been out on the sea since January. She had found a lot of different criticisms on her journey from other sailors because her voyage was going to be taking her into the Indian Ocean at the onset of the winter storm session. It was dangerous, and she definitely knew that, but she was an experienced sailor who knew what she was doing on the ocean. She was in what was considered to be the most difficult part of her entire voyage, when she lost contact with her family during the storm.
In April, she had sailed around Cape Horn between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. She had been keeping a blog throughout her journey, and her last entry on her website said that she had hit rough weather and winds that had reached as high as 45 knots.
Her parents said in a number of news reports that they had urged Abby to go to a nearby port if dangerous weather conditions arose while she was in the Indian Ocean. Everything had seemed to be working out for her, before the latest incident. Her older brother, Zac, sailed around the world while making several stops over the course of the 13 month trip.
