SoCal teen Abby Sunderland wants to break older brother’s solo circumnavigation record

Teenage girl eyes nonstop solo circumnavigation

The sailing Sunderlands of Southern California are at it again.

Abigail Sunderland wants to one-up older brother Zac in her planned quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.

Unlike Zac, she plans to do it nonstop and unassisted. A good bit of her trip will be through the Roaring Forties and the Southern Ocean, one of the most desolate and inhospitable places on the planet.

Abby Sunderland turns 16 on Oct. 19. If her family can pull together the funding and logistics, she wants to leave Marina del Rey in the Los Angeles area in early November.

Her father, Laurence, said Tuesday that the family, which lives in Thousand Oaks, Calif., is negotiating with potential sponsors to help cover the $350,000 cost of the adventure.

On July 16, 17-year-old Zac Sunderland became the youngest person to sail around the world alone when he pulled into Marina del Rey.

“It’s going to be hard, but I know I can do it,” Abby said.

If the funding comes together, she’ll become the latest teen to hit the high seas in pursuit of her brother’s record of being the youngest solo circumnavigator.

British sailor Mike Perham is closing in on breaking Zac Sunderland’s record, although Sunderland will always hold the distinction of being the first person under 18 to accomplish the feat.

Australian schoolgirl Jessica Watson, 16, is scheduled to set sail in September in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since I was 13, and when I was 13, there was nobody doing this,” Abby Sunderland said. “So it’s kind of like right as I’m about to finally get to do it, all these other kids start popping up doing it, too. It’s been a dream of mine for years. I think every kid does it for their own reason.

“I guess doing it nonstop probably was just the next step up.”

Laurence Sunderland is a shipwright and runs a yacht management company, so he and wife Marianne’s seven children have grown up on boats and have taken long yacht cruises together.

“I think it’s a courageous quest that she’s capable of doing,” Laurence Sunderland said. “I’m not sure I need to be a part of another one so soon. But as I said to Abigail, this was something she talked about long before Zac ever left, and I always had said I would like to offer her the same opportunity if I felt that she was qualified to do it, and I feel that she’s qualified to do it.”

Like Zac, Abby has more than just the ability to sail, her father said.

“That’s the easier part of being able to recognize the qualities in a person of what it takes to sail around the world. It’s more to do with their inner strength and their inner being, and watching them in a crunch out on the ocean when things are going wrong or during a huge sea, and seeing how they deal with that.”

Laurence Sunderland estimates Abby’s trip will take six months and cover 24,500 nautical miles. While Zac went east to west, Abby will plot a course the other way. She’ll sail around Cape Horn at the bottom of South America, through the Roaring Forties and Southern Ocean, dip below Australia and New Zealand, and head up through the Pacific Ocean to Marina del Rey.

While Zac sailed a 36-foot Islander that was built in 1972, Abby will sail an Open 40 that was designed for fast cruising and safety on the Southern Ocean.

Zac Sunderland stopped at several ports along the way, including a few times due to serious damage his boat sustained in storms.

Abby won’t have that luxury if she gets into trouble.

“Some of my concerns are the weather going down around Cape Horn and the Forties and Fifties and stuff, then just like being alone for so long,” she said. “I know nonstop is going to be harder than actually getting places and seeing people in port.”

She said she knows how to repair boats, and her father said she already has more solo sailing experience than Zac did before he sailed away.

“He totally thinks that I’m ready to do it, so that does help,” she said.

Abby will likely have two satellite phones with her, and her father said good weather routing will be important. He wouldn’t say if she’ll carry a pistol like Zac did. When Zac was threatened by what he believed were pirates off Indonesia, his father advised him via satellite phone to shoot to kill, if necessary.

“Fortunately with Abigail, there probably won’t be an issue with pirates where she will be,” her dad said.

Zac Sunderland said his sister has more skill and experience than most sailors in their 20s and 30s.

“It’s awesome. It’s such a crazy venture and I’m glad she decided to do it,” said Zac Sunderland, who’s now planning to climb Mount Everest. “I’m behind her all the way and I think she can definitely pull it off.”