Abby Sunderland | |
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 Abby Sunderland at the Houston Boat Show in Kemah, Texas, U.S. on April 14, 2011 | |
| Born | Abigail Jillian Sunderland [1] October 19, 1993 [1] Los Angeles, California, U.S. [1] |
| Education | Trinity Pacific Christian School |
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Abigail Jillian Sunderland (born October 19, 1993) is an American sailor who, in 2010, attempted to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. [2]
The second-eldest of Marianne and Laurence Sunderland's eight children, [3] Sunderland grew up sailing with her family. Her brother, Zac Sunderland, was the first person under the age of 18 to complete a circumnavigation. [4] Her family is Christian. She and her siblings have been homeschooled. [5]
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Wild Eyes |
| Operator | Abby Sunderland |
| Route | Cabo San Lucas – Cape Horn – Cape of Good Hope – Indian Ocean |
| Builder | A.S.A. Yachts PTY, Australia |
| Completed | 2001 |
| Acquired | October 24, 2009 [6] |
| Out of service | June 12, 2010 |
| Status |
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| General characteristics | |
| Type | Sloop |
| Tonnage | 16 (gross), 15 (net) |
| Displacement | 7407 lbs (3360 kg) |
| Length | 40 ft (12 m) |
| Beam | 11.21 ft (3.42 m) |
| Installed power | Yanmar (18 hp) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Bermuda (Marconi) rig |
| Notes | Formerly BTC Velocity [7] |
A lifelong sailor, Sunderland said she had been preparing for her journey since age 13. [2] Her father Laurence Sunderland said he understood her determination when "It was a particularly rough day and her boat was rocking from gunnel to gunnel. ... I knew she was freezing cold, tired and hungry, and we'd been at it for, you know, 20 hours at that stage. I said, 'So Abby, are you ready to sail around the world now?' To which she replied, 'Where is my boat?'" [8] Her parents were widely criticized for the decision to allow her to undertake this trip, with one critic calling the decision "potentially irresponsible." [9]
The planned sail route was to begin from Marina del Rey, thence to Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and back to Marina del Rey in ten legs, solo and unassisted, following definitions set by the International Sailing Federation World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC), according to which the equator must be crossed.
Sail-World noted of Sunderland's departure timing: "While ... she will round the Horn in the height of summer when conditions should be the best they can be, her delayed departure ... means that by the time she sails south of Australia, the weather will be approaching autumn, and the weather will be deteriorating.". [10] After her rescue, the trip was criticized by sailors as "badly planned" and "foolhardy." [11]
Sunderland's yacht Wild Eyes was a 40-foot (12.19 m) sloop built in 2001 by A.S.A. Yachts PTY, Australia. Designed by Jutson Yacht, [12] it was purported to be made specifically for sailing single-handed through the Southern Ocean, but post-rescue reporting disputed this. [11] Under its earlier name BTC Velocity the vessel finished second in the Class 3 (Open 40) category of the Around Alone 2002 race. [7] [12] Wild Eyes was constructed of fiberglass with Kevlar reinforcement into five watertight compartments with a crash bulkhead and a stern escape hatch. [12] It was bought in Rhode Island by the Sunderland family in October 2009 and refitted in Marina Del Rey, California, with an array of electrical, communication and navigation systems. [12]
Sunderland started her solo circumnavigation from Marina del Rey, California, on January 23, 2010. [13] There had not been enough time to do a multi-day test sail in varying conditions, so the team decided to let her depart anyway, and stop in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, if needed. [14] After a few days it became evident that her solar panels and wind turbines were not meeting the energy needs of her boat in the conditions she met, so using the diesel engine was needed more than anticipated. There were also electrical problems in her mast wiring, which affected her windspeed indicators. Sunderland landed at Cabo San Lucas on February 2, 2010, to take on more fuel and batteries, make repairs and restart her non-stop circumnavigation attempt. [15] [16]
Sunderland started her second attempt from Cabo San Lucas on February 6, 2010, intending to complete a solo, non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation in ten legs, departing from and returning to Cabo San Lucas. [17] On February 19, 2010, at 3:07 PM PST, thirteen days after departing Cabo San Lucas, Sunderland and Wild Eyes crossed the equator into the South Pacific at 0°00′N120°15′W / 0°N 120.25°W . [18]
On February 27, 2010, there was media concern [19] for Sunderland's safety because of the 2010 Chile earthquake. She was then at 15°S123°W / 15°S 123°W , some 1,860 miles (2,990 km) from the quake's epicenter, but the great ocean depth at her location minimized the effect of the resulting tsunami and her team reported she had not "... experienced anything out of the ordinary." [20]
On March 21, 2010, while sleeping at approximately 2:00 AM local time, she suffered a knockdown and barely avoided an accidental jibe. [21] On March 31, 2010, Sunderland rounded Cape Horn—the southernmost point of South America—making her the youngest solo sailor to do so. [22] She experienced rough seas and heavy winds when approaching, but little wind the last day before Cape Horn.
On April 24, 2010, Sunderland announced that she would stop at Cape Town for repairs to her autopilot system, ending her non-stop attempt. [23] However, she planned to continue the circumnavigation. [24] Sunderland had two separate autopilot systems and both failed. She was able to swap parts between them to keep one going for a time, but a leak made the repair stop necessary. She arrived in Cape Town on May 5, 2010. [25]
Sunderland departed from Cape Town on Friday, May 21, 2010, defying the superstition against starting a sailing voyage on a Friday, [26] and saying, "I will stop again if I need to." [27] By this time, it became likely her arrival in Cabo San Lucas or direct to Marina del Rey would be in August or possibly September.
Around May 24, 2010, a line got stuck near the top of her mast. Sunderland tried to climb the mast but found it too dangerous in the near gale conditions and full darkness, so she sailed throughout that night under reduced sails. [28]
On the morning of June 10, 2010, Sunderland was sailing in high winds and had suffered multiple knockdowns in a remote area of the Indian Ocean northeast of the Kerguelen Islands, about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) west of Australia. [29] Satellite phone contact was lost and about an hour later Sunderland's two manually operated emergency radio beacons were activated. [30] A third beacon which triggers automatically if it goes 15 feet (4.6 m) underwater was not activated. The nearest known ship was about 400 miles (640 km) away from her electronically reported position. Her beacon position at the time was published as 40°48′S74°58′E / 40.800°S 74.967°E , approximately 2,033 nautical miles (3,765 km; 2,340 mi) west-south-west of Perth. [31] [32]
The next morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority sent a chartered Qantas Airbus A330 passenger jet to the area with 11 trained SES air observers and a FESA officer on board. [30] The search plane faced a 4,700 miles (7,600 km) round trip from Perth to Sunderland's boat, a distance near the limit of its range. [32] The boat was sighted about 10 minutes after the plane reached its search zone. [33] Brief, short-range radio contact was made with Sunderland, who said she had righted the boat and was uninjured. Despite earlier fears that her sailing yacht had lost its keel and capsized, the boat was upright but dismasted, its rig dragging in the ocean from the broken mast, making satellite phone reception impossible. [11] [34] [35] [36] Sunderland's mother said the pilot of the Australian search plane told her the boat had probably been "rolled by a rogue wave." Her father said his daughter's circumnavigation attempt had come to an end. [11] [37]
The area where Sunderland's yacht was adrift is rarely visited by merchant ships or other sea traffic. [38] The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre put together a sea response with three ships traveling to the scene. Sunderland was rescued by the French commercial fishing vessel Ile de la Réunion late in the afternoon on June 12, 2010. Air cover for the rescue was handled from a privately owned Global Express corporate jet, which also relayed communications between her and the fishing vessel before its crew launched a small boat to ferry her from the crippled sailing yacht. [39] In a statement the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said "The master of the Ile De La Réunion has reported Ms. Sunderland is safe and in good health." [38] During her rescue, which took place in rough seas, the captain of the French fishing boat fell into the water and had to be "fished out in difficult conditions." [9]
In Thousand Oaks, California, Laurence Sunderland told reporters "She got out of her vessel with the clothes on her back." [40] Aboard the Ile de la Réunion Sunderland wrote that "one long wave" had brought about the dismasting of her sail boat Wild Eyes, which was abandoned to the ocean. [41]
The Ile de la Reunion took Sunderland to the Kerguelen Islands where she boarded a French patrol boat, the Osiris, for an 8-day trip to Reunion Island. [42]
Australian and French taxpayers bore some of the expenses for Sunderland's rescue and the Australian government confirmed that by law, she or her family cannot be billed for the expenses. [43] [44] [45] [46] It has been reported the Qantas plane used to spot her costs A$10,000 an hour to operate. [43] The total cost of the international rescue is estimated by media to be up to £116,000 (A$200,000) [47] or A$300,000 [48] depending on source. There has been criticism of her team's lack of contribution to rescue costs. The Daily Telegraph said "failed teen solo sailor Abby Sunderland's team did not put a cent towards her rescue but still tried to get the public to pay for the boat's salvage." [48] According to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, any ship of any nation in the vicinity of a distress call is required to render assistance at no cost. [49] In France, a law has been proposed that tourists could be required to reimburse the state for rescue costs if they "ventured knowingly and without 'legitimate motive' into risky territory". [47]
After her rescue, Sunderland said she hoped to sail around the world again some time in the future. [50] As of early 2023, no such event has happened.[ citation needed ]
After Sunderland's rescue the New York Post reported that after she set sail from Marina del Rey on her circumnavigation attempt, her father signed a deal with Magnetic Entertainment for a television show about his family called Adventures in Sunderland and quoted him as saying: "The show might be about family, it might be about Abigail's trip. It's something that was shopped around." [51] On her blog, the family later wrote, "The show was shopped and not sold [...] There is no reality TV show or documentary in the works and we will not be pursuing one." [52]
Sunderland was the subject of a documentary film produced and directed by her father titled Wild Eyes: The Abby Sunderland Story. The film was released on September 8, 2011. [53]
Sunderland released a book about her ordeal on April 12, 2011. The book is co-written with Lynn Vincent and is titled Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas. [54] [55] She has been going on book-signing tours, where it was revealed that she is taking flying lessons, to be able to fly around the world. [56]
Sunderland is married to US Navy sailor Justin T. Sims, of Centreville, Alabama. In 2018 her father told the Australian media that she was living in Alabama, where she had three children, with one on the way. [57]
In 2018 an overturned vessel spotted off the coast of Kangaroo Island was identified as Wild Eyes. [58] [59] News pictures appear to show it as having lost its keel. An Australian official said that it will not be salvaged unless it poses a hazard to shipping or comes ashore. [57]
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Kay Cottee is an Australian sailor, who was the first woman to perform a single-handed, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the world. She performed this feat in 1988 in her 37 feet (11 m) yacht Blackmores First Lady, taking 189 days.
Dame Naomi Christine James, DBE is the first woman to have sailed single-handed around the world via Cape Horn, the second woman to have ever sailed solo around the world. She departed Dartmouth, Devon on 9 September 1977 and finished her voyage around the globe on 8 June 1978 after 272 days, thus improving Sir Francis Chichester's solo round-the-world sailing record by two days.
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The sport and practice of single-handed sailing or solo sailing is sailing with only one crewmember. The term usually refers to ocean and long-distance sailing and is used in competitive sailing and among cruisers.
The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, held in 1968–1969, and was the first non-stop round-the-world yacht race. The race was controversial due to the failure of most competitors to finish the race and because of the apparent suicide of one entrant, Donald Crowhurst; however, it ultimately led to the founding of the BOC Challenge and Vendée Globe round-the-world races, both of which continue to be successful and popular.
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America, Cape Horn marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage and marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet.
Jesse Martin, OAM, is a German-Australian sailor who in 1999, at age 18, became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop and unassisted, Martin's journey in the 34-foot (10 m) S&S 34 sloop Lionheart-Mistral took approximately 11 months. He chronicled his adventures in the book Lionheart: A Journey of the Human Spirit, and his story was made into a documentary, Lionheart: The Jesse Martin Story.
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Zachary Tristan Sunderland is an American former sailor who was the first person under the age of 18 to sail solo around the world. Sunderland completed his trip after 13 months and 2 days at sea on July 16, 2009 at age 17. The record was previously held by Australian David Dicks, and was surpassed on August 27, 2009 by Michael Perham of England. Sunderland is the youngest American to complete a circumnavigation, surpassing Brian Caldwell, who finished in 1996 at age 20. However, Sunderland's record was not recognized by Guinness World Records, or by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.
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Jessica Watson is an Australian sailor who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal after attempting a solo circumnavigation at the age of 16. Although her voyage did not meet the distance criterion of 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 km) for a circumnavigation, Watson was nevertheless named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012 for "...service to sailing and to youth through the achievement of sailing solo and unassisted around the world [sic], and as a role model for young Australians". She currently resides in Melbourne. Netflix produced a film, True Spirit (2023), about Watson's voyage.
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Keith White was a British yachtsman. In October 2015 he set out on a non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world in his yacht, the Marathon, in part to raise funds for charity. White, who was disabled, lost the use of his left arm in 1991 due to a road traffic accident. A sailor since he was 16 years old, he achieved some significant firsts with his circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland, and his circuit of the Atlantic.
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Kirsten Neuschäfer is a South African sailor specializing in high latitude and high adventure sailing. She is the winner of the 2022 Golden Globe Race, the first woman to win that race since it started in 1968; it also made her the first woman to win any round the world race by the three great capes, including solo and fully crewed races, non-stop or with stops; and the first South African sailor to win a round-the-world event.
Lisa Blair is an Australian solo sailor who holds multiple world records. She is also an advocate for action against climate change, which she promotes through her Climate Action Now project. She has written a book, Facing Fear, about her first attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica solo on her yacht Climate Action Now.
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