Thousand Oaks Hero

Sunday, April 25, 2010 11:15am PDT

Teen sailor Abby Sunderland abandons nonstop around-the-world quest
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com

Abby Sunderland, one of two 16-year-old girls on different quests to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted, has announced she will head to Cape Town, South Africa, to repair a faulty autopilot system.

The high-school junior from Thousand Oaks, Calif., stressed on her blog that she will continue her journey after making repairs and seek to become simply the youngest person to solo-circumnavigate the planet in a sailboat.

Jessica Watson, Sunderland's Australian counterpart, is expected to complete her nonstop circumnavigation attempt in late May. Watson is enduring severe weather aboard her 34-foot pink sailboat as she travels beneath Australia en route to her finish point at Sydney Harbor. Watson, who is five months older than Sunderland, left Sydney last October.

Sunderland, who departed from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in early February aboard a 40-foot vessel, has been experiencing trouble with her autopilot system for the past several weeks, including during a precarious passage around treacherous Cape Horn at South America's tip.

Autopilots are supposed to hold a sailor's course but Sunderland's primary and backup units have been faulty. At one point recently, in rough seas and freezing temperatures, the intrepid mariner had to hand-steer from the stern deck for 24 consecutive hours.

She stated on her blog that it'd be "foolish and irresponsible" to transition from the South Atlantic to a long and potentially rollicking Indian Ocean stretch without fully operational equipment.

"I gave it my best shot and made it almost halfway around the world," she said. "I will definitely keep going, and whether or not I will make any more stops after this I don't know."

Read the full article here: http://su.pr/24Dg3X