Scary news is coming in regarding Abby Sunderland, the 16-year old girl who is attempting to solo circumnavigate the globe. According to this story from ABC News, the California teenager may be lost at sea after setting off two distress signals calling for help from her support crew.
According to the report, Abby was fighting 20-25 foot waves and 35 knot winds at the time that she activated the beacon. At that time, her support crew had been in touch with her, and Abby indicated that she had been knocked down twice. That was earlier today, and since then there has been no contact.
Abby had set out from Cape Town, South Africa two weeks back following some repairs to her boat, the Wild Eyes. She is reportedly now 400 miles away from the closest ship, and Reunion Island, near Madagascar, is the closest land.
After speaking to her support crew at home, Abby was going to attempt to make a few repairs on the boat, then call them back. Since then, there have been only the two distress signals. Rescue ships are said to be en route, but it is a long way out to where she was last known to be, and the bad weather will not help that process.
I’ll post more info as it becomes available. Please keep Abby in your thoughts, and hope for the best. As someone who has followed her progress since before she ever hit the water, I’m feeling really sad about this news at the moment.
Thanks to my friend Mitch for alerting me to this breaking news.
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Thoughts and prayers for her safe return.
My thoughts and prayers are with Abby. This race to be the youngest to achieve various extreme adventures is out of control. Be a kid! You are only a kid once. You have your entire life to sail or climb.
I'm resting the urge to get on any kind of high horse about this topic, and I know you both know where I stand on the subject. I'm just hoping beyond hope that everything will turn out for the best. 🙁
Hopefully they find her safe and sound with just communication equipment malfunction.
Yeah, that would be for the best. Scary situation at the moment.
Yes, I've also been following her progress from the start – and have been reading her almost daily blog. What a fantastic girl! I have confidence in her abilities and trust she will be found. There is some solace in the fact that she well knew the dangers of the sea before she embarked.
Lets hope she is found.