Abby Sunderland
| Abby Sunderland | |
|---|---|
Abby Sunderland at the Houston Boat Show in Kemah, Texas, U.S. on April 14, 2011
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| Born |
Abigail Jillian Sunderland October 19, 1993 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Residence | Thousand Oaks, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Trinity Pacific Christian School |
| Occupation | Former sailor |
| Known for | Unsuccessfully attempts to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo. |
| Parent(s) | Laurence Sunderland Marianne Sunderland |
| Website | Official website |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| 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 |
| Out of service: | June 12, 2010 |
| Status: | Dismasted, abandoned in southern Indian Ocean |
| 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 |
Abigail Jillian "Abby" Sunderland (born October 19, 1993) is an American former sailor who, in 2010, unsuccessfully attempted to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world.
The second-eldest of Marianne and Laurence Sunderland's eight children, Sunderland grew up sailing with her family. Her brother, Zac Sunderland, was the first person under the age of 18 to complete a circumnavigation. Her family is Christian. She and her siblings have been homeschooled.
A lifelong sailor, Sunderland said she had been preparing for her journey since age 13. She trained in ocean sailing with experienced sailors and with her father Laurence Sunderland, who 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?'" Her parents were widely criticized for the decision to allow her to undertake this trip, with one critic calling the decision "potentially irresponsible."
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.". After her rescue, the trip was criticized by sailors as "badly planned" and "foolhardy."
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 specifically for sailing single-handed through the Southern Ocean. Under its earlier name BTC Velocity the vessel finished second in the Class 3 (Open 40) category of the Around Alone 2002 race.Wild Eyes was constructed of E-glass with Kevlar reinforcement into five watertight compartments with a crash bulkhead and a stern escape hatch. 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.
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