Teen sailor does not regret her failed trip
Source: Agencies |
July 1, 2010, Thursday
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ABBY Sunderland overcame moments of terror on the high seas after her boat was rolled over by a huge wave as she tried to sail solo around the world.
Still, the 16-year-old said in California on Tuesday that she was proud of her effort, hoped it might inspire others and wasn't ready to abandon sailing.
In her first statements since returning home on Monday, Sunderland said she was below deck working on her boat Wild Eyes as a fierce storm was letting up in the Indian Ocean.
"I was hit by a rogue wave once the storm was already dying down," she said. "I didn't have a lot of warning."
Sunderland had just spoken to her family by satellite phone when the wave knocked over the 12-meter boat and sent her tumbling in its hold.
She hit her head, and ?things went black for a second, she said.
When she regained consciousness and went to the deck, she found a fiberglass stump where the mast once stood. Back in the hold, she tested the engine she had just repaired. It would not start.
Sunderland set off her emergency beacons and waited. She was amazed when a plane dispatched from Australia to find her flew overhead the next day. Two days later a fishing boat arrived.
?As you probably all really know, I?d much rather be sailing Wild Eyes back in here. But the plane was really comfortable,? Sunderland deadpanned, looking poised and comfortable as she sat next to her 18-year-old brother Zac at a news conference in Marina del Rey, California, where she set sail in January.
She thanked her rescuers and others who helped and singled out her brother as a source of inspiration.
Zac Sunderland, 18, successfully completed a round-the-world voyage last year, briefly becoming the youngest person to do so. His record has since been broken.
Still, the 16-year-old said in California on Tuesday that she was proud of her effort, hoped it might inspire others and wasn't ready to abandon sailing.
In her first statements since returning home on Monday, Sunderland said she was below deck working on her boat Wild Eyes as a fierce storm was letting up in the Indian Ocean.
"I was hit by a rogue wave once the storm was already dying down," she said. "I didn't have a lot of warning."
Sunderland had just spoken to her family by satellite phone when the wave knocked over the 12-meter boat and sent her tumbling in its hold.
She hit her head, and ?things went black for a second, she said.
When she regained consciousness and went to the deck, she found a fiberglass stump where the mast once stood. Back in the hold, she tested the engine she had just repaired. It would not start.
Sunderland set off her emergency beacons and waited. She was amazed when a plane dispatched from Australia to find her flew overhead the next day. Two days later a fishing boat arrived.
?As you probably all really know, I?d much rather be sailing Wild Eyes back in here. But the plane was really comfortable,? Sunderland deadpanned, looking poised and comfortable as she sat next to her 18-year-old brother Zac at a news conference in Marina del Rey, California, where she set sail in January.
She thanked her rescuers and others who helped and singled out her brother as a source of inspiration.
Zac Sunderland, 18, successfully completed a round-the-world voyage last year, briefly becoming the youngest person to do so. His record has since been broken.
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