Teen Sailor Abby Sunderland Missing at Sea

[Goodguy818]

Sad to hear

Abby Sunderland, the California 16-year-old who recently set out to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, may be lost at sea after losing contact with her land-based crew and activating emergency positioning beacons, according to an ABC News report.

Sunderland activated the beacons at around 9 a.m. (ET) Thursday, a crew engineer Jeff Casher told ABC.

A major search effort is underway. Family spokesman Christian Pinkston says rescuers began searching for Abby Sunderland somewhere between Africa and Australia.

Sunderland had been combating 20-plus foot waves and high winds in the Indian Ocean, at least 400 miles from the nearest ship and even farther from land.

"She's in the middle of nowhere, pretty much," said Sunderland's brother, Zac Sunderland told CBS Radio News. "There's nothing close to her."

Listen Sunderland's brother discuss the search mission

The nearest land is the French-controlled Reunion Islands off Madagascar. Authorities there detected Sunderland's emergency satellite signals, the GrindTV blog reported Thursday.

"Abby's father struggled with emotions and said he didn't know if his daughter was in a life raft or aboard the boat, or whether the boat was upside down," GrindTV reported.

Casher told ABC that Sunderland had told him her boat had been "knocked down" twice diurng the night, meaning that her sail had touched the water. Some of her

Sunderland, of, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., set out into a sunny, calm Pacific in January.

Her boat-builder father, Laurence, along with other family members and friends, cheered at the Del Rey Yacht Club as they watched the 40-foot craft, called Wild Eyes, depart.

But the teen's trip has stirred controversy from the start, CBS News Correspondent Kelly Wallace reported for "The Early Show," with critics accusing her parents of being irresponsible for letting her try.

Her planned route took her from Southern California south then around Cape Horn (South America's southern tip) where, according to American Sailing Association Executive Director Charlie Nobles "you can literally have waves of 100 feet" if the weather turns nasty.

From there, Abby would head into the Southern Atlantic, known for having the roughest waters on the planet - and where she apparently ran into trouble this week.

"It is dangerous," Abby said at the time. "But you have to kinda understand what you're getting into and be ready for it."

Her father says Abby is ready for the challenge, observing that, "She's pretty much been in training for this her whole life."

Abby notes she "decided to do this when I was 13 years old."

And, to critics who say she's too young and the trip too dangerous, Laurence Sunderland asserts, "I don't agree with them. Not everybody should be put into a box, the boxes of society."

Sunderland had to suspend her journey in South Africa in April when her autopilot malfunctioned and consequently dropped the "non-stop" aspect of her record-setting goal.

The current non-stop circumnavigation record-holder is 17-year-old Mike Perham, of Britain, who took the mark last year from Abby's then-17-year-old brother, Zac.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6568712.shtml