I'd much rather spend winter in the central Pacific sub-tropics/tropics. She departed SOCAL in January (winter) and arrived at her final destination (far southern Indian Ocean) in May-June (late fall going into winter). Then again she was delayed en-route and may have planned to cross that piece of water earlier than she did. Maybe she was supposed to have spent winter in the Pacific sub-tropics/tropics.

Her boat was purposely designed and built for sailing the Southern Ocean and that seems to have been the plan; still with the delays I'd have considered shifting north. She may have been going for speed and she can cross more lines of longitude further south, but that's a very unforgiving piece of water.

Agree.

That said, I think she did good, right up until that big wave rolled her and broke Wild Eye's mast. At that point age was irrelevant.

There is another possibility - they may have optimized the travel plan to accept poorer weather in the Southern Ocean in order to get better weather at Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. That might make sense in a non-stop circumnavigation if there is no realistic sailing schedule that avoids poor weather seasons everywhere.

Turns out that her dad is broke and was shopping her story as a reality show. It takes nothing from her skill or courage but mayber her family is not the "Adventure Cleavers" they've been made out to be.

Many, many people in America are broke and scrambling to survive.

At least he didn't send out an empty yacht and then scream that she was on board.

She had the determination, the ability and a custom-built yacht, so why not?

Sue

Have you ever wondered how Shackleton, Amundsen, etc, funded their expeditions?

The same way. And, by and large, they were broke most of the time. Exploration isn't cheap, and not everyone is content to leave it to the very rich, or the politically well-connected.

Oh that's right, no one has ever been to the Indian Ocean before. Abby Sunderland is an explorer who is charting unknown seas...

Oh that's... not right.

Jeez, no one said she or her family were frauds, only that there may be more to the story than "wonderful family encourages valiant teen to follow her dreams, and no financial pressure was ever involved".

Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic expedition would have been *third* to reach the South Pole. That seems not to have deterred him at all.

There are those who Do and those who Don't. I'm pleased that there are still some of the former.

Was Shackleton an adult at the time of his fundraising and exploring, or was he 16 years old during the modern media age? Details, details.

For me, it'd really come down to whether it was "Our daughter is going on a sailing trip around the world, so let's get a book/TV deal to fund it!" Or was it "We need some money, so let's get a book/TV deal and send our daughter on a sailing trip around the world!" Was the primary motivation adventure, or money?

Reading Abby's blog, I lean toward believing the motivation was adventure.