There's been a bit of boat talk lately here in JM, so I thought I'd share the story about Zac Sunderland, Zac is attempting to set the record for the youngest American sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world. He's doing it on a 36' Islander he bought for $6,500. I met Zac the day he left (June 14) on his trip from the Marina Del Rey boat show (I work for the boat show), he's an impressive young man, and his family, friends, and supporters are numerous and resourceful, I think he has a real shot at making it around the globe, although the historic odds are stacked against him. He has a blog, I think he's just left Hawaii, bound for the Marshall Islands. http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/index.html Keep a good thought for Zac, include him in your prayers, his 36 footer didn't look very big in the harbor, I bet it looks really small out there in the North Pacific.
Very cool, good luck to the kid. On a side note I started drooling when I saw this for 99k in the SF area. She has been on some pretty longs stretches and set some records. Yours for $99000, 60' Bergstrom & Ridder Open 60: Set up for solo/shorthanded sailing THURSDAY'S CHILD is a legend. She was the first OPEN CLASS 60 specifically designed and built for short-handed ocean racing. In 1989 she distinguished herself as the first boat to break Flying Cloud's clipper ship record from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn. Prior to that, in 1984 with skipper Warren Luhrs, she set the single-handed Transatlantic record in the OSTAR. In 1995, skipper Arnet Taylor completed the BOC solo around the world race. Michael Repy then purchased the boat and brought her to San Francisco to "Sail for Whales" for the environmental orginization Earth Island Institute. He sailed her solo to Hawaii in 2000, and solo to Japan in 2001, just missing the solo record. THURSDAY'S CHILD has been prepared, by Michael, for another attempt at the solo record to Japan, but decided not to sail due to physical health concerns. The boat is READY TO GO!
I heard this kid on a local radio talk show and he seems way more mature than his age would dictate. He is much more mature than my 20 year old brother.
That is a really cool trip. You think he would get pretty bored being by himself for 3 weeks. Navigating the reefs sounds pretty challenging.
He was disqualified because he took a girl that he met in the south Pacific along for a little bit.... .
That kid has some stones! Sailing RTW SOLO in a $6500 boat! A good friend of my Dad did it a couple years ago but his boat was more like $165,000 and he had his wife and kids (teens) with him.
The book 'Dove' by Robin Lee Graham was the inspiration for Zacs trip. While Zac was growing up, there was a copy of Dove that lived on the coffee table, as his dad tells it, and that book infected all the Sunderland children with the solo sailing jones, there's a younger sister that sails, and a younger brother talking about getting the record away from Zac, by leaving at 15 years old.
Jesse is a friend of and hero to Zac, but the record is currently held by another Aussie, David Dicks (18yo+41 days).
Wow, hadn't thought about that for a while! My dad was a professor at Stanford back in the early 70's, and we visited with Robin Graham a few times. He was a very knowledgeable, pleasant, and if I remember properly a slightly humble guy (I guess sailing around the world will do that to a person). I don't remember the exact details, but he gave me a blue windbreaker that I wore until it fell apart.
How old was Tania Aebi when she did it? bullshit rules about them taking passengers for a couple miles negating their accomplishments.
where does a kid come up with 6500bucks? maybe his parents wanna get rid of him "here son, go sail around the world " if he's 16, why isn't he interested in girls and booze instead of being alone for a round-the-world trip??? i hope he doesn't find amelia. abe
Tania Aebi was 18 when she started her voyage, and it took 2.5 years to complete. She was denied the record, however, because she had a passenger aboard for about 80 miles in the South Pacific. Her book is Maiden Voyage. It's a great read.
I just heard about him yesterday (someone made a random post somewhere on here and I googled his webpage). I'll be following along now
Another excellent book is the original-"Sailing alone around the world" by Joshua Slocum. He was no kid, but he rebuilt a worn-out old boat in the late 1800s,and sailed it around the world.
