A ghost ship may be completing its second lap around the world
In short: In 2010, a sixteen-year-old girl's solo voyage ended when her mast snapped in the Indian Ocean. Nine years later, her boat was spotted drifting off Australia. Because of ocean currents, experts suggest the vessel might have already completed its journey and could be starting a second lap.
In June 2010, Abigail Jillian Sunderland set out from Marina del Rey to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo. Her custom 40-foot sloop, Wild Eyes, was designed for single-handed sailing through the Southern Ocean and featured fiberglass construction with Kevlar reinforcement. However, after crossing the Pacific and Atlantic, she encountered severe storms between Africa and Australia that snapped her mast, leaving her adrift for two days until a French fishing vessel rescued her.
The expedition sparked intense debate over safety and parenting. Critics in the sailing community labeled the trip 'foolhardy' and 'badly planned,' noting that the timing of her departure meant she faced deteriorating autumn weather near Australia. Her father, Laurence Sunderland, defended the decision by comparing it to the risks of teenagers driving cars, arguing that his daughter was an experienced sailor who had been preparing for the journey since age 13.
The mystery of Wild Eyes resurfaced on New Year’s Eve when a tuna-spotting plane located the craft about 11 nautical miles south of Kangaroo Island. While Sunderland—now 25 and a mother of three—expressed shock at finding her boat, oceanographer David Griffin noted that debris in these currents often travels vast distances. He suggests that over the eight or nine years since it was lost, the sailboat likely already circled the globe once and may currently be beginning its second circuit.
Despite the vessel's discovery, recovery is unlikely due to prohibitive costs. Authorities indicated they would only intervene if the craft posed a navigation hazard. For now, the boat remains a drifting relic of a controversial journey that sits at the intersection of extreme ambition and the unpredictable power of the open ocean.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Found: Sailboat From Teen's Abandoned Round-the-World Attempt
- Also: Abby Sunderland
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