World

16 year old sailed solo around the world

by Maireid Sullivan | July 16, 2009 at 11:20 pm

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Now age 17, Zac Sunderland just sailed in to Marina del Rey, California, completing a year sailing solo around the world. Catch the news as it breaks. Read his blog here:

EXCERPT: A year and a half ago, he had a dream to sail around the world. It would have been easy to dismiss such a far fetched fantasy, but Zac took his own money, earned like most kids from summer jobs, and bought a 36 foot sailboat. He named his boat Intrepid. His parents had hoped he would find something that would create a fire in him, a passion that would direct him away from all the negative and harmful influences that are so prevalent in our society, but even they were stunned by the scope of his dreams and desires.

Zac Sunderland is attempting to be the youngest person in history to sail around the world alone.

Though the goal is simple, achieving it is not.

Sailing around the world is one of the oldest and most difficult adventures of all time. Man has tested himself against this task for over 500 hundred years.

Sailing around the world alone is akin to climbing Mount Everest, sledding across the Arctic, or canoeing the Nile River.. The difficulty and the danger cannot be underestimated.
Out of all the billions and billions of people that live or have lived, more people have gone into space than have sailed alone around the world.

Less than a handful of people have done it under the age of 20.