2010-03-11 / Community

Tsunami misses Sunderland

By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Sailing 3,000 miles off the coast of Chile, Abby Sunderland faced no danger from a tsunami, according to her blog.

The 16-year-old Thousand Oaks girl, who’s attempting a nonstop, solo circumnavigation of the world in a 40-foot sailboat, is continuing toward Cape Horn.

When she recently checked in with her parents, “everyone sounded more than a little worried,” she wrote.

Many who are following her journey as the youngest person to sail around the world by herself had called her parents and expressed their concerns after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile and a tsunami warning went across the Pacific Ocean.

She rechecked everything on her boat to make sure all was in good shape. It was. But she never even felt a surge. In her Feb. 27 blog she reported, “I’ll be keeping Chile in my prayers.”

She also wrote, “I’m at a very comfortable point of sail and making great time!”

Sunderland, who departed on Jan. 23 from Marina del Rey harbor, hopes to return before she turns 17 in October.

By Jan. 30, before she crossed the equator, she realized her solar panels weren’t working as well as expected and she needed to make adjustments. So she made an unplanned stop at Cabo San Lucas, where she was met by her father and received upgrades to help with her fuel and battery consumption along with other small fixes. By Feb. 7, she was back at sea on her racing sailboat named Wild Eyes.

Since she hadn’t yet crossed the equator, the stop didn’t affect her nonstop goal.

To follow her adventure, go to www.abbysunderland.com.

On her website is a link to her blog. She posts photos and responds to questions.

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