Gossip Teen

It’s not often sixteen year olds get to sail solo around the world so when one brave teen takes on the challenge, everyone takes note. Abby Sunderland, has attempted the adventure and she has found herself in the middle of not only the Indian Ocean, but a heated debate about what a teen should or shouldn’t be allowed to do on their own.

Sunderland set sail in her yacht, Wild Eyes, in an attempt to be the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe non-stop, alone and unassisted. In April she had to stop in Cape Town, South Africa for repairs and while it ended the non-stop part of her quest, Abby continued on after her auto pilot system was fixed. On June 10th, Sunderland set off her EPRIB’s (emergency beacons) after her boat was turned on it’s side and the mast snapped thanks to a storm near Madagascar. A rescue plane has spotted the teenager and her disabled boat and a nearby fishing vessel has been dispatched to pick up the stranded-at-sea teen.

Abby’s father, Laurence Sunderland, is telling reporters that his daughter’s journey is over for now, but the debate is raging on: was she too young to try it in the first place? Should her parents have stopped her? Would waiting until she was eighteen made that much of a difference? It wasn’t too long ago when the world was asking the same questions of Jessica Dubroff’s parents. Dubroff died in 1996 when she attempted a solo flight at the age of seven and was tragically unsuccessful.

What do you think? Is Abby brave or foolhardy? Are her parents supportive of her dreams or way to lenient? Sound off below!

Learn more about Abby on her official blog here and this one that her parents update.

[image: USA Today]