Zac Sunderland Intrepid Round the World Solo Trip

Congratulations to Zac Sunderland, from Thousand Oaks, California, who has just become the youngest person ever to sail solo around around the world, taking 13 months to complete the circumnavigation of the globe. The previous record-holder was Australian David Dicks, who was 18 years and 41 days old when he completed his round the world trip.

Zac Sunderland was born on November 29, 1991 so he is not yet 18 and has just finished his trip today !

You have to say this is a quite remarkable achievement for someone so young, but you have to wonder what he is going to do for an encore !

He is also a good-looking guy ! Life is so hard for some guys !

He set sail from Marina del Rey 13 months ago and was welcomed back today by an armada of dozens of sailboats and yachts, before stepping ashore at Fisherman's Village. He was
just 16 when he set sail on June 14, 2008.

His journey involved crossing three oceans and five seas, he crossed the equator twice, and travelled over 25,000 miles. At one point he was tracked by pirates, whom he avoided by locking himself in the bullet-proof glass cabin of his boat, and also had to ovecome a broken boom, broken forestay rigging, broken tiller, broken bulkhead, he was swamped and almost washed overboard.

How on earth parents can let a 16 year old set off to sail round the world on his own I don't know, but you have to admire their guts and spirit of enterprise ! I found it hard enough to let my 17 year old borrow the car !

Laurence Sunderland, Zac's father said : "He left thinking that he knew a lot about life, and the difference now is, he does. You look into his eyes; he's very much a deep thinker now. He tries to anticipate things more so now, before they happen."

Zac's parents were in fact criticized by some for letting a teenager undertake such a risky adventure. "This is our whole life -- boating, and Laurence has felt a huge amount of responsibility," Marianne Sunderland, Zac's mother, said "Zac has had all the best safety equipment -- from satellite phones to his own meteorologists, and everyone to help him. With modern technology there's no reason why he shouldn't be successful."

Zac said the hardest thing about the trip and being alone at sea was that "there's no normalcy. Every day is different. Never being anywhere at a certain time is hard to get used to."

Unfortunately for Zac Sunderland, his record may soon be broken, a Brit called Mike Perham, who is even younger than Zac set off on a similar trip last November and is expected to complete his round the world solo voyage in about 3 weeks time.

If Perham is successful, Sunderland will then be only youngest American to have sailed round the world solo. They actually met totally by chance in Cape Town, South Africa.

Sunderland's supporters point out that Perham's campaign is fully sponsored and is on board a larger, faster and much more expensive craft.

Sunderland bought his 36-foot Islander sailboat called the Intrepid with $6000 that he had saved up himself and that he had retrofitted with the help of his father who is a shipwright.

The route Zac Sunderland followed, in case you are thinking of following in his footsteps, was  - Marina Del Rey, California - Wakiki, Hawaii - Majuro, Marshall Islands - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea - Darwin, Australia - Cocos-Keeling Islands, Territory of Australia - Rodrigues Island, Mauritius - Port Louis, Mauritius - Durban, South Africa - East London, South Africa - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Mossel Bay, South Africa - Cape Town, South Africa - St. Helena, South Atlantic Ocean - Grenada - Colón, Panama - Panama City, Panama - Marina Chahue, Huatulco, Mexico - Puerto de la Navidad Marina, - Barra de Navidad, Mexico - Marina Del Rey, California

Zac is the oldest of 7 children and has been a sailor all his life, so he has had plenty of experience of the sea. His first home was a 17-metre Tradewind sailboat. He had sailing adventures with his family in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the UK. They made a 3 year cruise around the Channel Islands, Baja California and mainland Mexico in a 51' Aleutian.

For his solo trip Zac was sponsored by the Produce for Kids, Shuman’s RealSweet and Mastronardi’s Sunset Produce, as it was his intention to promote healthy eating particularly among kids. Now that he has finished his trip there is a book planned and a DVD.