Zac Sunderland in 2004 (on left) and now. Adventuresome, knowledgeable, and ruggedly handsome. Good luck on your trip!
Link
Posted on 07/15/2009 2:58:31 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
MARINA DEL REY -- A teenager from Thousand Oaks is expected to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone when he arrives in Los Angeles Thursday morning.
Zac Sunderland, who left Marina del Rey June 14, 2008 at age 16 and has been headed west ever since, is expected to arrive in his homeport at 10 a.m. Thursday to a hero's reception at Fisherman's Village.
Zac turned 17 off Africa's Cape of Good Hope and is expected to be certified upon his arrival as the youngest person to circumnavigate the Earth alone by sailboat and the first person younger than 18 to have done it, according to the American Sailor's Association, which is also one of Zac's sponsors.
"The patience, knowledge and fortitude required for such a journey is immeasurable," said Charlie Nobles, executive director of ASA. "And, it's beyond unusual to find those qualities in someone Zac's age. This is an age group we associate with all things instantaneous -- texting, tweeting at a mile per second."
Over the past 13 months, Zac's voyage took him roughly 28,000 miles in a 36-foot boat named "Intrepid" which he bought with $6,000 of his own savings.
Zac crossed the Pacific to his first port of call, the Marshall Islands, then headed west to Papua, New Guinea, then Australia, the Indian Ocean, Mauritius and Madagascar, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, sailing across the Atlantic and finally, transiting the Panama Canal back to the Pacific and Marina Del Rey.
The previously home-schooled senior studied on board to finish his high school education during the voyage. He began his journey with more than 15,000 hours of sailing experience.
Zac, the oldest of seven children who was partly raised on a boat, came to his love of sailing through his parents.
He was inspired by Robin Lee Graham's 1974 book "Dove." Graham left Los Angeles on a 24-foot boat when he was 15 and circled the globe, though not alone.
The American Sailing Association estimated that fewer than 250 people have sailed the grand circle alone. Nearly three times as many people have climbed to the top of Mount Everest, according to the organization.
Zac says he may attempt to climb Everest next.
15000 hours is roughly a year-and-a-half full-time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I was never very good at math, but yeah he started out very young.
Ping.
His trip is done, mlizzy. Zac returns to Marina del Rey tomorrow morning. He’s done and planning his next adventure.
Good for him. Very inspiring story from a hard-working young man with a mission.
Hey, La Enchiladita, do you know Zac or his family? If so, could you PM me?
A very special young man returns tomorrow:)
Of course, MSM after ignoring him all year, are now getting on the bandwagon. I’m going down to the wharf and I want to see Zac, not THEIR circus...*Sigh*
No, I don’t know them at all. I just took an interest via reading about him in a local newspaper, The Argonaut.
This kid circumcised the globe? All by himself?
(LOL...just kidding!)
Must be nice to be a rich kid.
Maybe you should read about him and his family first. He is a homeschooled kid, a year ahead on his work, and worked to buy an old boat which he fixed himself.
I have been following this story for a while because he was featured in a Christian news magazine.
Would you cram it. He’s not a rich kid. What a loser you must be.
You won’t congratulate him most likely because you’ve never been congratulated for anything yourself. You have simply never achieved anything. How sad.
All that doesn’t matter. He’s too young and his parents are idiots.
Oooh, aren’t you so sweet. Perhaps you should look in the mirror. Just because I said he was too young.
Looking forward to an update!
You have low expectations for today’s young adults. As this young man demonstrates, though, young adults can do a whole lot more than we imagine.
Maybe don’t speak about this situation until you’re informed, yeah?
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