wrote:
Imagine...

A young girl on a 40 ft boat all alone in treacherous waters.

http://www.modbee.com/life/buzzz/story/1006871.html

The sheer stupidity of this is unimaginable, and since the governing
sailing bodies won't certify her results, why bother? (I don't
believe a 17 year old girl will be able to pull of the standard
"because it was there" horse crap.)

I think our local newscaster with tow girls of his own said it best:

"For Gawd's sake; doesn't this girl have parents?"

Apparently not.

Tania Aebi circumnavigated in a smaller boat starting at 18. And she did
have parents--they gave her the choice--sail this boat around the world, go
to college, or we're cutting you off. She took the boat. Why they offered
her that particular choice I have no idea. Was a good one though--she got a
lot of life experience, a writing career, a husband, a cat, and a Hell of a
tan out of it. However officially it didn't count as a solo
circumnavigation because she gave somebody a ride between two islands
somewhere in the depths of the Pacific. She had no prior sailing experience
to speak of.

Robin Lee Graham started his circumnavigation at 16 in a 24 foot boat and
traded it for a 33 footer along the way.

Right now there's another 16 year old girl halfway around on a
circumnavigation.

Abby is sailing an Open 40, which is purpose-designed for singlehanded
circumnavigation, which puts her well ahead of Tania and Robin at the start.
And her parents seem to be behind her 100 percent on this.

My view is that she's lucky to be able to get that particular bug out of her
system at an early age, and no matter what she goes into it's going to look
damned good on her resume.