Well, I wonder out of how many teenagers across all the continent, sailing all alone around the world would be an ideal idea for a long holiday. Yes, I know its no child’s play but the a 16-year-old lad from Los Angeles is just on his way to make it a reality. Zac Sunderland from US hopes to break the record of solo sailing around the world, earlier set by David Dicks from Australia (he was 18 years, 41 day old then). Zac is all set to pull the ropes today from Marina Del Rey, California and make the yearlong journey in his private 36ft boat, which he bought with his own savings and become the youngest person to sail alone around the world. The young voyager’s route has been chalked out, beginning from Marina Del Rey, his first stop will be the Marshall Islands, 4,000 miles (6,437km) away. Then Zac would take the challenging 40,000-mile (64,400-km) route across the Pacific to Papua New Guinea and Australia and from there across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius and Madagascar. On completion of this stage, Zac would find himself routing around the Cape of Good Hope to the South Atlantic ocean and then finally steering through the Panama Canal and heading north back to California. Phew!

Like every intelligent navigator, Zac too knows every inch of his boat and also that ‘if you fall in, you’re pretty much gone’. His only companion on his voyage would be an iridium phone that will allow him to speak to his friends and family and send e-mails. A High School student, Zac will sleep in a narrow bunk, in case of stormy seas and will survive on freeze-dried food and fish he catches on the way. Born to a sailor’s family, with his parents already cruised the Pacific for three years with their young family, fully support their son’s dream without any doubts about any kind of mishappening. He is expected to returns before January 2010 to beat the current record. We wish him all the luck. Bon Voyage!

Via: BBC