Age Aint Nothin' But a Number

I remember when I first heard of this story and I thought to myself now, this is the type of thing that really inspires me as a human being.

Abigail Sunderland, a 16 year old from Thousand Oaks, California set out in January, 2010 to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe after her brother did it at the age of 17 in 2009. Having been around sailing her entire life she set off on her boat “Wild Eyes” to accomplish what most people couldn't even imagine considering attempting themselves.

On June 7 she reached her halfway point in the Indian Ocean and on June 10 she was overcome by stormy waters and lost all contact with civilization. Abigail had been communicating via satellite on her blog soloround.blogspot.com when her parents updated the blog with a message stating that Abigail had lost communication and her ship was dead in the water. Her parents assured the public that Abigail was both trained and properly equipped to deal with the situation and that she would be ok. On the same day she was identified by an Australian search and rescue and by June 12 she was safely aboard the French fishing vessel Ile de la Reunion.

The response that followed was an odd mixture of respect and admiration for Abigail and a sort of surprise and disappointment with the parents for allowing her to partake on such a dangerous quest.

My position on this is, if we only do what's safe and typical how are humans supposed to accomplish anything extraordinary? And more than that, if we establish restrictions on ourselves based upon societal insecurities how much are we holding ourselves back?

My point is if Abigail had not been properly prepared both mentally, and equipment-wise before she set off on her journey the story probably would have played out much differently. However, despite her circumstances it was because of her preparation and background that she was able to endure her situation.

Abigail Sunderland's attempt did a lot to inspire me as a person and its a story that certainly deserves much more recognition for its successes both by Abigail and her parents. Here is a quote from Abigail's website

"I had begun to think that dreams are meant to be no more than dreams and that in reality dreams don't come true. Then my brother (Zac) left on his trip. It was amazing to see all the support that he got from around the world and to see how everyone worked together to help make his dream reality. Watching him do this really made me believe that I could too."

Even failing at her attempt Abigail (and to some extent her brother) has delivered a huge message to those open minded enough to receive it.

The only difference between a dream and reality is action.

Despite failing at her attempt she still pursued it completely- how many other people can say the same in their lifetime?

-Javier