CIRCLING THE EARTH

Abby onboard 'Wild Eyes'

SAILING BY

The great criticism levelled against those of us who blog is that never before have so many had so much to say about so little ! To be fair there is a sizable portion of the blogosphere that even the stoutest blogger could not defend, as many are adrift on a virtual sea of triviality. From time to time one stumbles across a gem that redeems the whole blogging enterprise and rejuvenates that form as an exciting and vital expression of heroic human activity. Lately I have discovered the delights of Abby’s Blog, the online diary of an American 16 year old who is sailing single handed around the world endeavouring to become the world’s youngest solo circumnavigator . Her trip began last January when she left US waters, sailing along the western edge of South America, around Cape Horn and then across the Southern Ocean, considered for having some of the roughest seas in the world. She plans to sail nonstop on Wild Eyes, a high-tech racing yacht, for the entire trip, which could take up to six months. And you can share the adventure by checking out Abby’s Blog at http://soloround.blogspot.com where she blogs regularly of her daily adventures with some great photographs.

Here’s a sample from her entry for March 21 st., “ Today has been a pretty quiet day with not a whole lot of wind. I'm just slowly headed towards the horn. Yesterday was pretty much the same until the evening. Last night was a little exciting. The wind picked up to 25-30 knots with a large swell that unfortunately was on my beam. At about 2 in the morning, I was asleep down below when I woke up a little dazed, wondering how my dishes that were kept in the sink had made it all the way into my lap all the way across the cabin!
I then noticed that I was sitting on the wall, not my bed. (just goes to show you what a comfortable bed I have!) Well, my auto pilot went into standby mode and so I jumped outside and grabbed the tiller just in time to keep Wild Eyes from gybing. I got her back on course and set the auto pilot again. I walked around to check over the boat, every thing was fine, a little tossed around, but nothing broken. Because I was asleep I'm not sure exactly what happened. With the swells as they were, it could have just been a large swell that knocked Wild Eyes over.”… Exciting huh ?
The uniqueness of being a ‘fly on the wall’ during such a momentous trip is really exhilarating and the opportunity to send Abby messages of support in her ‘comments’ section adds to the sense of being a participant in this 16 year-olds adventure of a lifetime. Even for an old ‘land-lubber’ like myself with the shakiest of sea-legs I joy in the vicarious thrill of sailing full-throttle aboard ‘Wild Eyes’ as she sails around the world. Step on board, and become part of the worldwide virtual crew !

Gerard O'Shea