SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (AP)
A Southern California teenager is looking to snatch the record of youngest person to sail solo around the world set by an Australian 12 years ago.
On a weekend when most people his age are settling into summer break, 16-year-old Zac Sunderland of Thousand Oaks, California, embarked from Marina Del Rey in his 36-foot (11-metre) sailboat Intrepid on his attempt to circumnavigate the world. A crowd of about 200 and a Coast Guard helicopter saw him off.
"There was a stiff breeze and after Zac got settled was cruising comfortably," Sunderland's mother, Marianne Sunderland, wrote in a post on his website, http://www.zacsunderland.com. "He has a lot to do in the next days; stowing, organizing and finding everything that was stowed and organized for him!"
If Sunderland completes the trip, he would become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo. According to Guinness World Records, the youngest to pull off the feat is Australian David Dicks, who circled the globe at 18 in 1996. Sunderland's plan, which will inevitably go through many changes, is to complete his voyage in 11 months and return to California in April, when he will be 17.
The oldest of seven children, Sunderland is a lifelong sailor from a long line of yachtsmen - his website says his first home was a 17-metre Tradewind sailboat. He had planned to set sail late last month, but a broken gearbox seal forced the replacement of the boat's engine.
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