Sailing experts have sharply criticised US mariner Abby Sunderland, calling her attempt cross the treacherous Indian Ocean during winter "ridiculous and insane".
Abby, 16, was spotted by a search and rescue plane after setting off two emergency beacons 2,000 miles west of Perth.
An international operation was lanched to find her, amid fears that she could have become separated from her boat and lost in the rolling, frigid seas.
While her family and support team in America are relieved that she is safe and well, the incident has sparked furious debate over the wisdom of allowing teenage sailors to attempt dangerous solo missions.
Last year a court acted against the wishes of the parents of a 13 year old Dutch girl by preventing her from setting off on a solo voyage around the world.
Sailing experts have warned that Abby should not have been in the dangerous southern seas at all.
Ian Kiernan, an Australian sailor who has circumnavigated the globe, said her voyage had not been planned properly and that she had been "foolhardy" to enter the Indian Ocean during winter when weather conditions could deteriorate swiftly and present a mortal danger.
Marty Still, an Australian who built the boat used by teenage sailor Jessica Watson to successfully sail round the world earlier this year, said that Abby's team had chosen the wrong type of craft for the perilous crossing. He said that her boat had been built for speed, not safety, and would be extremly difficult for one person to sail.
But the harshest criticism came from America. A columnist in the Los Angeles Times accused Abby's parents of "child abuse" for allowing their daughter to go ahead with her voyage and described the mission as "outrageous, ridiculous, incomprehensible insanity".
TJ Simers wrote: "Why is any 16-year-old allowed to place herself in harm's way? Why would any parent allow such a thing?
"I just don't understand the idea of risking life. This kid's going to be out there all by herself. Death is a possibility. Bad weather. Are you kidding me? Who's responsible for this? She's a kid."
However, the Sunderlands defended the decision to let Abby go.
"Could there be a tragedy?" Marianne Sunderland said in an interview with the ABC before she set off.
"Yeah, there could be. But there could be a tragedy on the way home tonight, you know, or driving with her friends in a car at 16. You minimise the risks."
Abby's attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, beating Watson's record, is now over.
After she triggered her emergency beacons in huge seas and losing satelitte phone communication with her team in the US, an expensive international search and rescue operation swung into action to find her.
The French territory of Reunion Island, off Madagascar, sent three ships to her aid and Australia deployed a Qantas passenger jet from Perth to search for her from the sky.
After a four-hour flight to Abby's last known location more than 2,000 miles from both Africa and Australia, the plane crew spotted her boat in an upright position and made contact with her via radio.
The teenager was inside the boat and uninjured with a heater and at least two weeks worth of food. However, the mast had broken off the boat, disabling the craft and effectively ending her record attempt.
A fishing boat is heading to pick her up and is expected to reach her in about 40 hours.
Her father Laurence Sunderland told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "She's fine, the boat's afloat and she's on it. It's huge, fantastic, exciting news.
"She wasn't rattled by the abating conditions that she had during her daytime," he said."Everything seemed to be fine but the calls were dropping in and out."
Abby's support crew had feared that she had become separated from her boat, or that the boat had been flipped upside down in the water, with Abby trapped inside, possibly injured.
The young sailor hit trouble when her 40ft sloop Wild Eyes encountered bad weather in the frigid southern Indian Ocean. She had been battling 25ft waves with 35-knot winds when she lost contact with her family and support crew and her boat had suffered two knockdowns. She was speaking on a satellite phone and said she would call straight back but did not. At the time, the closest ship was 400 miles away.
Abby set sail from Los Angeles on Jan 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping. Her brother Zac briefly held the record at age 17.
She completed the trip's most difficult section, rounding the southern tip of South America, known for treacherous winds and waves.
But she then ran into equipment problems, losing the use of her main autopilot, and had to stop for repairs in South Africa in April.
She decided to continue with her round-the-world voyage anyway, leaving Cape Town on May 21 and reaching the halfway point of her journey on Monday.
After having to abandon her non-stop attempt she said: "I will definitely keep going and whether or not I will make any more stops after this I don't know yet.
"I admit I was pretty upset at first, but their is no point in getting upset. What's done is done and there is nothing I can do about it."
source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
