Sailor Abby Sunderland, 16, in Cabo San Lucas for vessel repairs

Abby Sunderland arrived in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in pouring rain on Tuesday to get some  repairs done on her 40-foot sailboat, "Wild Eyes."

The 16-year-old reported that the vessel is having equipment issues -- the wind gauges have stopped working and the solar panels and wind generators on board are not creating enough power to keep up with energy needs.

The Thousand Oaks teen was met by her father, Laurence, as well as members of Team Abby, who flew down to lend a hand with the necessary repairs.

In the meantime, Abby has been keeping busy -- when not working on the boat -- posting pictures and updates on her blog. Here's an excerpt from her latest post:

I got in Tuesday afternoon in the pouring rain.

The work on the boat is going as well as can be expected. We couldn't get a whole lot done on Tuesday because it was getting late and raining pretty hard, but six o'clock this morning we were all hard at work and luckily the weather has been sunny and warm all day!

The dock master of the marina was very excited to have us here and is letting us stay in an apartment over the office so we can be closer to the marina.

I met another young sailor today, Emily, and it has been really great hanging out with her a little. So few younger people sail and even less girls do. Its nice to get to know people who are doing similar things and talking to someone who knows what it is like.

The boats' power systems will be shored up before Abby departs southward for Cape Horn. Upgrades are expected to take several days, but she plans to get back underway as soon as possible.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Abby Sunderland in port in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Credit: Ted Caloroso

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Comments

[dno]

Vacuous and Nincompoop sounds like somebody has been hitting the triple word score.
A support team that flies down to Wabo Cabo to make repairs on the forty foot custom sail boat with so many amenities that the solar panels were not able to keep up with the demand.
What ever happened to the sextant and compass.
The first man to circumnavigate the world was an old salty from the eithteenth century who built his own vessel and supported himself by hauling small cargoes between stops. Using little more than a tin clock and sextant. No support team, no GPS, and no IPODS.
That aside she is a 16 y.o. on a journey fraught with danger like falling asleep in a shipping lane etc.
Many children of the affluent never leave Bel air
One more Kardashian story and I will turn this boat around we will go straight back to the dock.
You think I am kidding little Missy well you just try me and see.
Oh yes I will.

[Lou Bricano]

Oh God, Alexandra, are you TRYING to be dense? "Abby Sunderland's expedition would be interesting even if she were from a middle or low class family." You nincompoop: if she were middle or low [sic] class, she wouldn't have a 40' sailboat, now, WOULD she? Have you ever seen society page photo spreads of the debutante balls or Quinceañeras of families living on $30,000 a year in Pacaoima, Alexandra?

You're missing the point entirely. It's not that I don't admire someone trying to do something difficult when that difficult thing is worthy of our attention. I do have serious problems with people like Laurence Sunderland using his daughter (and earlier his son) to try to garner publicity for his yacht management company (http://www.sunyachts.net/) by exposing them to serious and needless danger. More than that, I hate that the L.A. Times is Sunderland's willing accomplice in all this. This simply is not a news story. Someone - a PR agent, or perhaps Sunderland or his wife - is contacting the Times every so often to try to get another story in the paper. These stories are essentially FAKE. But you, Alexandra, being a gullible and credulous nincompoop, lap them up as if this is meaningful news. It just isn't.

[Ron]

Go Jessica Watson go.

[Jody Thompson]

I am confused about her latest blog entry. Is she leaving Cabo today or is she spending another week there, even though all the repairs are completed? If she stays another week, I consider that cheating. She is taking a vacation on Cabo, not sailing.

Is she planning on stopping at every island so she can take a break from sailing by herself?

[Lou Bricano]

To Kevin, who commented yesterday at 3:56PM: You capture what is wrong with the Times perfectly. The houses spotlighted in the real estate section ("hot property") are always absurdly expensive and owned by "famous" people. The cars reviewed by Dan Neil, the Times' very own Sandra Tsing Loh (the most self-absorbed "journalist" today), are always the expensive wastes driven by the same famous people in the houses. The restaurants gushingly reviewed by the cardboard-palate food critic S. Irene Virbila are always outrageously pricey monuments to style over substance in West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, maybe occasionally downtown.

Why does the Times, ostensibly the newspaper of record for Southern California, devote so much space to the doings of oh-so-trendy rich people? Another comment to the vacuous jimmee: I don't begrudge rich people who have earned their wealth any part of their success. If they earned it in honest effort, I admire them for their success. What I DON'T like is the Times fawning over them all the time. I don't appreciate the Times' attitude that rich people's lives are intrinsically more interesting and worthy of the public's attention than the lives of anyone else.

[Patrick]

To everyone on here complaining that this isn't news: Neither is the Superbowl. Yet, I don't think anyone will post a comment complaining that the Superbowl isn't news when Sunday evening rolls around and the NFL champion is splattered across the front page of every major newspaper and news website in the U.S.

To everyone on here complaining that they don't want to read about privileged, rich people: I presume you don't follow sports, never watch them on television, nor ready about them in the Times. I also presume that you avoid political scandals like the plague and loathe entertainment awards shows. Last time I checked, all of those topics get great coverage in the Times and in most newspapers.

The truth is, someone embarking on a solo journey around the globe, in a sailboat, is still news. Especially if that person is 16 years old and a female. This doesn't happen every day. Also, it's of particular interest to the LA Times because Abby's journey, like her brother's, was based out of Los Angeles county.

So, please, think about what you're saying before commenting. If you're just jealous that she's doing something with her young life, then go out and have your own adventure.

[Alexandra]

@Lou Bricano: Abby Sunderland's expedition would be interesting even if she were from a middle or low class family. How wealthy her parents may be is irrelevant to the story. You don't need to have money or connections to get attention when you break a world record like Abby Sunderland is planning to.

[marty and Susy Schreiber]

I pray for Abby when she gets down around Cape Horn. I am a US Merchant Mariner and experienced the full wrath of the South Pacific on trying to enter the Straits of Magellan on the 1,000 ton sea going tug "Vigilant" during February 1977. We had two Chilean Pilots on board (required) and we were towing a jack-up- oil rig to Corpus Christi, Texas. We had one shot at making the narrow entrance during a Force 9 Beaufort . The bridge of our tug boat was 37.5 feet above the water the wind was blowing the tops off the waves. Down in the troughs we were looking up 40 to 60 feet at the crests. 3 men were on the winch with axes, ready to cut the "tow" loose. I had slipped a wetsuit underneath my uniform....no way was I goin' down with this ship! The captain told me to go out on the starboard bridge wing and look out . The radar was set close and was not working well, the Chilean pilots were urging more power from the engine room.. a pair of Stork Diesels were about to shrapnel and the Louisiana engineer refused to "throttle up" So Abby, I pray for you girl....God bless your trip and keep you safe in His arms. (The "Vigilant" and it's jack-up-oil-rig did just barely make the entrance to the Straits and the peaceful fjord-like escape from Hell...but I twisted my ankle skate boarding the cobbles in Punta Arenas and in the hospital met Ernest Hemingway's "model" for "The Old Man and the Sea"...another story) Sincerely, and that's the Truth, Marty Schreiber

[Chump]

balzac!!

[Kevin]

I'm with Lou Bricano - I've got nothing against this girl, but every LA Times story about homes is about huge, fancy homes (even when it is about small homes, they are still super expensive), every story about personal finance profiles people with much more money than your average Angeleno.

I'd like to hear a real story about perseverence and overcoming obstacles, like janitors struggling to earn decent wages and send their kids to college, or teachers struggling to teach kids in overcrowded classrooms. Ultimately, this comes down to a question of where do we want our newspapers to be prioritizing limited reporting resources. They've chosen to prioritize a rich kid sailing on Daddy's Yacht. Ho-hum, indeed.

[spatter]

I am confused (big surprise): Is she not doing this trip by herself, or is she one of those people who calls themselves as "we" instead of "I"?

[Lou Bricano]

"jimmee" fits you just fine, jimmee - like a glove, in fact.

I don't think I'm interested in taking any lectures about success from the likes of you, jimmee. You are a marginal.

[Daimond-x]

You go Abby! Congratulations to you and your parent, Zac as well.

How will we ever know who we really are if we don't strive to be the best we can be?

I can't wait until your little brother makes an attempt. We are behind you all the way.

[James Sullivan]

To Louie Bricano: That's Mr. Sullivan to you.

[mooremedia]

Not surprizing that her trip started off this way. Look at what happened to Mike Perham last year. He was underway for a week (from England) then had to spend a month in the Canary Islands waiting for parts, repairs, etc. Better to catch these things now, than later in rougher & more remote waters.

Looking forward to seeing her enter Marina Del Ray this summer - what an increadible day that will be for the Sunderland family.

[Mark]

Ahh, I see, not enough electricity for the 40 footer. Maybe that plasma screen was a bit too much of a luxury.
I wish my parents could have been more "supportive" of my independent adventures. I had to get a job and work for my entertainment.

[clint torris]

I wouldn't care if there were ten people on board. She got off of her a$$ and did it. That counts. Those of you that criticize her effort are the ones that wouldn't get off their a$$es unless the house was on fire. Good luck young lady.

[Lou Bricano]

I'm hard-working and reasonably successful, jimmee, but the L.A. Times doesn't fawn over me or my kids. Nice try, jimmee - this isn't about rewarding hard work and success, and you know it full well. This is about an indulged child of rich people getting rock star treatment merely because her daddy is rich and well connected.

[Neil]

The comments about this specific post, and about the Sunderland family's sailing exploits as a whole, are completely off-base.

All of this public 'concern' over the Sunderlands letting their two 16-year-old children engage in such an activity is, while understandable, completely misplaced. Being concerned for Abby is one thing. Her journey involves risk. However, she is an experienced sailor. Far more experienced at sailing than most 16-year-olds are at driving. Calling this child endangerment is just dumb. Mentioning child protective services in a comment (Nate) even more so.

Why don't we call up child protective services every time a parent puts their kid on a high-school or college football field, where injury is practically a certainty? Why don't we do the same when we put our teenagers behind the wheel of a car on a California highway? Life involves risk. Some people interpret engaging that risk as adventure. Clearly, so does Abby and her brother Zac.

The Sunderlands, by supporting their children in fulfilling their dreams at a young age, are setting up Zac and Abby for future success. After all, what could be so much more challenging in life than solo circumnavigating the globe? I don't think either child will have any crises of confidence later in their adulthood or their professional careers. They'll have tested themselves in a way that few young adults will ever experience. They'll have mastered the oceans and rounded the globe at an age when most kids are still looking for their first paying jobs. Now, that's an accomplishment!

Godspeed, Abby.

[James Sullivan]

To Lou Brianco: those of us who are hard-working and successful like to read articles about people like ourselves occasionally. But don't worry the LA Times will still print many articles about people just like you.

[Lou Bricano]

Shame on those who actually wish ill on the girl. You may think what she's doing is ill-considered (it is) and that her parents are derelict for not only allowing but enabling her to do it (they are), but that's no reason to wish harm to befall her.

What's a disgrace about the girl and her parents is, they're not doing this simply for the quiet satisfaction of succeeding at doing something difficult. They CLEARLY relish - in fact, live for - the publicity...and the money. Just check out the depressingly slick web site for the girl's older brother, Zac, who completed his own circumnavigation last summer (zacsunderland.com). Their father builds sailboats commercially, and what better way to advertise his products than to have his kids sail them around the world at tender ages, and get plenty of free L.A. Times advertising in the form of "news stories"?

What I want to know is, whom does Laurence Sunderland know at the Times? Where is the "readers' representative" on this? This is so CLEARLY not a legitimate news story.

[Darren]

That's unfortunate that she's run into problems with the vessel but it's good that her family was there to assist her with that. It still counts that she can travel on the voyage solo so long as the boat isn't moving with another passenger in it. Go for it Abby!

[Darren]

That's unfortunate that she's running into problems with the boat but thanks to the help she's receiving, it will still count for her voyage around the world by herself.

[BaDaBing]

WHO GIVES A CRAP...

[Mark C]

What happened to you Nate? Isn't there enough spirit left in you to cheer on someone who is embracing her life? You're so glib in your judgement of these people who still have the courage and purpose it seems you've traded in for a cliche, "responsible" attitude to life. Everyone has a fate. Not everyone has what it takes to engage their destiny.