Many people like adventure. Fine. But sometimes being adventuresome can extend into just plain foolishness.
Sixteen-year-old Abby Sunderland had the goal of being the youngest girl to sail around the world alone in a very small boat. (What were her family members thinking?)
She left Los Angeles County in a little sailboat and got as far as the southern Indian Ocean. Then she encountered waves three stories high, 2,000 miles west of Australia.
Her mast broke!
Almost miraculously, she was picked up by a French fishing boat — and is on her way home, safely.
Sailing is a wonderfully pleasant, and sometimes exciting, sport. But it can be a very dangerous one, too.
We hope Abby keeps on sailing — but that she will have “smoother sailing” from now on.