Zac Sunderland sailing into Cape Town harbour South Africa, after rounding the Cape of Good Hope in January 2009. Image courtesy of sailzac.com (click to enlarge)
Zac arriving home after a 13 month voyage. Images courtesy of simcox.us/ZacSunderland.html (click to enlarge)
LINKS
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Young Zac Sunderland sailed around the world
Posted: Jul 22, 2009 08:21 am EST
(TheOceans.net) When American Zac Sunderland departed on his yacht from Marina del Rey, California on 14 June 2008 he was 16 years old. His dream was to become the youngest person to sail around the world. Thirteen months later, on July 16, 2009 he arrived back at his starting point.
The boat
Zac bought a 26-foot sailboat with money earned from summer jobs. He named the yacht, Intrepid.
His father, Laurence, is a British-trained Shipwright. He invested much time and money for the highest quality reinforcements and equipment said Zac. They worked endless 18-hour days preparing the boat and finally Zac departed on June 14, 2008 from Marina del Rey.
The route
Zac chose to sail from East to West. He explained why, “The water and wind currents are fairly predictable and it’s much easier to go with them that to go into or against them.”
“The route I’m taking is a well traveled route, by both private and commercial vessels. Although, everyone has a slightly different variant here or there, the westward heading route is by far the most common.”
After crossing the Pacific his first port of call was the Marshall Islands (Majuro). Then headed west to Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby), to Australia (Darwin), across the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius (Port Louis) and Madagascar, rounded Cape Agulhas (the southern most cape of South Africa) and the Cape of Good Hope, sailed across the Atlantic, via St Helena, through the doldrums to Trinidad and finally, transiting the Panama Canal back to the Pacific and Marina Del Rey.
Zac explained about the use of a motor through the Panama Canal, “All boats have to motor through the canal. In addition to having a Panamanian skipper, four line handlers must be hired to be on board.”
Navigation
Zac said his first choice for navigating is his RayMarine C70. “It is a radar and chart plotter combination. It has so many functions it is the main instrument I use for navigating.”
“I am using C-maps electronic charts that are interfaced with a GPS signal so when I look at the C70 I can see my position (lat/long) in the ocean and how fast I am going, whether I am on course, etc. I also have the computer navigation program MaxSea.”
“I also have paper charts with parallel rules that I can plot my position on using a handheld GPS.”
[…] “I also have on board about 20 cruising guides of the various areas where I will be sailing. These books tell you where the reefs are, what the weather patterns are and how and when to go where you want to go.”
“I also have on board Pilot Charts of the world's oceans. Each chart shows prevailing weather patterns – wind, currents, wave heights, visibility, surface pressure, sea surface temperature etc.”
American Zac Sunderland departed on his yacht from Marina del Rey, California on 14 June 2008 when he was 16 years old. His dream was to become the youngest person to sail around the world. Thirteen months later, on July 16, 2009 he arrived back home at Marina del Rey after sailing around the world from East to West on his 26-foot sailboat.
From an early age Zac sailed with his parents and was partly raised on a boat. He is the oldest of 7 children and was home-schooled.
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