Teen solo sailors update- Jessica Watson and Abby Sunderland

by Nancy Knudsen on 18 Feb 2010 Both the sixteen-year-old girls who are attempting non-stop voyages around the world have recently been afflicted with a lack of wind.

While Abby Sunderland from California struggles through the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) or Doldrums as she heads south in the Pacific Ocean, Jessica Watson from Australia has also been experiencing a lack of wind in her crossing of the Atlantic.

Both hope to pick up the pace in the coming days, with Jessica already having some gusts up to 30 knots. Jessica already has the achievement of being the youngest sailor ever to sail solo round Cape Horn, and is an ocean and a half ahead of her rival.

She is approaching her 14,000th mile since she left home, and has just passed the meridian, putting her into the eastern hemisphere. Her next big milestone will be the passing of the Cape of Good Hope, although her chosen route may mean that she won't be sighting that most southerly point in Africa.

While Abby is far behind her Aussie rival, she is in a much faster boat, and easily completing 170-180 miles a day in light winds. Her first challenge is to round Cape Horn successfully. I am sure she is hoping to pass it as easily as Jessica, who had no more than 40 knot winds.

This was fortunate in the comparatively narrow pass between the tip of South America and the continent of Antarctica, as it is an area which frequently experiences up to 100 knots as the weather systems pass.

However, while it might seem that Jessica is in the best position, it could be a close, if unintentional race, to see who holds, or keeps the title of the world's youngest non-stop circumnavigator.

The real point is that Abby is 154 days younger than Jessica, but started 111 days later, still giving her a 43 day advantage. While Jessica, in an boat considerably smaller and slower, must complete her journey in 212 days to reach home before her 17th birthday, which she has stated as an intention, it gives Abby, in a faster more slippery boat, a full 255 days to complete her journey to become the youngest solo non-stop circumnavigator.

Here there lies the promise of a deja vu in reverse for the Sunderland family. Abby's older brother Zac achieved the title of the youngest circumnavigator in a slow cruising boat, only to have it stolen a month or so later when Britain's younger Michael Perham, starting later in a faster racing boat, finished his own circumnavigation. (Neither boy completed the voyage non-stop.)

However, the voyages will not be over until they are over, and there are many miles of ocean to cross for both girls. Abby has already had to stop once for maintenance reasons and restart her non-stop attempt. Her yacht may yet prove flightier and more difficult to handle in a Southern Ocean squall, and Jessica has already been bloodied by several knockdowns, but the tough little boat has survived well.

While Jessica has four months sailing completed, Abby is just settling down after only four weeks (including her leg from Marina del Rey in California). Both girls deny that they are in direct competition and wish the other girl well at every opportunity, but the world will see them in competition, and the sailing world will be watching more and more closely as the months pass.

The next milestone will happen in several days and around 800 miles from now, when Jessica reaches the Southern Ocean again to round the Cape of Good Hope.

We'll all be watching and cheering both girls as they slowly swallow the miles.