Shipwrecked teen defends her family after rescue

TEENAGE Californian sailor Abby Sunderland was reunited with her brother yesterday and defended her family against criticism that she had been too young to try to sail around the world alone.

Though disappointed by the loss of her boat in a southern Indian Ocean storm, Abby, 16, is not giving up .

"I'm really disappointed that things didn't go as planned," Abby said after the French patrol boat Osiris, that had picked her up, deposited her ashore on the French island of Reunion off east Africa.

"I knew what to do. I was well-prepared for anything that could have happened," she said, flanked by her 17-year-old brother Zac, who flew to Reunion to meet her.

Her brother took a separate vessel to meet the patrol boat as it sailed into the harbour of Reunion's capital, Saint-Denis, climbing aboard and embracing his sister in an emotional welcome.

The accident on 10 June "ended my trip but it didn't end my dream," Abby said, though she paled and avoided answering when asked if she would try another solo circumnavigation of the globe.

Her parents remained in California, where her mother is soon to give birth to her eighth child.

Abby, whose father is a shipwright and has a yacht management company, set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in her boat, Wild Eyes, on 23 January.

In April, she gave up her hope of becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo when she was forced to stop for repairs. Then, on 10 June, huge waves snapped her boat's mast. She was rescued two days later by a French fishing vessel 2,000 miles west of Australia.

She described the drama of her accident, her surprise when an Australian plane spotted her and how, some 40 hours later, she first caught sight of the French boat.

"The past few months have been the best of my life," she said yesterday.

"I was on an adventure. You can only plan so far."

She thanked everyone who had helped in her rescue, particularly the French and Australian authorities, and acknowledged "the public debate about the cost of rescues".

"I know the United States would do the same for a citizen of any other country as these countries did for me," she said.

She said criticism of her family "is ungrounded". "They have put up with a ton of stuff to help me follow my dream," she said.

As she embarked on her perilous journey in January, Abby's age sparked controversy, with some observers suggesting that the family's principal motive was to create publicity.

In Thousands Oaks, California, her father, Laurence, said the family was thrilled that Abby had arrived safely on Reunion island.

"I am absolutely totally over the moon with how quickly the plane and boat reached Abigail. I think the guys did a fantastic job with the rescue and we are so grateful to them," he said.

Eventually, Abby said, she wants to write a book. And she definitely wants to keep sailing.

For now, though, she's most looking forward to just getting home.

"I hope to have a new brother soon," she said. "And I look forward to seeing my dog."

Abby spent the last ten days aboard the Osiris as it returned from the Kerguelen Islands, a remote and barren patch of rocks in the ocean towards Antarctica, where she had been taken after the rescue.