What do you think of a 16 year old girl attempting to sail solo around the world?

I think it should be internationally forbidden for a child to skipper any vessel alone. The dangers at sea are well-known and not to be faced lightly by adults. It's simply not acceptable to allow children out there alone - no matter how experienced they might be.

If she has the skills and a team to protect her........... Go for it. Additionally, why are you so interested?

i am a 12 year old sailboat racer and if i had four more years of experience i could sail around the world

is it the fact that the sailor is a "girl" or is it because the sailor is "16" that causes you problems. Robin Graham began his successful solo sailing trip around the world at age 16. Tania Aebi began her successful solo sailing trip around the world at age 18. with proper preparation and training a 16 year old is very capable of sailing around the world (either boy or girl). it is sad when ever a life is lost at any age, but your loss has no bearing on what may happen to a sailor at sea. hope this helps

She is more qualified than many others who have gone before. I share disquiet about this as I would find it hard to consider allowing my 16 yo Daughter to do this - but it's not my decision - could never be. Despite a shaky start we will see soon enough if it was a correct decision. The backers of this project are not fools or idiots - do not under-estimate the quality or numbers of supporters of this voyage. http://www.sail-world.com/CruisingAus/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=61691&SRCID=0&ntid=10&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0 While personally a little unsure of the attempt, on some other levels I admit I'm jealous. This is one of the few true solo adventures left, and a surprisingly select few (70 or so) have ever done it. Ever. I won't - need to talk too much. I am very sorry that you have lost people close to you, I hope you remember good things about them. Keep thinking about them so they never leave us. Edit - Tony Bullimore is a completely different and totally un-related issue. Ex. Navy friends have said on several occasions that type of exercise is incredibly useful to Naval skills and procedure, and do you think that a defence budget should only be for war and killing? How else do you get the real skills and information for improvements in rescue activities? I am a rescue skipper and a rescue attempt costs real money - guess what, if we have a quiet year and don't do a lot (yay!) our budget gets cut accordingly, so I feel your point is more political than practical. Rescue of mariners in strife is an ancient and almost universal activity by any nation adjacent to navigable water. Regarding age - I am much more interested in capability than how old you are. I rescue mostly older people in boats - do I assume after 25 that boating skills are harder to learn? I'd have to if I based my opinion on my little bit of experience. And yeah - this is a hot topic in the sailing community, just look at sailinganarchy.com - the consensus is that the ultimate youngest skipper will end up being in an artificial womb or something..... At 16 in most cultures a girl is considered capable of legal marriage, and is expected to produce children, run a house-hold, and perform all 'marital duties' - sailing around the world alone might be an easier option. I think there are more important things to get upset about, but I also respect your right to an opinion. Good luck.

I can't improve on ricsudukai's answer except to comment on the collision with the tanker. This collision does not necessarily mean that the girl was at fault, and indeed there are many examples of highly experienced mature adult yachtsmen who have suffered collisions with ships and with fishing boats. At best, the problems of yachts in the vicinity of shipping are complex. Although the ship has the right of way in restricted waters (technically, if she is constrained by her draught), in open water it is the yacht which has the right of way, - but that presupposes that the ship's personnel can see her. Leaving aside the well documented examples of ships (and also fishing boats) proceeding on autopilot with no-one on watch, which is of course illegal, there are genuine problems for a ship's officer in detecting something as small as a yacht far enough ahead to be able to take avoiding action. So for self protection most yachtsmen will normally try to avoid ships even when the ship is the give-way vessel, but there are occasions when even that is difficult; if the yacht is becalmed, or under press of heavy weather, or if the ship alters course. One standard technique that is recommended if one appears to be heading for a collision with a ship is to call them up on the VHF, and one account that I read suggested that this young lady attempted to do just that but got no response. That too is not unknown; there are all sorts of possible reasons, and indeed I myself have more than once had occasion to call up a ship but got no response. So don't cast blanket blame on her just because she was involved in a collision, which may in fact have been the fault of the tanker. Beyond that, I second ricsudukai's excellent answer.

her choice and her parents fools can no one is in charge of any persons choice if she wants to go let her parents want her to go let them done of your busniess

I completely disagree with Mr. Shaw - tankers are large silent death traps for yachter - "fault" doesn't even come into play - a sailor must avoid them - tankers can't avoid sailors. Any sailor going into a shipping lane must know this and be alert to it. There are GPS/internet-based shipping tracking devices that sailors can use (in addition to radar). As far as this child going around the world, I think insurance is the best way to deal with it - or make them post a bond in favor of any rescue effort. I don't know of a legal theory that would prevent them.

I don't think anyone that young has the experience necessary to accomplish such an extremely difficult trip. I also don't think there's any way to prevent her from getting in a boat and trying. If she dies, well, her parents were the ones who let her go. They're paying for her stuff and supporting her, after all.