I want to sail around the world solo before im 21. how?

I encourage the dream. . . It is a great one to have, and a greater one to fulfill. You can certainly learn to sail and indeed sail around the world before your 21. However, you won't be setting any records. To date, several teenagers have already sailed around the world solo. Two in fact (one girl and one guy) I know of are doing it now. My sailing mentor and motivator in fact was Robin Lee Graham. He was the very "first teenager to sail around the world". He was 16 when he left the US, and 21 when he returned. His book "Dove" is in the Library and can be purchased on line. It is a great read for anyone contemplating such a voyage. Regarding Sponsors - if you financially "must" have sponsors to make this voyage - you can forget about getting a Sponsor. Sponsors only come about when they are confident you don't need them. Furthermore, they don't and won't finance such a voyage with any cash. Their financial contributions are limited to such things as painting your boat and supplying new sails (which of course, has their name and logo on it). So believe me, you won't get a Sponsor until the time comes they are completely convinced you and your vessel are in ship shape and ready to go. (That of course means that you will have already incurred all the expense of buying, rigging, equipping, and provisioning your boat.) Sponsors simply are not going to put their name on anything they think might sink, collide with another boat, or in any way end up being an embarrassment to them. Sailing is easy to learn, and it is lots of fun learning. Most of the more experience and accomplished "world sailors" learned to sail by "dinghy sailing". This, you can safely learn to do on your own, and it is the very best way to learn. Just get yourself a small unsinkable sailing dinghy, (you can get one used for less than $500.00) a good PFD, and prepare to get wet, and you're in for the fun of your life. It's the very best way to learn the affects of the wind, waves, current, and others' boat wakes on your vessel, and the same exact principals apply when you get a live a-board size vessel to sail solo around the world. If you really passionately desire to do this you can. My 42 year old son did it with his girlfriend in 2003. He only paid $5,000 for the boat, and only had $14,000 left for his cruise. The two of them were "out there" and indeed took the better part of two years to complete their circumnavigation of the earth. PS. If indeed this is your dream, and you really have a passionate desire to fulfill it. My very best advice to you is to completely forget about any financial help of any kind from anyone. In order to do this - YOU will have to depend on YOU. If you depend on someone else (family, friends, sponsors, etc) to give you the $ to make your dream possible - your dream will never be a reality. That's a fact! The only way you will ever be able to do this, is go to work, save your money, and do it yourself.

Superb answer, @Captain John...

You dont need a great big boat to do this , in fact a smaller one is better , because you'll be going from place to place , not doing it non-stop . Here in the UK at the moment 4 berth GRP sailing cruisers are cheap as chips , £1500 to £3000 for something 19 to 24 foot long , O K they are 30+ years old , a little bit chipped and grubby , but perfectly sound . Thats plenty big enough for all the supplies and spares you'll need . I would get the rigging beefed up with much stronger wire - I buy stainless steel winch wire from a firm here that supplies industrial stuff , because it is certified for hoisting loads the stuff is to a higher standard than marine grade , and we all know how much Chandlers charge . Similarly where it attaches onto the hull , you can get an engineering firm to knock you up simple stronger chainplates and so on from stainless steel to exchange for anything that looks flimsy . You can buy second-hand extra sails for her too , presumably you'll be going in a standard Bermudan rig boat , measure the supplied jib triangle and mast track / boom track lengths and buy sails that will fit or are a bit smaller . Swapping a big sail for a smaller one instead of reefing is ,I think , a better idea ( unless the boat is on its beam ends and you are hanging on by your fingernails ) because when you reef you strain one bit of the sail but not the folded bit , so it will go out of shape quite soon . Also if you have half a dozen varied mainsails aboard and one of these old ones bows to bits in a hooley , then you just bin it and hoist another , who cares ? Beef up your sheets sizes too , and your halliards if you can , and fit double ones if you can . You may need to rip off the masthead fitting and put a bespoke made one on instead . Take a whole sackfull of spare ropes in all the sizes , and a good lot of thin braided nylon cord too . Take your water in seperate plastic containers , fixed down with webbing strapping and wedged in place , inside on the bottom of the boat . That way , if you pop one , you havent lost the lot . It is easier to keep track of your consumption too . And stowed like that they'll act as a non - shifting ballast . Francis Chichester took a lot of his foodstuffs and other supplies in Tupperware boxes ( they bounce and are fairly waterproof and are good for keeping the bog rolls dry - nothing worse than wet bog-rolls ) and again , by subdividing his stores like that he could measure his consumption and if one got wet or went off he hadn't lost it all . As regards Sponsors , it is hopeless asking them for Money , but you might get more success asking for some of what they MAKE or supply , especially if a bashed or scuffed one will do , because firms nearly always have some kicking about unuseably at the back of the warehouse . Moving on to your experience , sailing Oppies for a couple of years at your local club wont cut it . You need to get into a variety of bigger , meaner boats as soon as you can , and some small cabin yachts too - get down to the local yacht club and marinas and start scrounging rides ! You also need to get some seatime in , and in dirty weather as well as in good . At any stage , DONT be afraid to say to yourself " Mistake , I dont like being wet , cold , hungry , seasick , frightened witless " and pack the idea in , because you at least had a go . If you DO like it though , then you have to get your basic Yachtmaster training done , and the navigation training and seamanship stuff . And when you have all that , buy and fit out the boat , and away you go . You'd need to do two or three trial trips first of course , if you made the last one a figure of 8 around New Zealand and everything was all good , then I think you'd be fit to go .

Buy a plastic Yacht and sail it around your bath! Apart from the pretend boat owners and sailors on this site! I will tell you the truth! Any boat whether it is a small sailing dingy or an 40 meter Ocean going craft its going to cost a packet! So unless you have incredibly rich mummy and Daddy or win a bank vault of money! It just wont happen! Right try joining your local sailing club ( And that will not be cheap) and learn to sail! Then when you have gained some experience say two to three years worth! Then join a crews club that supplies the crews for larger yachts1 Then try to gain some qualifications like the RYA ( that's in the UK of which I have been a life long member) there must be an American version When your have got some more years under your belt and before you complain and the pretend sailors squawk IT DOES TAKE TIME TO BE COME A SAFE AND COMPETENT SAILOR INSTEAD OF THE IDIOTS LIKE THE FLASH IN THE PAN RECORD SO CALLED BREAKERS!