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Abby Sunderland: ‘ghost boat’ is rediscovered at sea nine years later
Jan 4, 2019ADELAIDE, South Australia – After being abandoned in the Indian Ocean for almost 9 years, a yacht belonging to round-the-world-sailor Abby Sunderland has been found in Southern Australia on New Year’s Eve.
The sailing boat went missing in 2010 when 16-year-old Abby was trying to set a sailing record and become the youngest person to go around the globe. But a storm hit her vessel on June 10 2010.
On June 12, Sunderland who was just 16 years old at the time, was rescued by a French commercial fishing vessel. She was rescued more than 2000 miles (3,220km) from the coasts of both Australia and Africa. This is after being stranded for 48 hours.
The overturned vessel was spotted by a spotting tuna plane of the Coast of Kangaroo Island. A PolAir helicopter together with two commercial fishing vessels was sent to investigate the yacht.
The yacht which is commonly known as Wild Eyes stills bears its distinctive yellow coloring and large painted eyes.
In a statement to Australian media, Ms Sunderland admitted that the retrieval of her boat bought back both good and not so good memories.
