New York and Catalina

Hey everyone,

Tons to write about. Just last week I took a trip to New York. We spent about 5 days there. It was a lot of fun. We got there pretty late the first day after a long 5 hour plane ride. I know its not all that long a ride, but I was having trouble sitting still. Of course I was supposed to be up at 4:15am ready to go to the airport... but around 4am, when my alarm went off, just hit the snooze botton and dozed back off. Beeping clocks do not have the same affect as an auto pilot alarm or the wind. I need to find a

n alarm that sounds like my Watch Commander or auto pilot alarm, then maybe I'll get up when it goes off!!

Anyways, I did make it to the Burbank Airpo

rt in time and even ended up having to wait around for a little while. It was an interesting airport, one I had never flown out of before. There were people sleeping all over the fl

oor... it appeared they had spent the whole night there as I was pretty much the first person to walk in the door when they opened. After landing in New York, I took a taxi to go and drop my stuff at the hotel. There wasn't too much time after that with getting out of the airport and the traffic on our way to the hotel. We just walked around a bit, went to get some dinner and then headed back to the hotel to download all the hundreds of pictures that had

been taken in our short walk and then get to sleep.

Next morning we were up early and off to see the Statue of Liberty! Turned out when we got there, there was about a three hour wait... we decided against waiting around for three hours in the awfully hot weather and reserved tickets for the next day. We moved on to what we had origonally planed to do the next day.

We ended up going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a huge museum! It turned out to be way more intresting than I was expecting. We spent almost six hours walking around in there. Somehow even with my slightly short attention span, I

enj

oyed every hour of it. Though by the end I was good and ready to move on.

Next, we headed over to the Guggenheim Museum. It was interesting. The art there was a little bit odd, I mean, I know that there are all sorts of art and people all express themselves differently, but a video of somebody scrubing a skeleton with a sponge? Somehow I didn't see what the

artist was trying to portray in that, but hey, at least the guy used soap! The building, on the other hand was amazing, a bit hard to describe so I'll just post some pictures of it. Only spent about an hour or two there and then went out and walked around Central Park for a bit. Then we hopped on a train and went to see Grand Central Station. Tired out from

everything that day we headed back with loads more pictures, to get changed and go

to dinner.

Day number three we went out to go see the Statue of Liberty again. This time with our reserved tickets it only took a few minutes to get

through the line even though I had to go through more security than at the airport! I was pretty amazed by the size of the Statue of Liberty. This was my second time to New York, but my first time to the Statue of Liberty and it was really great to see. We then headed over to see the Twin Towers site. I was too young t

o rem

ember when it happend, but it was very neat to see. Most of the day was over by then. It was quite a good day. We saw a lot and had a good time.

Day number four. We didn't really have any plan for this day yet, but it turned out to be my favorite day of the whole trip. Got started a little later than the past few days and headed over to the Museum of Modern Art. While some modern art I have a little trouble understanding, there was a

lot of really

cool stuff in this museum. After that we walked around in Central Park a bit and

then headed over to the top of the Rock. I went there last time I was in New York, but that last trip was all a bit of a blur, so it was nice to get up there again.

The next day was also a very good day. With no real plan but that ever present need to be around marinas and if not sailing at least being able to see boats, we headed down to the marina. I was very suprised by how small the marina we saw was, but I guess there was probably more then one. While we were down looking at the America II, an older America's Cup boat, a few guys came down and after chatting for a bit and taking a picture in front of the America II with her skipper we learned that the other two guys we were talking to worked at the USMMA Sailing Foundation in NY. They were working hard on recruiting me for their sailing team at the school and offered to take me on a tour of the bay. It was a nice ride until one of the engines broke down... I swear I had

nothing to do with it, though it seems to be that I am a bad luck charm around boats! We pulled up to a boat next to two tall ships that belonged to the school. I would have loved to look around, but had a plane to catch, and so, we said good bye, reassured the guys that I would check out the college online and were off to the airport.

It had been a crazy few days and I slept most of the plane ride home. I spent one day at home and then was off again. Lisa Gizara, from Gizara Arts got married on the beach at Catalina Island. Lisa has done so much for my trip and for my brother's trip as well. She started way back with the very beginings of Zac's trip and stuck with us right to the end of mine. Now after all we've been through together, she has become a very good family friend. She is an amazing photographer and many of the pictures you see of my trip and of Zac's were taken by her. It was great to be able to be there at her wedding. It was really the most beautiful spot in a bay just a little ways down from Avalon.

We spent several days at Catalina. My brother Toby and I flew over with Bill from Team Abby. Zac sailed over in Intrepid, and Dad and my sister, Jessie, sailed over with Pieter from Team Abby (and Team Zac). I would have loved to sail, but because of the New York trip, I wasn't back in time to catch a ride with any friends that were sailing over.

On the second day at Catalina, Bill and I flew out over Zac in his boat to get some air footage of him. It was a tough job, keeping the camera focused in the shaky little plane. Being zoomed right in so I could see a little detail didnt help much, and after an hour of looking through the camera lens while circling pretty sharply around Zac's boat, I wasn't

feeling so good. I figure it's all good experience. Since Bill is a camera guy he has been taking me along on a few jobs and I have been learning a lot about all that lately. I

am going to be helping out again on a job tomorrow, so that should be fun.

Anyways, back to Lisa and her wedding. To Lisa, we love you Lisa; thank you so much for everything you have done for me and my family!

Well, that about wraps up my blog for today. Don't have too much going on in the next couple of weeks. I'll be speaking here and there at Yacht Clubs and schools, working hard on the book, and starting up school. Since I won't be doing too much, I'll make an effort to blog a bit more.

Abby

Young Adventurers

Me, Joey Machado, Zac and Jordan Romero

Hey everyone,

I'm sitting in the airport right now about to head out to New York for a few days. Zac and I had a pretty awesome weekend. We went up to Lake Arrowhead and met with Jordan Romero and Joseph Machado. Jordan is the youngest person to climb Mount Everest and Joe rode his bike 3,000 miles across America to raise money for under privileged youth. They were great people and we had a good time out there.

I'm really glad I got the chance to meet both of them.

Life has been pretty busy here. We have been working hard on the book and are hoping to have it finished and in print before Christmas. More info to come!

Abby

Adventures in San Francisco

Hi Everyone! Its been awhile since I last posted, been pretty busy over here. But I've got a ton of pictures from the past few trips. These are some of the pictures from San Francisco. We had a great time there seeing everything there is to see in just two days!

Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park

USS Pampanito Submarine

Awesome little sailing demonstration at the Exploratorium Museum

Little Sail boat in San Francisco Bay

Fisherman's Wharf

San Francisco houses

The Golden Gate Bridge

Another shot of the Golden Gate Bridge

Cable Car

Riding on the Cable Car

Went kitty shopping at the shelter across the road when we got back to Camarillo Airport

Lots of cute kittens, but I didn't end up getting one, yet :)

San Francisco roads

My next boat! :) The Balclutha Launched 1886

"No one who has not been there can imagine the strain on the captain in trying to get around Cape Horn... This passage in the Balclutha was about my hardest time..."

Captain Alfred Durkee, Master 1894-1899

Good Luck Laura

Hey everyone,
I've got a ton of great photos from the past few days! Been to the beach a few times, had a small party for the guys on my team, and got to fly down to San Diego to check out some repairs on a friend of a friend's boat! It's been a lot of fun but, I'm sorry to say I don't have the pictures ready yet, but I will do soon!!

The main reason for this blog today is Laura Dekker. Most of you have probably heard about the young 14 year old Dutch girl that wanted to sail around the world alone. She's been through a lot lately with the Dutch courts keeping her from going. I heard this morning that they are now allowing her to go.

I admire Laura's spirit - it would be hard not to for anyone who has followed her story. I'd just like to wish Laura the best of luck and a word of advice from a sixteen year old sailor(though I doubt she needs it) have fun! Live life the best you can. There's no time like now so take all the opportunities you get.

Abby

Congrats Allesandro di Benedetto

I just heard this morning that Alessandro di Benedetto has finished his circumnavigation! He and I emailed back and forth a little bit while I was out on the water. I'd like to send a BIG congratulations to him. He has set the record for the smallest boat to sail non-stop around the world. More than once I was surfing down waves bigger than his whole boat and wondering how he managed in his tiny 21ft boat. I can only imagine how great it must be for him to have completed his goal and I'm very happy for him!


Well, on to everything back home. Things have been going well over here. We're having a BBQ at the house for my support team which will be great. I went from talking to them most days to not speaking to them at all and I miss them all quite a bit. I'm really looking forward to seeing them tonight. I'll post some pictures of it later.

I'm working on getting my permit and occasionally thinking about school. So nothing too exciting is going on - just normal life.

Abby

More News from Home

I went down to the marina today with my dad and Zac. It felt good to be up early and to be by the water all day. It's been hard at times for me to be home. I need some sort of goal. While things like writing a book and speaking here and there are great it's so different from what I have been doing for so long. I'm sure I'll come up with some new project. I have been taking a look at some of the classes that I need to graduate and believe it or not I've even been thinking a bit about college. It pretty exciting to think about, but a little daunting as well. High school and college are a far cry from sailing.



Zac took his boat up to Channel Islands Harbor today. http://www.ci-boatshow.com/ There is a boat show there this weekend and it happens to be right around the one year anniversary of Zac's trip. It is called the Ventura County Boat Show. So, we're all pretty excited about that.

The collaborator for my book is here to meet the family and me and to discuss some things about the book so we can get started soon. They are planning to have us finish the book quickly. I may even be able to get it done before school starts which will be nice because I am going to have to take a few extra classes to catch up.

My friend and team member, Bill Bennett, flew my little brother, Toby, and I up to Monterey a few days ago. A lot of people say that flying is like sailing. I don't really see much of a similarity. I did get some good pictures and have a fun time.

We had lunch, checked out the Monterey Bay Aquarium before heading home. It was a nice flight, but of course my camera memory card was full right as the sun started to go down. All in all it was a very fun day.



Abby

Settling In

It's been a little while since I last wrote. It feels a like there isn't much to write about - no weather to report, no new sail plans or big course changes, no auto pilot problems either. There are some things coming up that I am really looking forward to. I had been planning to talk at a local mall and am still going to be doing that. I don't have all of the details yet, but I have to say that I'm even more excited about a new project that has come up. There were two ladies that came by yesterday from our church. They work in a jail ministry with young women, girls even younger then me, all the way up to 20 or so. They mentioned that it might be a good place for me to talk. I guess I'm so excited about it because I feel like I could really help. None of the details have been ironed out yet, but I really can't wait and hope I'm able to do some good there.


Now, I thought every body knew, but it seems a few of you haven't heard. My new brother, little Paul-Louis Charles Sunderland, was named after the captain of the Ile de la Reunion, the French fishing vessel that picked me up off of Wild Eyes. It was getting close to his due date and still no name had been decided on. Everybody called him Charlie - my family always comes up with some sort of interesting nickname for everyone. That is the story behind little Paul's name. My parents really liked the name, and under the circumstances it didn't seem a bad idea at all. So, to Paul-Louis La Moigne of the Ile de la Reunion, thanks for giving us a hand naming our newest edition!


A lot of people have been asking about Wild Eyes. She was still afloat when I boarded the Ile de la Reunion. She could end up on a beach in Western Australia at some point, but it's just a guess, we don't know for sure. She would have to be very lucky to wash up on a beach, and not get smashed on the rocks or something like that. While I do wish that she would be found and fixed up, its not all that likely she will be found.


Well, I think that's all for today, thank you all for your continued support, and a very, very late happy 4th of July to you all!


Abby


CORRECTION:

Abby's father, Laurence Sunderland, told the Today show on Monday June 28th that the recent Newport Bermuda Race had lost a boat, he was relying on an erroneous USCG report. The USCG has now issued a retraction at http://uscgsar-onscene.blogspot.com/

The Bermuda Race Organizing Committee has asked Laurence to correct his statement.

From the the Journal of US Coast Guard Search & Rescue:

08 July 2010
CORRECTIONS & AMPLIFICATIONS
The Newport Bermuda Race 2010 commenced on June 18, 2010 and On Scene is happy to report that all race participants successfully completed the race without incident. The On Scene Weekly SARSAT Rescue Report dated Wednesday June 23, 2010 incorrectly stated that the sailing vessel associated with the June 15th SARSAT Rescue was participating in the Newport Bermuda Race 2010 when high winds caused the vessel to lose its mast. Many thanks to the On Scene subscribers who pointed out this inaccuracy.