By Eamonn Brennan
Exploration. It's one of the founding tenets of advanced Western society, but the furthest us coddled modern people ever get is, say, a cab around a big city, or a flight to a safe, sanitized European tourist trap. Few of us still foster that pinnacle of human curiosity. Most of us just stay put.
Not Los Angeles-area 16-year old Zac Sunderland. On May 31, the high school sailor is taking human exploration to an admirable and frightening level, as he'll attempt to become the youngest person to ever sail solo across the world. Yes, you read that right: across the world.
Yep. That's pretty much the whole world.
Logistics, you ask. OK: Zac purchased his boat, a 35-footer, with $6,000 he's saved since he was little. That price is much, much cheaper than the actual cost of his boat, but Sunderland's father is an accomplished yachstman himself, and used his connections to secure a cheap boat for Zac. For navigation and communication, the Sunderlands were able to get a free phone and the likely bill (maybe $50,000, maybe more) paid for through sponsorship, so Sunderland will be able to communicate with his parents from anywhere in the world. And yes, he's bringing his homework with him.
As this is 2008, Sunderland will be blogging the trip on his homepage. I'll be honest: This is the single coolest thing a 16-year old has ever done. (Except for Alexander the Great; wasn't he like 14 when he conquered the world? Whatever.) I couldn't even navigate my comparably tiny hometown -- in my comparably more manageable Cutlass Supreme -- when I was 16. Zac Sunderland will be navigating the entire freaking world. Godspeed, Zac.
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