Sixteen year old American Abby Sunderland is abandoning her attempt to sail nonstop around the world. The high school junior from Thousand Oaks, California, is heading towards Cape Town, South Africa, where she will have her 40-foot boat's faulty autopilot replaced. The guidance system is essential in order to keep her 40-foot sail boat on track while she's cat napping. This means the title for youngest person to circumnavigate nonstop around the world solo will go to Jessica Watson, the 16 year old Australian who should complete her trip in May. Once Abby's replaced her faulty navigation system, she will head back to sea, and try to become the youngest person to solo-circumnavigate our planet in a sailboat. You can check out Abby's amazing adventure by reading her blog!

If your interested in learning how to sail, visit our library and check out Richard Creagh-Osborne's classic book This Is Sailing. Another good book to read is Sailing for Dummies, by J.J. and Peter Isler. Both do a great job showing you all the basic moves and tricks of sailing, and have nice illustrations. And if you'd like to take classes in how to sail, the Lake Townsend Yacht Club is teaching lessons as well!