[sf11b_p]

There were some reports from her prior to the emergency beacon.

2:23 p.m. Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — A 16-year-old Southern California girl attempting a solo sail around the world is feared in trouble in the southern Indian Ocean after her emergency beacons began signaling.

Family spokesman Christian Pinkston says rescuers began searching for Abby Sunderland on Thursday somewhere between Africa and Australia. He says beacons activated overnight and there has been a loss of communication.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world...if-546206.html

June 06

- The new autopilot is amazing. I can carry way more sail now without him going into standby. The wind is dying down a little right now, but earlier I was making about 12-15 knots so that was pretty fun, she writes in her blog.

Abby is now 925 miles northeast of Prince Edward Island and heading due east.

- The wind should be picking up over the night and I am looking forward to another biggish blow soon. Wild Eyes is doing very well and I am finally getting ahead with all the repairs. My two autopilots seem to be working well - it's such a relief to have reliable pilots, she writes.

http://explorersweb.com/oceans/news.php?id=19418

June 09

Wednesday, June 9, 2010
A Rough Few Days
The last few days have pretty busy out here. I've been in some rough weather for awhile with winds steady at 40-45 knots with higher gusts. With that front passing, the conditions were lighter today. It was a nice day today with some lighter winds which gave me a chance to patch everything up. Wild Eyes was great through everything but after a day with over 50 knots at times, I had quite a bit of work to do.

For most of the day today I had about 20 knots. I had been hoping to get some lighter winds so I could patch up one of my sails. It was still a bit windy out but with more rough weather tomorrow I wasn't sure when my next chance to fix it would be. I managed to take it down, take care of the tear and get it back up in a couple of hours. It wasn't the most fun job I have done out here. With the seas still huge, Wild Eyes was rolling around like crazy. Of course not even half and hour after I got the sail back up the wind dropped from 20 to 10 knots!

My Thrane & Thrane (Internet) system is down again so I am not able to send in my blog. The problem seems a bit more serious than the last few times I have had trouble with it. There is something wrong with the terminal at the back. It is possible that water got inside of it because it has a rough ride back there the past few days with waves crashing right over it. Unfortunately, if that is the problem I probably won't be able to fix it. At least I still have my Iridium phones so I can still call in to my mom and read her my bog for her to post.

The wind is beginning to pick up. It is back up to 20 knots and I am expecting that by midnight tonight I could have 35-50 knots with gusts to 60 so I am off to sleep before it really picks up.
Posted by Abby Sunderland at 9:49 AM
http://soloround.blogspot.com/

NEW YORK, June 10, 2010
(CBS) Updated 2:17 p.m. ET

Abby Sunderland, the California 16-year-old who recently set out to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, may be lost at sea after losing contact with her land-based crew and activating emergency positioning beacons, according to an ABC News report.

Sunderland activated the beacons at around 9 a.m. (ET) Thursday, a crew member told ABC.

A major search effort is underway.

She had been combating 20-plus foot waves and high winds in the Indian Ocean, at least 400 miles from the nearest ship and even farther from land.

The nearest land is the French-controlled Reunion Islands off Madagascar. Authorities there detected Sunderland's emergency satellite signals, the GrindTV blog reported Thursday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6568712.shtml