Hit by a rogue wave off the coast of Mexico, seventeen-year-old Zac Sunderland has been delayed in is retrun to Marina Del Ray, California, after sailing around the world. However, his July 7th ETA would still make him the youngest person to complete a single-handed circumnavigation.
From the Ventura County Star:
When the boat crashed back into the water, Sunderland, 17, said he heard “a bang like a gun going off.”
A quick inspection showed that the boat’s teak bulkhead had cracked.
“It was pretty bad,” Zac’s mother, Marianne Sunderland, said by telephone from her home in Thousand Oaks Tuesday evening. She said the wood on the vessel was wet at the time, making it more susceptible to being damaged from the forces of the waves.
After hearing the bang, Sunderland said he quickly took down the genoa jib to take pressure off of the mast.
Sunderland was able to make it to land in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, thanks to calmer winds and a bit of luck. Still, he remains about 1,500 miles southeast of Marina del Rey.
