© AP Photo/Richard HartogAbby Sunderland, 16, looks out from her sailboat, Wild Eyes, as she leaves for her world record attempting journey at the Del Rey Yacht Club.
Abby Sunderland of Thousand Oaks sailed into the sunny Pacific Ocean on Saturday after being delayed a few days by a series of violent storms in California.
Her boat-builder father, Laurence, along with other family members and fiends, cheered at the Del Rey Yacht Club as they watched the 40-foot craft called Wild Eyes depart.
She plans to be at sea for five or six months. She will be alone but able to communicate via satellite telephone and a blog.
The current record holder is 17-year-old Mike Perham of Britain, who took the mark last year from Abby's then-17-year-old brother Zac.
This is quite a feat for young person as well as adults, she will learn much while at sea about sailing and herself. While to some this may be odd, there are on any given day hundreds of people sailing on the seas on many similar and smaller vessels. Families, couples, "single-handers" there is quite a community of such people. It may take a while, but somewhere in the middle of the ocean on a brilliant star lit night she may realize that she is sailing on an ocean, on a planet, that is basically sailing through the universe.