Wild Ride for Zac Sunderland into Cocos Keeling
With a snapped boom, a broken tiller and continuing fuel problems, teen solo sailor Zac Sunderland, trying to become the youngest ever circumnavigator, limped into Cocos Keeling in the eastern Indian Ocean on Wednesday. The last few days before making landfall at the Australian territory, which has a population of just 600, have been tough for Zac as he battled 25 knots winds and 10-foot seas. 
'Zac Sunderland - now not in such calm seas as he arrives into Cocos Keeling'
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'Two nights ago his tiller broke coming off a big wave,' Zac's mom Marianne said. 'It happened, of course, in the middle of the night while it was raining. He managed to jury-rig it and was making decent progress with the tiller autopilot occasionally slipping off. At about 5am, the autopilot came off the tiller, he jibed and his boom broke clean in half!'
Zac managed 'to pull down everything and is sailing under genoa alone, making good progress. He has radioed Customs and was also able to hear a few boats in the anchorage, so will likely have help when he arrives. It's been a wild ride in the Indian Ocean.'
Attempting to become the youngest person to sail around the globe, 16-year-old Zac from Los Angeles, needs to make the necessary repairs as quickly as possible so that he avoids the upcoming cyclone season.
However, the island consists only of a Malay community and an Australian administration community. There are no marinas, no repair facilities on the island. Anything required will need to be flown from Australia.
Sailing on his 36-foot yacht Intrepid, Zac's next port of call will be Mauritius, east of Madagascar, and will mark the half-way mark in his voyage.
Zac left LA on June 14 and sailed to Hawaii, then on to Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands, where he spent a week. From Majuro, Zac headed for Darwin, Australia, but fuel problems forced to stop in Papua New Guinea. '(This was) my least favorite part of the trip,' he wrote. 'Even though I had some great people there assisting me, I felt stuck there because of my engine problems and the limited parts and service available there. Every extra day I spent there was a day I could not spend exploring Australia.'
Zac will turn 17 on November 29, when he's scheduled to still be at sea. 'But I'm going to bend that schedule and spend it in port, maybe Durban,' Zac told the LA Times' Pete Thomas. 'I don't want to be in the middle of the ocean on my birthday.'
Australia's David Dicks currently holds the record for the being the youngest person to sail around the world, having finished his circumnavigation in 1996 aged 18 years and 41 days.
by Karen Earnshaw, Pacific Magazine/Sail-World 
Paynesville, VIC
