Teen Sailor in peril

[Riot]

This is the young woman attempting to solo circumnavigate the globe. Hope she can be rescued. She's 16. Her brother did it at 17. I can't even imagine.

A multi-national search and rescue operation has been launched after emergency beacons onboard 16-year-old Abby Sunderland's boat were triggered when the young American adventurer ran into huge waves hundreds of kilometres from land early this morning.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) says a Qantas Airbus is heading to the search zone, which is about 3,600 kilometres from the WA coast.

AMSA spokeswoman Carly Lusk says conditions in the search area are poor, with 90 kilometre per hour winds and a six-metre swell.

She says the signals coming from the two beacons Sunderland has activated - one attached to her body and another attached to her boat - suggest she is still in the boat.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...section=justin