AP Interview: U.S. teen sailor unfazed by ordeal

The 16-year-old California girl whose dream of sailing solo around the world was dashed by massive waves that snapped her mast says she still loves sailing and hopes one day to circumnavigate the globe.

In an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Abby Sunderland also defended her parents, who have come under fierce criticism since she hit 3-story-high waves Thursday in a remote part of the Indian Ocean. The accident triggered a tense, 20-hour-long search and her eventual rescue by a French fishing boat.

Sunderland acknowledged that her adventure “can look pretty crazy. But the thing is, those people don’t know me. And if they did, they wouldn’t be criticizing my age.”

She spoke by phone from the remote Kerguelen Islands, near Antarctica.