Rescued,US teen sailor says days adrift were crazy

Sunderland,16,said she was safe and sound in comments on her official blog on Saturday,which she wrote aboard the fishing vessel.

I cant write much now as I am typing on a French key pad as well as trying to stay seated in a bouncy fishing boat, Sunderland wrote. The long and the short of it is,well,one long wave,and one short mast, she wrote,promising to provide more details later.

Crazy is the word that really describes everything that has happened best, she wrote.

Sunderland left the US in January on a widely criticised attempt to circumnavigate the world. Her yacht ran into trouble on Thursday as it was pounded by huge waves midway between Africa and Australia. Her dismasted yacht was spotted on Friday. Australian rescue officials sent an aircraft to the treacherous southern Indian Ocean on Saturday to regain radio contact with her.

Two other ships also responded to her distress call. It is likely she will be transferred to one of those ships,one of which is heading for the island of Reunion,a French possession in the Indian Ocean,and the other for Australia.

Shes doing extremely well… I think shes relieved to be aboard the rescue vessel, her father,Laurence Sunderland,told NBCs Today Show after a brief phone conversation with his daughter.

I asked her if she had been injured. She had been knocked about a bit but I dont think there was anything serious, her mother,Marianne Sunderland,told NBC in an interview from their home in California.

Sunderlands predicament reignited a debate about the wisdom of teenage sailors attempting to sail solo around the world,weeks after Australian teenager Jessica Watson accomplished a similar feat.

Sunderland defended her age and the decision to sail this time of year through the Southern Ocean on her blog post on Saturday.

It wasnt the time of year it was just a Southern Ocean storm. Storms are part of the deal when you set out to sail around the world, she wrote.