16-year-old sailor plans solo world tour

LOS ANGELES, June 2 (UPI) -- A 16-year-old from California youth says his parents support his planned solo sailboat trip around the world.

Zac Sunderland expects to set out across the Pacific later this month in a year-long expedition that will take him at least 21,000 miles on a 36-foot Islander sailboat. He can be expected to encounter sudden storms, waves up to 60 feet high, and other dangers. But parents of the Thousand Oaks youth believe he and his boat are well-prepared for the experience, ABC reported Monday.

"I know that he'll have rough times, but I'm not worried because the boat is in good shape and he's got a lot of good equipment, a lot of experience and a lot of support," said the teen's mother Marianne Sunderland.

The dangers of Zac Sunderland's quest to become the youngest solo American sailor to travel the globe may be beyond his understanding, however, suggest experts.

"Teenagers do, in general, believe that they're much more immortal than they actually are, so they're not necessarily good at assessing how a particular risk may pertain to them," said Dr. Elisabeth Guthrie, a pediatrician and psychiatrist at New York's Columbia University.