American teen sailor Abby Sunderland has been found safe and well aboard her dismasted Open 40 Wildeyes.

A big search and rescue mission was put in motion yesterday afternoon when her EPIRB went off. Her parents, British boatbuilder Laurence Sunderland and his wife Marianne, had been talking to the teenager, who set off in January to try to break the record for the youngest to sail solo round the world.

An Australian search and rescue team flew the area over the area in a plane chartered from Qantas and made radio contact with her. An Australian Navy ship is also reported to be en route to her position.

The SAR team reported that her boat, Wildeyes, has lost its rig and is disabled, but that Abby was aboard and is safe. A French fishing vessel is around 24 hours away.

Read more news about this incident and comment about the ongoing controversy surrounding teenage record attempts in Elaine Bunting’s blog (click here).