Abby Sunderland Courtesy of Lisa Gizara/GizaraArts.Com Abby Sunderland is alive. Her attempt to sail around the world by herself came to a premature and frightening end, but the Thousand Oaks teenager didn’t lose her life in her quest for adventure.

Early on the morning of June 10, Abby’s parents, Laurence and Marianne Sunderland, lost satellite phone contact with their child, and her satellite locating rescue beacons went off.

Late that night, the crew of a plane found Abby alive late with her boat upright. She was picked up by a French fishing vessel just after midnight on June 11.

Rescuers were able to follow a locating signal from Abby. Using marine radio communication, the 16-year-old was able to tell those in the aircraft that she was fine, her parents said. Australian search and rescue relayed Abby’s condition to her parents.

The rigging of her 40-foot racing sailboat Wild Eyes is down. Its mast is broken.The $200,000 yacht, still adrift in the Indian Ocean, where its young captain fought 50-knot winds and 50- to 60-foot seas, isn’t likely to be towed 200 miles to land.

The French vessel left its job of catching fish to become a rescue ship for a teen adventurer who was bruised and battered.

“Everyone on board has been really friendly. They have come a long way out of their way to help me, and I am so thankful that they did,” Abby blogged from the fishing boat.

People around the world rejoiced to learn young Abby was safe. Hours earlier, the worst was feared.

Abby’s parents and supporters were praying for her after their phone contact was lost and her rescue beacons activated as she sailed in the southern Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles from land and from any boats that could rescue her.

Abby was a little more than halfway around the world when she hit extreme weather. The young woman had been repeatedly knocked down as her boat thrashed in a severe Southern Hemisphere winter storm.

Before losing phone contact, her parents were helping her troubleshoot some engine problems. They had talked her through removing water from her engine. Abby had just gotten the engine started when the phone, which didn’t have good reception at the time, went dead.

An hour later, American search and rescue authorities called Abby’s parents and let them know her emergency beacons had been activated.

At that moment, her parents didn’t know what had happened and were gravely concerned about their daughter. Rescue efforts were organized. A plane flyover from Australia was set up. The closest ship to her was routed in the direction of her emergency signals. No one knew what they would find.

International media picked up the story. Websites and blogs lit up with support for the girl following her dream, as well as criticism for the parents who’d allow their teenager to go on such an adventure. Members of the media camped outside the family’s Thousand Oaks home.

A sailing family, the Sunderlands have seven children and another one on the way.

“Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible,” her parents wrote.

Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the southern ocean and is equipped with five airtight bulkheads to keep Abby buoyant in the event of major hull damage.

It’s built to right itself if it capsizes.

Abby had originally planned for a nonstop journey when she departed Marina del Rey harbor on Jan. 23. In March, she rounded Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America, a difficult feat for even the most experienced sailor. She’s the youngest person recorded to have accomplished that.

Abby’s autopilot gave out early last month, and she was forced to stop in South Africa, losing the nonstop status of her trip.

She still hoped to qualify as the youngest person to sail around the world solo.

Her older brother, Zac Sunderland, held that distinction after he completed a similar trip in 2009, when he was 17.

Since her rescue Abby has announced she’ll be writing a book about her adventures, which continue as she goes from ship to ship on her homebound journey.