Not sure if any of you have been following the tale of 16-year-old Abby Sunderland's attempt to circumnavigate the globe solo in a sailboat and become the youngest person ever to do so (her brother Zac, now 17, briefly held the record in 2009). She set sail in January, and got waylaid in April for some repairs. In May, her dreams were quashed when Australian 16-year-old Jessica Watson beat her to it, but Abby's been sailing on and trying to complete the trip anyhow.

She made some broken satellite calls to her family this week from somewhere in the Indian Ocean between Africa and Australia saying her boat had suffered some damage in 30-foot seas. It turns out her mast broke, and shortly thereafter she sent out an emergency distress call.

Trained spotters on a Qantas plane managed to find Abby and give her coordinates to some rescue boats who are headed her way. She's floating out there with a space heater and plenty of food, but her boat is still seaworthy.

Looks like this over-achieving family's only going to have one around-the-world sailor... [AP/Tribune - photo: AP]