Sailing into the Sunset: Tania Aebi

For close to three years, Tania Aebi knew nothing but the open sea.

At the age of eighteen, Aebi was a typical teenager, filled with angst and lacking ambition. She had no desire to go to college and was working as a bicycle messenger. So her father presented her with a challenge: instead of attending college, she could sail around the world.

Aebi accepted that challenge.

Aebi had little sailing experience, but she was confident that her desire to prove to her father that she could complete something would be the biggest determining factor in her success.

In May 1985, Aebi cast off in her Varuna, Contessa 26, without first giving it a sea trial. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) were not available as standard equipment in 1985. She used a radio direction finder and celestial navigation to find her way. She also overcame factory defects in the vessel she was sailing.

Aebi stopped in 23 countries along the way, sailing through storms, gathering stories and making new friends. She also inherited Tarzoon, a cat that sailed halfway around the world with her. Tarzoon lived to be over twenty years old. But just prior to Aebi undertaking a new voyage with her two sons, Tarzoon died peacefully in its sleep.

Aebi completed her circumnavigation in November 1987 ending up in New York City. She had turned 21 just the previous October 7. She had sailed an estimated 27,000 miles around the world. She wrote "Maiden Voyage" (Ballantine Books, 1996) which chronicled her journey as well as the childhood leading up to it.

Aebi was the first woman and youngest person to achieve the feat of sailing around the world.

After her accomplishment, Aebi didn't retire to live a quiet life. She eventually did attend college, earning a BA and MFA and also earned her captain's license. She was also a monthly columnist for sailing magazine Latitudes and Attitudes. A selection of those columns were published in "I've Been Around" (Sheridan Books, 2005).

In 2007, Aebi arranged a journey for her two sons, ages 16 and 14. In a steel sloop, they sailed across the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and across the South Pacific to Tahiti. At that point, the boy's father took over and continued on to the Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia.

Aebi remains active today. She continues writing her columns, organizing all-female sailing flotillas, and coordinating sailing charters for groups.

Aebi has proven what a person can accomplish when faced with a challenge.