What a lucky and brave young man, but let's not hope that this is too much about setting the age record. I also hope he has been in touch personally with previous young circumnavigators David Dicks and Jessie Martin, for some real advice on what he will really find out there, and probably more important how life will unfold for a young man when you get back to the real world again. Secondly, I'm not sure whether the avoidance of the Gulf of Aden is just a press grabber, but this seems strange and out of kilter with what really goes on. The incidence of a piracy attack off Somalia is so remote to happen in the first place, and if it were likely to happen it would be just like a random park mugging, and extremely highly unlikely to happen to a 16 year old solo circumnavigator in a tiny $6000, 36' boat. If he was boarded it would probably turn out that the pirates would probably buy him some beers and give him some sponsorship. These pirates live on a knifes edge, and highly likely to get caught, so preferring to be hung for a sheep as a lamb, should target a flash boat with better booty prospects I'd expect. However he will be in for a serious paradigm shift in his young life, and if he is mentally tough enough to get through it, his life's direction would seem to be predictable in where he will go and what he will do. Hope it's not about the record though, but god speed to him anyway. Hope Dad is not his manager/publicist for the upcoming book. Peter Sheppard