Young adventurer fad is dangerous

We were all relieved to learn the 16-year-old California girl was alive and well in the wintery southern Indian Ocean after her 40-foot boat was dismasted in a storm.

Talk about sibling rivalry; Abby Sunderland was attempting to break a record set by her brother, Zac, who completed the voyage last year.

Abby wasn't entirely alone -- she talked to her mother twice a day and kept up her Facebook page, even becoming friends with a rival 16-year-old Australian girl also attempting a solo circumnavigation.

Still, after she activated two emergency beacons, the nearest ship was 48 hours away. A Qantas airliner was finally sent to locate her; we wonder who will pay that fuel bill.

The parents of Abby and other teenage nautical adventurers are open to criticism for allowing their children to take on such challenges. We doubt Abby bought her own boat or the 13-year-old boy who became the youngest person to scale Mount Everest financed his own adventure.

But as Abby's father said, life is dangerous. Abby could just as easily have been killed in an automobile accident.

Still, until children are of legal age, they are their parents' responsibility. The current fad of becoming the youngest person to accomplish -- you fill in the blank -- can only lead to disaster.