02/21/2026
She was 18 years old when she left to sail around the world alone.
She barely knew how to navigate.
In 1985, Tania Aebi set off aboard a 26-foot sloop named Varuna.
Her father challenged her to sail around the world.
She did not have decades of offshore experience. She was still learning celestial navigation as she went.
She crossed oceans alone. Faced storms. Isolation. Equipment failures.
Three years later, she returned home having completed a solo circumnavigation.
She became the first American woman and youngest person at the time to do it.
