Round the world Bermudian yachtsman Alan Paris who sailed the same boat as a US teenager who this week had to be rescued during her solo voyage says he is sad to think that a vessel which helped create history is now floating adrift in the ocean.

Abby Sunderland, 16, had to be rescued after the mast of her yacht Wild Eyes broke leaving her stranded in the southern Indian Ocean. She was sailing the same vessel that Mr. Paris used in 2002 to sail around the world then it was called BTC Velocity.

He spent 196 days at sea and arrived home safely as the only Bermudian to successfully circumnavigate the world in a yacht.

According to Mr. Paris BTC Velocity was sold to a buyer in the United States who sailed it for several years in the annual Newport to Bermuda race before finally being sold to the Sunderland family, in California.

Sometime before Ms Sunderland embarked on her voyage around the world Mr. Paris received a phone call from her father regarding the boat's safety record.

"I told him that the boat was built for safety first and speed second," said Mr. Paris. "The hull is 115 percent buoyant and virtually unsinkable. It is reinforced with Kevlar and is loaded with other safety features."

He added: "But the truth is that it is almost always fair to say that the weak link is the sailor and not the boat."

Mr. Paris was quick to praise the teenager for her "impressive" achievement of making it as far as she did into the southern Indian Ocean but acknowledged that Ms Sunderland was undertaking a very risky challenge.

He said he would have planned the trip differently to avoid the particularly turbulent winters in the Indian Ocean. He said he thought the Sunderland family may have been too hasty in planning the gruelling voyage to ensure that Abby was still young enough to qualify as the youngest person to complete a solo circumnavigation of the globe had she finished. However, that goal also became unachievable as the record held by 17-year-old Zac Sunderland, from the US, when she set sail was subsequently broken last month by 14-year-old Australian Jessica Watson.

"I feel like they had to really push it to ensure that she made the trip before she got too old," he said. " The choices that led to her being in the southern Indian Ocean in the winter was certainly unfortunate. Even the best, most experienced and well funded sailors in the world avoid that area at all costs in the winter – it is a nasty piece of water."

Mr. Paris said that the area where Ms. Sunderland ran into trouble is known for intense squalls that often create swells as high as 30ft and winds of 60 knots and more. He said even though experience is extremely important to the solo sailor, the ocean is a powerful force that can get the best of anyone.

"There is always a wave out there with your name on it," he said. "It is an unfortunate situation and I feel for her. In fact I am quite upset myself. She is going through all the feelings of failure, letting down friends and family and of course losing her boat.

"And I am really quite sad myself to know that my boat that I sacrificed so much blood, sweat and tears for is floating around aimlessly in the Indian Ocean not to mention the memories."

A recent posting on Ms. Sunderland's blog describes what happened in her own words.

"There are plenty of things people can think of to blame for my situation; my age, the time of year and many more," the entry reads. "The truth is, I was in a storm and you don't sail through the Indian Ocean without getting in at least one storm. It wasn't the time of year it was just a Southern Ocean storm. Storms are part of the deal when you set out to sail around the world."

Ms Sunderland was more than half way to her destination when a rogue wave snapped her mast – leaving her without control of the vessel. She was eventually picked up 2,000 miles off the coast of Australia by a French fishing vessel on its way to an Island off Madagascar.