One climbed Everest at the age of 13. Another sailed around the world solo at 16. The spirit of adventure does not depend on the number of years a person has under their belt, often to the consternation of the authorities. Abby Sunderland, a young American yacht woman aged only 16, has just failed in her attempt to sail round the world solo. She left California in January on her controversial journey, but was forced on Thursday to trigger emergency beacons in the Indian Ocean after her 12-metre (39-foot) yacht was damaged. On Friday her family and supporters breathed sighs of relief after the intrepid adolescent was found safe. “She’s fine, the boat’s afloat and she’s on it,” her father Laurence Sunderland told Australia’s public broadcaster ABC. “It’s huge, fantastic, exciting news.” Sunderland set sail amid criticism that her itinerary was too risky because it would place her in the Indian Ocean during the turbulent Southern Hemisphere winter. But in the Sunderland family one is never too young to try adventure. Abby’s brother, Zac, went round the world last year in a yacht, solo and unassisted, in eight months. He also was 16.Another 16-year-old adolescent, Australia’s Jessica Watson, on May 15 became the youngest person to sail solo around the world, solo and unassisted, all in 210 days. The teenager had been criticised before her departure as too young and inexperienced for the perilous journey after she crashed into a freighter in a trial run. The spirit of adventure is not confined to the high seas. In 2003 Andreas Ebbesen, a 13-year-old Norwegian, became the youngest adventurer to cross Greenland on skis. He was a member of an eight-person team, which included his own father. Equally daring was Jordan Romero, a 13-year-old Californian, who on May 23 became the youngest climber in the world to scale Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, beating the world record previously held by Nepal’s Temba Tsheri. In making his ascent Romero was fulfilling a dream he had had since the age of nine, when he saw a poster of Everest at school. But that feat too has stirred controversy. On Thursday China said it is to impose from September new age limits on mountaineers seeking to climb in Tibet. Mount Everest straddles the border between China and Nepal, where mountaineering authorities already restrict licences for Everest to climbers over the age of 16. China does not currently have an age limit and Romero carried out his controversial ascent of the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) mountain from the Tibet side. But the age challenge does not end there. A Nepalese Sherpa who holds the record for the fastest ascent of Everest is hoping to take a local child to the summit.Pemba Dorje Sherpa, who climbed Everest in eight hours and 10 minutes in 2004, is hoping to find a younger Nepalese climber to beat the record next year — and is even considering taking his nine-year-old son. “The last record-holder was a relative of mine. He held the record for more than 10 years, which made us very proud,” Sherpa told AFP on Tuesday. “Nepal is a small country and we do not get much good publicity. I want to take an 11- or 12-year-old to the summit because I think all the Everest records should be held by Nepalese people.”