Shipwrecked teen defends her family after rescue

"I'm really disappointed that things didn't go as planned," Abby said after the French patrol boat Osiris, that had picked her up, deposited her ashore on the French island of Reunion off east Africa.

"I knew what to do. I was well-prepared for anything that could have happened," she said, flanked by her 17-year-old brother Zac, who flew to Reunion to meet her.

Her brother took a separate vessel to meet the patrol boat as it sailed into the harbour of Reunion's capital, Saint-Denis, climbing aboard and embracing his sister in an emotional welcome.

The accident on 10 June "ended my trip but it didn't end my dream," Abby said, though she paled and avoided answering when asked if she would try another solo circumnavigation of the globe.

Her parents remained in California, where her mother is soon to give birth to her eighth child.

Abby, whose father is a shipwright and has a yacht management company, set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey in her boat, Wild Eyes, on 23 January.

In April, she gave up her hope of becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo when she was forced to stop for repairs. Then, on 10 June, huge waves snapped her boat's mast. She was rescued two days later by a French fishing vessel 2,000 miles west of Australia.

She described the drama of her accident, her surprise when an Australian plane spotted her and how, some 40 hours later, she first caught sight of the French boat.

"The past few months have been the best of my life," she said yesterday.

"I was on an adventure. You can only plan so far."

She thanked everyone who had helped in her rescue, particularly the French and Australian authorities, and acknowledged "the public debate about the cost of rescues".

"I know the United States would do the same for a citizen of any other country as these countries did for me," she said.

She said criticism of her family "is ungrounded". "They have put up with a ton of stuff to help me follow my dream," she said.