The things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability.
ABBY SUNDERLANDThe things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability.
ABBY SUNDERLANDIt was amazing to see all the support that he got from around the world and to see how everyone worked together to help make his dream reality. Watching him do this really made me believe that I could too.
ABBY SUNDERLANDIn that moment it dawned on me that everything has to line up perfectly for something to turn out this awful.
ABBY SUNDERLANDSlowly, my brain let me in on the fact that I had just come this close to dying.
ABBY SUNDERLANDThe open ocean often takes you past your physical limits and when it does, sailing becomes a mental game.
ABBY SUNDERLANDThe seriousness of my situation started to sink in, and again I fought panic. I pushed it down, but it was harder this time, like my insides were an open can of shaken soda and I was trying to keep it from bubbling up out of the top.
ABBY SUNDERLANDThe winds were blowing from west to east, pushing Abby’s boat toward the rocks as Abby struggled with the autopilots below.
ABBY SUNDERLANDIt seems like people my age are over-protected today, even to the point where a lot of parents refuse to put their kids in the position to make important decisions, to aspire to great things, because they don’t want to put them in a position to fail.
ABBY SUNDERLANDI was so thankful that my parents trusted me enough and had enough faith in my abilities to let me follow my passion and try to do something great, even if I might fail.
ABBY SUNDERLANDGoing up the mast is one of the most dangerous things you can do as a solo sailor.
ABBY SUNDERLANDOne place is the turbulent passage south of Cape Horn. Another is the dead center of the Indian Ocean.
ABBY SUNDERLANDBut none of that kept me from picturing what a tsunami might look like if it did rise up and roar toward my little boat like some watery blue version of the Great Wall of China.
ABBY SUNDERLANDThe swells were amazing! As big as three-story apartment buildings!
ABBY SUNDERLANDOne day that same year, I told my dad that someday, I would sail around the world alone.
ABBY SUNDERLANDI will never forget the feeling of walking into my home, a place that while drifting helpless in the middle of the Indian Ocean I wondered if I would ever see again.
ABBY SUNDERLANDI knew that even if I was able to call for help, I was in a place so remote that it wasn’t likely there would be anyone who could help me. And even if there were, it could take weeks.
ABBY SUNDERLAND