All the ingenuity, all the high-tech gear, all the jury-rigging sometimes the sea would rip it all away until there was only you, the Creator, and His mercy.
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.
More Abby Sunderland Quotes
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When a sailor overcomes crushing adversity, there’s a massive sense of accomplishment.
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I wanted to break the record, of course, and become the youngest person to sail around the world solo and unassisted.
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Being at sea is like watching the whole world in high-definition.
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The open ocean often takes you past your physical limits and when it does, sailing becomes a mental game.
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If Wild Eyes reached those islands, she wouldn’t run aground, keel in the sand. She would be smashed into pieces.
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But 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.
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Slowly, my brain let me in on the fact that I had just come this close to dying.
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I’m one-hundred-fifty miles off Cape Horn, both autopilots are broken, and my boat is drifting toward one of the nastiest chunks of ocean on the face of the earth.
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I will definitely attempt to sail around the world again. In fact, I can’t wait for the chance to try again.
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In that moment it dawned on me that everything has to line up perfectly for something to turn out this awful.
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If a big wave came at the wrong moment, it would sweep me off into forty-eight-degree water, where I might last twenty minutes. Drowning quickly might be better.
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When I saw the plane, I was absolutely astonished! Two emotions crashed over me: surging joy and crazy fear.
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I am twelve thousand miles wiser, twelve thousand miles more resilient, and I have twelve thousand miles more faith in God.
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The terrifying physics of going up-mast in heavy seas are inescapable.
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The 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 SUNDERLAND