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 SUNDERLANDThere are a number of places on marine charts where even the most weathered sailors point and say, “Right there, nothing can go wrong. Everything has to go right.”
More Abby Sunderland Quotes
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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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Being at sea is like watching the whole world in high-definition.
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On October 19, 2009, my sixteenth birthday, Wild Eyes officially became mine! Now it was really happening.
ABBY SUNDERLAND -
There are a number of places on marine charts where even the most weathered sailors point and say, “Right there, nothing can go wrong. Everything has to go right.”
ABBY SUNDERLAND -
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.
ABBY SUNDERLAND -
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.
ABBY SUNDERLAND -
The things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability.
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I 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 SUNDERLAND -
Wild Eyes was built for speed and I was flying down walls of water twenty and thirty feet high.
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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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I 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.
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Fewer people have successfully solo-circumnavigated the globe than have journeyed into space.
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Going up the mast is one of the most dangerous things you can do as a solo sailor.
ABBY SUNDERLAND -
One place is the turbulent passage south of Cape Horn. Another is the dead center of the Indian Ocean.
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The open ocean often takes you past your physical limits and when it does, sailing becomes a mental game.
ABBY SUNDERLAND






