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.

Fewer people have successfully solo-circumnavigated the globe than have journeyed into space.

Wild Eyes was built for speed and I was flying down walls of water twenty and thirty feet high.

Terror ripped through me as I was falling, falling, falling toward the sea.

The things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability.

One day that same year, I told my dad that someday, I would sail around the world alone.

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.