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." One place is the turbulent passage south of Cape Horn. Another is the dead center of the Indian Ocean.

Slowly, my brain let me in on the fact that I had just come this close to dying.

When a sailor overcomes crushing adversity, there's a massive sense of accomplishment.

In that moment it dawned on me that everything has to line up perfectly for something to turn out this awful.

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

On October 19, 2009, my sixteenth birthday, Wild Eyes officially became mine! Now it was really happening.

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.