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

The winds were blowing from west to east, pushing Abby's boat toward the rocks as Abby struggled with the autopilots below. If Wild Eyes reached those islands, she wouldn't run aground, keel in the sand. She would be smashed into pieces.

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.

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

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.

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

I 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.