The terrifying physics of going up-mast in heavy seas are inescapable.

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

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

Going up the mast is one of the most dangerous things you can do as a solo sailor.

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.

The swells were amazing! As big as three-story apartment buildings!

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