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.

Being at sea is like watching the whole world in high-definition.

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

I wanted to break the record, of course, and become the youngest person to sail around the world solo and unassisted.

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.

When I saw the plane, I was absolutely astonished! Two emotions crashed over me: surging joy and crazy fear.

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