I had begun to think that dreams are meant to be no more than dreams and that in reality dreams don't come true. Then my brother (Zac) left on his trip. It was amazing to see all the support that he got from around the world and to see how everyone worked together to help make his dream reality. Watching him do this really made me believe that I could too.

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.

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

The open ocean often takes you past your physical limits and when it does, sailing becomes a mental game.

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

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

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