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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.