Abby Sunderland Quotes
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I wanted to break the record, of course, and become the youngest person to sail around the world solo and unassisted.
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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.
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I'm one-hundred-fifty miles off Cape Horn, both autopilots are broken, and my boat is drifting toward one of the nastiest chunks of ocean on the face of the earth.
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All the ingenuity, all the high-tech gear, all the jury-rigging sometimes the sea would rip it all away until there was only you, the Creator, and His mercy.
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If a big wave came at the wrong moment, it would sweep me off into forty-eight-degree water, where I might last twenty minutes. Drowning quickly might be better.
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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.
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On June 10, the worst storm in the series swept across the middle of the Indian Ocean and Wild Eyes was directly in its path.
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I am twelve thousand miles wiser, twelve thousand miles more resilient, and I have twelve thousand miles more faith in God.
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Slowly, my brain let me in on the fact that I had just come this close to dying.
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When a sailor overcomes crushing adversity, there's a massive sense of accomplishment.
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It seems like people my age are over-protected today, even to the point where a lot of parents refuse to put their kids in the position to make important decisions, to aspire to great things, because they don't want to put them in a position to fail.
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But none of that kept me from picturing what a tsunami might look like if it did rise up and roar toward my little boat like some watery blue version of the Great Wall of China.
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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.
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Fewer people have successfully solo-circumnavigated the globe than have journeyed into space.
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When I saw the plane, I was absolutely astonished! Two emotions crashed over me: surging joy and crazy fear.
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On October 19, 2009, my sixteenth birthday, Wild Eyes officially became mine! Now it was really happening.
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One day that same year, I told my dad that someday, I would sail around the world alone.
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Wild Eyes was built for speed and I was flying down walls of water twenty and thirty feet high.
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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.
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Being at sea is like watching the whole world in high-definition.
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In that moment it dawned on me that everything has to line up perfectly for something to turn out this awful.
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The swells were amazing! As big as three-story apartment buildings!
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I will definitely attempt to sail around the world again. In fact, I can't wait for the chance to try again.
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Going up the mast is one of the most dangerous things you can do as a solo sailor.
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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.
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Terror ripped through me as I was falling, falling, falling toward the sea.
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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.
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The open ocean often takes you past your physical limits and when it does, sailing becomes a mental game.
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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.
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The things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability.
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