Quote

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.

Abby Sunderland

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Abby Sunderland
Age: 30
Born: 1993
Born: October 19
Explorer
Sailor
LA
California
Wild Eyes (sailing vessel)
Abigail Sunderland
Abby J. Sunderland
Abigail J. Sunderland
Abigail Jillian Sunderland
Abby Jillian Sunderland
Abigail Jillian Abby Sunderland
Faces
Fifty
Nastiest
Earth
Boat
Autopilot
Miles
Cape
Ocean
Capes
Toward
Horn
Hundred
Chunks
Broken
Drifting
Face
Horns

More quotes by Abby Sunderland

Image
The terrifying physics of going up-mast in heavy seas are inescapable.
Abby Sunderland
Image
I will definitely attempt to sail around the world again. In fact, I can't wait for the chance to try again.
Abby Sunderland
Image
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.
Abby Sunderland
Image
Going up the mast is one of the most dangerous things you can do as a solo sailor.
Abby Sunderland
Image
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.
Abby Sunderland
Image
Wild Eyes was built for speed and I was flying down walls of water twenty and thirty feet high.
Abby Sunderland
Image
Being at sea is like watching the whole world in high-definition.
Abby Sunderland
Image
When a sailor overcomes crushing adversity, there's a massive sense of accomplishment.
Abby Sunderland
Image
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.
Abby Sunderland
Image
The things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability.
Abby Sunderland
Image
I wanted to break the record, of course, and become the youngest person to sail around the world solo and unassisted.
Abby Sunderland
Image
One day that same year, I told my dad that someday, I would sail around the world alone.
Abby Sunderland
Image
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.
Abby Sunderland
Image
When I saw the plane, I was absolutely astonished! Two emotions crashed over me: surging joy and crazy fear.
Abby Sunderland
Image
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.
Abby Sunderland
Image
The open ocean often takes you past your physical limits and when it does, sailing becomes a mental game.
Abby Sunderland
Image
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.
Abby Sunderland
Image
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.
Abby Sunderland
Image
In that moment it dawned on me that everything has to line up perfectly for something to turn out this awful.
Abby Sunderland
Image
Slowly, my brain let me in on the fact that I had just come this close to dying.
Abby Sunderland