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Just as I was about to grab the rope ladder, a huge swell lifted the dinghy nearly to La Reunion’s deck level, and at least a dozen smiling French fishermen pulled me aboard.

— Abby Sunderland Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

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Source: p. 187
Work: Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas, 2011
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by Abby Sunderland

Fifty feet of mast lay in the heaving water, downed lines and shrouds holding it there.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

When a sailor overcomes crushing adversity, there’s a massive sense of accomplishment.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

Going up the mast is one of the most dangerous things you can do as a solo sailor.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

The terrifying physics of going up-mast in heavy seas are inescapable.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

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

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

One day that same year, I told my dad that someday, I would sail around the world alone.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

I am twelve thousand miles wiser, twelve thousand miles more resilient, and I have twelve thousand miles more faith in God.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

I saw the loose tiller jolt hard to the side as the boat began to spin.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

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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.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

The things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

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

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

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

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

After the week of stormy weather, she set sail under sunny skies, on a glassy sea with a big swell running.

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas (2011)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Abby Sunderland (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.