The Comeback Kid.
At 17, she was left paralyzed and in a coma by a car accident. At 32, she won the Rhoute du Rhum single-handed transatlantic race, and at 39 she won Transpac with Bruno Peyron. At 54, she fell overboard while sailing alone and was rescued after 2 hours in frigid waters, unfazed and undaunted.
Here, a photo from a few years back, enjoying a bit of well-deserved down time before getting busy. Our kind of sailor – we can’t wait to see what she’ll do next.
“My job is to defy the normal.” – Errol Flynn
From all of us at Virgin Island Sailing School, here’s wishing you a somewhat defiant, highly adventurous year to come.
Thanks for checking out our new website! We truly hope you can sail with us in the real world some day – although the USVIs certainly seem beyond real – but until then we’d love it if you would hang out with us here now and then.
We admit we’ll be doing our best to get you to check “Learn to Sail in Paradise” off your bucket list. For instance, check out these pretty dreamy photos of the islands taken during an actual week at “school.”
Mostly, though, we’re hoping to convey the power that sailing has to help us transcend the ordinary and to imagine new possibilities, on the ocean and in the every day.
We’ve got lots of exciting things planned over the next few weeks to celebrate our “christening”, so stay tuned!The ocean is waiting. See you soon?
And if you prefer pigs to ponies, there’s this: “The huge animals – easily as large as a Shetland pony – were friendly and not shy. At all.” Check out Big Major Cay in the Bahamas, where four legs are way more common than two.
Where will you go when you learn how to sail?
“This 37-mile long island belongs to two states, three conservation agencies, and two herds of feral ponies, which each year swim across the channel to Virginia.”
Where will you go when you learn how to sail?
“I’ll have you know I do the swearing on this ship. If I need your assistance I’ll call you.”
– Jack London, The Sea Wolf
To all the sailors and other veterans who have served our country, we extend our deepest thanks. We owe you.
A little inspiration to get you over the hump this week.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the British yachtsman who became the first person to circumnavigate the world solo, non-stop. At 74, he’ll be navigating on a Clipper 68 for this year’s Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
In the words of Jack London: “The sailor never grows so old that he does not care to go back for one more wrestling bout with wind and wave. I know it of myself.”
(image courtesy The Telegraph)
The President and First Lady, America’s Cup 1962.
