Whatever you want to do, someone will tell you, you can not. You must never, never give up. You must always look forward to something.

You are at sea alone. Ultimately you are potentially risking your life each time you sail. But you can not think like that – if you did you would not do it.

When you head out to the sea and lose sight of land you realise just how small you are. It is a humbling experience. It is just you and nature.

When I set sail I am going out there to live my adventure. And I am just a small boat in the big ocean. I do not get lonely when I am at sea.

And I do not need to have someone around to know that there are people who are thinking of me and who miss me. How could I possibly feel lonely. Isolated, yes. But not lonely.

You think through all the things that might happen. How can I motivate myself if something terrible happens?

What can I do to keep me cool when I am sailing through a hurricane in the Southern Ocean and there is nobody around for thousands of nautical miles?

When that happens, your whole mind is screaming: You are not going to survive this! You are going to die!

In my mind, I can actually see my sailing boat from above. And the sea. And I can see that there are no islands ahead, no drifting containers, no whales.

And that reduces my adrenalin level because your adrenalin level is sky-high when you are sailing.

That slows my heartbeat and helps me to get some rest and some sleep. You would eventually lose your mind otherwise.