How She Survived

During her first interview, Tami Ashcraft also revealed how she managed to survive the darkest moments of her journey: “First of all, having that half of a spinnaker pole. I still had one little sail left, even though all the other sails went overboard. Once I got that up, and I had steerage, I could actually move the boat.

“Then, all these little things started being put in place. Finding that I had a quarter of a tank of water, that was a huge turning point. Finding my watch in the bilge so that I could find out exactly where I was on the chart instead of just sailing by latitude. There were a lot of little things that kept me going.”