Have you ever picked up a new skill or hobby and immediately became obsessed with it? Throwing all of your spare time into it so you can master it in record time?
A 16-year-old in California did something similar, but on a massive scale, traversing by himself across the Atlantic Ocean only a few months after learning how to sail at all.
RELATED STORIES
A teen from California accomplished an incredible feat.
Cal Currier, who’s only 16 years old, began learning how to sail in January of this year, and he did so with a plan.
“I started sailing with this goal in mind: I’m going to sail across the Atlantic solo,” he told The Boston Globe.
He learned how to sail rather quickly.
Van Zandt, Currier’s instructor, said, “He was such a natural, I didn’t know he was just learning how to sail.”
Currier said he came up with the idea one Thanksgiving break when he decided he wanted to do something more exciting and special with his summer.
Then he had to convince his parents.
His dad was already a transatlantic sailor, so he was on board right away, but his mom “took a bit more convincing.”
“After a couple long conversations and a couple long nights, we convinced her that it was safe to do.”
So, on June 27, 2022, he set sail.
He spent 28 days aboard a 30-foot sailboat, traveling from Marion, Massachusetts, to Lagos, Portugal, almost 4000 miles.
He used the time to do a lot of reading and said the trip wasn’t too difficult physically.
However, it did carry a mental toll.
“The mental aspect is definitely the hardest part,” he told Today . He said that loneliness, boredom, and sleep deprivation were among “the greatest challenges that I had to deal with.”
But he succeeded, accomplishing something amazing for someone his age.
He says the trip made him realize “how important people are to me.”
While he doesn’t regret it, he’s not sure he’d do something like this again. “I don’t think I’ll do any large solo expeditions anymore. It’s just more fun to be with people.”
h/t: People
