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"It must be remembered that on long offshore passages a well-built and well-equipped boat will stand up to much more rough weather than will the crew."

"I'm in the Northwest Passage, I'm cold, I'm wet a lot, I'm hungry, I'm sleep deprived, like properly sleep deprivation at times. I had every right and reason to be miserable, right? Cold, wet, tired, hungry, and miserable. But being miserable was not going to give me sleep. It's not going to give me a warm meal. It wasn't gonna give me a hot shower. It wasn't gonna give me any of those things. So you might as well enjoy the moment, you know?"

"The more you know, the less you need."

"The 3 most important things are attitude, attitude, and attitude. Because if the attitude is right, you survive and you learn everything you don't need to learn."

"To me, seamanship is what we do. It's like breathing... It's not just a checklist of knowing how to tie a bowline... it's an attitude."

"Success is a dangerous element in any endeavor. Embrace the struggle. Beware the achievement. For it steals your caution even as it leads you down the next unknown pathway."

"The tough part is making departures, shedding the shackles of society's expectations, kicking the addiction of electronic connections, subverting the guilt of our own obligations, and pushing off the dock physically and metaphorically."

"I live by a couple of rules concerning reefing when on long voyages. The first is that if the thought crosses my mind that I should reef, then I do it without debate. It's a great way for me not to push the boat too hard. The second is my 'cup of tea' rule. Wind, by its very nature, is unpredictable, so if the winds have eased to the point that I could easily sail with one less reef in the mainsail, I wait the time it takes me to make and drink a cup of tea before doing anything. The process normally takes around thirty minutes, so if the winds are still light when I'm done then I will shake out the reef and hoist more sail. More often than not, a gust will have come through that means I need to keep the reef in place to ensure I'm not overpowered in the gusts."

"I knew that weather can turn concrete plans into vague abstractions, but that's no reason to forgo the pleasure of laying them."

"Sail training continues to become more valuable because it is an opportunity to help people unplug from society and experience nature, the environment, and each other in a way that is irreplaceable."

"The gratification that I get from coaching and teaching these guys and then finishing a Bermuda race is just knowing that I facilitated getting these guys from sort of point A to point Z... look at what these guys have accomplished, and I've helped facilitate that."

"You'll be bothered from time to time by storms, fog, snow. When you are, think of those who went through it before you, and say to yourself, 'What they can do, I can do.'"

"The single most important thing you can do, by far and bar none, to become a safe and happy offshore cruiser is to go to sea as crew with an experienced skipper on a good boat. No amount of inshore sailing or reading replaces this vital step on the road to becoming a competent offshore sailor."

"People really don't truly understand what real life is until you experience being that far offshore away from land. And it is unbelievably the best feeling on the planet. And I would do anything to be back every day."

"We all have to humble ourselves and realize that we've all made bad decisions. Now, most of us get away with them."

"While I supposed myself to be looking as salt as Neptune himself, I was, no doubt, known for a landsman by everyone onboard as soon as I give in sight. A sailor has a peculiar cut to his clothes, and a way of wearing them which a green hand can never get."

"Part of seamanship is making good decisions, and as we all know, at sea you don't get too many bad decisions."

"Sharing the wisdom of the high seas, with those wise enough to seek it out."

"If you want to sail around the world to say that you've done it, well, don't do it because you have the wrong attitude. If you really, really want to do something because you love the ocean, you want to see the world as it is still now before it is too late, then do it."

"I rarely remember my dreams ashore but almost always do at sea. Something about sleeping in a washing machine allows better access to the subconscious."