As a surfer and environmentalist enchanted by foreign waves and cultures, I left California aboard my 40-foot sailboat in early 2006. The world has since shown me more amazing people, waves, adventures, natural beauty, personal insights, and alternative ways to living than I ever dreamed possible. Swell serves as my floating home and transportation. I travel at a pace not much faster than you can run. The weather, swell, and tides dictate my days. This isn’t just a surf trip, it’s a lifestyle.

I’ve reduced my daily impact on the earth. I live closer to nature. Solar and wind power provide my electricity. I use less, need less, and want less, yet have never felt more fulfilled. At times the work seems endless and the uncertainties too daunting, yet without these the rest would never be as sweet. That’s the give and take of adventure. I enjoy, but don’t exploit the waves I find, leaving out their location so that those who get inspired enough to go looking might still find places without surf camps or crowds and experience the sensation of venturing into the unknown and being rewarded-a feeling that is, for me, as precious as the empty waves.

The voyage evolves as I continue to learn. I spent the first year and a half gaining confidence as a captain, with different friends as crew, while traveling down the western coast of Mexico and Central America. After announcing that I intended to sail to the South Pacific alone, my mother volunteered to accompany me, an offer I gladly accepted. We spent 22 unforgettable days sailing across the largest expanse of open ocean on the planet. With the mysteries of blue water sailing behind me, I spent the next year exploring French Polynesia and eastern Kiribati mostly on my own. I take more time in each place now, after realizing that if I don’t, I end up just fixing the boat in every port and missing out on what I sailed all this way to discover. I now prefer to travel alone, indulging in the freedom of solitude and making choices based on weather and swell forecasts rather than itineraries. And so I continue west around the globe with no real ‘plan’, only the intention to positively impact the world, better myself, and cherish each glorious, bizarre, painful, and unbelievable experience that makes simply ‘living’ on this planet the unavoidable adventure that it is.

A WHALE of a THANKS to all the people and companies who have contributed to my journey in SO many ways, and to YOU, the reader, whose support gives me strength through the toughest times. I write these blogs to give you a portal into the experiences I’m so fortunate to be having and hopefully provide encouragement for anyone looking to overcome fear and follow their heart.

More about Liz

I learned to sail at seven years old in San Diego, California on a little red sailing dinghy. At ten, I completed a 5,000-mile, 6-month cruise in Mexico with my family on our sailboat, experiencing a different culture, the freedom and beauty of sea travel, and opening my mind to new worlds beyond my hometown reality. Exposure to the contrasting grave pollution and radical natural beauty in Mexico also triggered my early environmental awareness. Albeit very young, this trip profoundly impacted me. Two things were clear: I wanted to protect the world from human destruction and, one day, I wanted to sail around it.

At fifteen, my love of the ocean and natural athletic inclination led me to try surfing. Soon it was all I wanted to do. Determined to excel at the sport, I spent all my free time in the water and eventually competed for the UCSB surf team and in private surf contests in Santa Barbara successfully for four years. My short-lived competitive career culminated in a win at the NSSA Nationals, making me the 2002 College Women’s National Champion. Although I enjoyed pushing my level of surfing through competition, it wasn’t really where my heart was. To me surfing was less about structured competition, and more about adventure, nature, and self-discovery. I was full of bigger questions that needed answers. I began taking surf trips during summers and school breaks to Barbados, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hawaii, Mexico, Nicaragua, and studied in Australia.

As I finished up my degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Santa Barbara, California, I remember feeling frustrated by the direction the world seemed headed. Our increasing distance from the natural world and failure as a country to seek and promote environmentally sustainable living left me disappointed. I clung to my dream as a ‘way out’. My surfing obsession further fueled this fire. The pressures of increasing crowds and urban pollution made the idea of a free life at sea with access to remote waves seem even more appealing. After graduation, I crewed on different boats to gain experience, and then before I was even sure I wanted it, I had the chance to become captain of my own boat. I took it.

Through this fortunate serendipity, my intense determination, and the generosity and advice of innumerable people, Swell was converted into a sea worthy vessel and I into a more knowledgeable captain over the two years spent overhauling and learning about each of Swell’s vital systems. Only having sailed the boat a handful of times during this busy preparation, I honestly didn’t know whether I would be able to do it. Although the unknown ahead petrified me, what I perceived as my alternative–not going–seemed unthinkable. And so in October of 2005, I pointed Swell’s bow south.