SALT, SWEAT and

Very few of us are brave enough to jump into the deep end of our wildest dreams, throw off our self-doubt and muster the courage to just do it. Nike Steiger is one of the few.

Toiling away at her day job in Hamburg, Germany, Nike (pronounced nee-kay) had a dream of conquering one of her personal goals by sailing off into the sunset. The problem wasn’t her inexperience as a sailor or that she knew very little about the cruising lifestyle, it was simply that she didn’t have her own boat. That she would be untying the lines alone never entered into the equation.

She searched for several years before finding Karl in Colón, Panama. The seller had informed her that the vessel had been left unattended for five years, but Nike was still surprised by the “forest of mold” covering the cabin that was so toxic she had to don a hazmat mask just to go below deck. She hadn’t signed the bill of sale yet, but at the agreed price of 8,000 euros, even a little toxic mold wasn’t going to deter her. With the help of a local mechanic, she got the engine to turn over, and her dream of sailing the world was once again revved up.

It would be almost a year, and another

“I wanted to see what was

out there, test myself and

finally start what I had

been fighting for.”