Man sailing across the world by himself explains why he quit his teaching job to do it
Topics: Travel, Social Media, TikTok
Ellie Kemp
Featured Image Credit: Sailing_Songbird/Instagram
Topics: Travel, Social Media, TikTok
A man who has taken it upon himself to sail across the world alone has revealed exactly why he's doing it.
Luke Hartley has earned millions of social media followers by documenting his sailing adventures over the last year which, quite frankly, are terrifying.
Posting updates to his TikTok and Instagram accounts, both called @sailing_songbird, Hartley is known for keeping fans on their toes.
Earlier this year, he set out to sail the Pacific Ocean for 31 days, with one of his viral videos making followers incredibly anxious.
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Liked by a huge 4.7 million users, the TikTok video sees Luke in the middle of the ocean with a paddleboard, his sailboat visible in the distance behind him.
On day 31 of his journey, he updated: “I’m in the doldroms, I’m stuck here in the doldrums and there is no wind.
“For reference, I am right about as far away from land you can be on the planet.”
In what would be a panic-inducing realization for most, Luke admitted he was appreciative of the experience.
Hartley added: "It is incredibly disorientating to be out on a paddleboard with absolutely nothing on the horizon except like a super cool sunset.
“I am well over 1,000 miles away from any piece of land, and it is so quiet. This definitely feels like one of the more incredible things I'm privileged enough to experience.”
While many people on social media remarked about this once-in-a-lifetime journey, others simply couldn’t get over how anxious the experience would make them.
And it was his live location on Google Maps that sent chills down people's spines. Check it out for yourself below.
Now, Hartley is part-way through another solo trip, sailing from Tahiti in the French Polynesia to Tonga, in the South Pacific - east of Australia and north of New Zealand.
Traveling some 2,726 km (almost 1700 miles), it's expected to take him three weeks to complete.
But why exactly would Hartley - who has zero previous boat experience - set out on such a dangerous trip?
Well, back in June, he revealed all about why he decided to set sail in the first place.
Hartley was working as a music teacher before quitting his job and buying a 27-foot sailboat, spending seven months fixing it up in the yard.
He told Yacht.de: "During the pandemic, I surfed the internet a lot. That's when I came across sailing. I followed a few channels, especially on YouTube.
"I saw these people living on their boats and sailing around the world. I fell in love with this lifestyle - even though I had never set foot on a sailing boat before."
And Hartley doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon.
He told the publication wants to travel for five years or ten, possibly forever.