Gallery: 11 Photos
Video
Maine teen sets sail for college – in 2015
Sally Gardiner-Smith of Woolwich plans to end her odyssey at Eckerd College in Florida just in time for freshman orientation – next fall.
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Sally Gardiner-Smith's dog gets hit by a truck when it runs into a Massachusetts street.
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The Maine teen set sail Sept. 30 from Georgetown, stopping at DiMillo's Marina in Portland on her journey.
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A small mistake turns into a learning experience in this Oct. 4 installment.
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Oct. 13: Sally's first mate, her dog Elli, loses a leg and is sent home for recovery.
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Young sailor makes an Oct. 19 stop at Beverly Yacht Club before sailing on to Newport, R.I.
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Sally attempts to save a runaway dog around Oct. 26 and makes plans for Elli's return.
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Two small pieces of electrical tape in the fuel tank Nov. 2 mean Sally needs the help of a mechanic.
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In her Nov. 10 entry, Sally's three-legged dog returns to the boat as the pair sail down the length of the New Jersey shoreline.
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Sally shares a Nov. 30 update after being joined by her mother, sister and a friend for a floating feast.
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On Dec. 11, solo sailor Sally Gardiner-Smith expects to reach Florida in about a week.
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Sally Gardiner-Smith offers readers Dec. 15 photos of island exploration in South Carolina as her trip south continues.
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Sally Gardiner-Smith reached Florida, then flew home for the holidays, but was back on the water Jan. 31.
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The young sailor from Maine's Feb. 15 installment deals with mechanical trouble.
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Five months after leaving home, Sally Gardiner-Smith, with her father Willy Ritch aboard, clears customs Feb. 27 at Green Turtle Cay.
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As a young woman sailing alone, Sally Gardiner-Smith's skills have frequently been questioned from Maine to the Bahamas.
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Young sailor becomes vessel mechanic, but there's also time for fishing, sight-seeing in the Bahamas.
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Despite a bilge pump problem Sally plans to get under sail again for exploring.
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In her May 10 update Sally discovers kind and helpful locals - and a problem with her propeller shaft.
Meet Sally Gardiner-Smith
Some of the earliest years of my life were spent traveling on a sailboat with my parents and sister. On two trips, which each lasted about two years, we traveled to Central America, the Caribbean and across the Atlantic to Europe. When first grade rolled around for me, we returned to Woolwich, Maine, and my sister and I were enrolled in public school. But apparently traveling had become part of my personality – when I was 16 I went to Thailand, where I lived with local families and spent a year studying on the country’s eastern coast.
When I graduated from Lincoln Academy in the spring of 2014, I began the process of looking for a boat. And with help from my parents and grandparents, I am now underway on Athena, a 1971 Erikson 29. My little back dog Elli and I have set out for a trip down the East Coast to Florida before we cross over to the Bahamas this winter. Next year it will be back to Florida in time to start school at Eckerd College in the fall.