“You don’t fear for your life in the middle of a storm, you can’t really afford to.”

– Ellen MacArthur

Ellen MacArthur became an icon within the sailing fraternity when she set the record as the youngest woman solo sailor to complete the non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in the 2000/2001 Vendee Globe race. She did not win the race, but her ambition, courage and determination to achieve her goals was the key. The key not only to succeed, but rather to make a difference!

Her success started at an early age (17) when she obtained her first record in single-handedly sailing the circumnavigation of Great Britain, and continued with many other achievements including, Mini Transat solo race (placed 17^th), and the Route de Rhum (placed 1^st, and in record time, in her second attempt in 2002). Ellen also captained a round-the-world record attempt for a crewed yacht (this attempt was cancelled when the yacht’s mast broke), and in June 2004 she set a new world record for a transatlantic crossing by a woman (Ambrose Light, lower New York Bay, USA to Lizard Point in Cornwall, UK), beating the previous crewed and single-handed records. Her crowning year though was in 2005 when she beat Francis Joyon’s single-handed, non-stop, round-the-world record.

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Shaun White began his life with a challenge that most would not begin to comprehend. Born with a congenital heart defect, Shaun endured two open-heart operations before his first birthday. This however, did not discourage him. At 4 years of age, Shaun showed a sense of fearlessness as he raced down mountain slopes, chasing his older brother, Jesse, on skis. In an attempt to slow him down, his mother put him on a snowboard, and instructed him to copy everything his brother did. Her idea of slowing Shaun down did the exact opposite.

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