Dorm rooms may be small, but Sally Gardiner-Smith isn’t complaining about space.
Her dorm at Eckerd College is big compared to where Gardiner-Smith lived for the past nine months. The 19-year-old sailed from her home in Maine to St. Petersburg on her 29-foot sailboat.
She left home with her dog, Elli, in October.
"It’s nice to do something alone because you prove something to yourself and learn about yourself and what you’re comfortable with or capable of,” Gardiner-Smith said.
But the trip wasn’t without its challenges. Just nine days in, the pair stopped on land and Elli was hit by a car.
"She ran out in front of a car and was hit by a truck so she had to have her back leg removed,” Gardiner-Smith said.
Gardiner-Smith continued on while Elli recovered with her parents in Maine. About a month later, the pair was reunited for the rest of the trip.
Gardiner-Smith said she spent most of her time reading and exploring. She said there were times where she had to use quick thinking to solve problems, like when the boat’s propeller broke.
"I was going through two really rocky islands and it was a very narrow cut and it broke so I lost any forward propulsion I had other than my sails,” Gardiner-Smith.
The pair made it safely to Florida then sailed to the Bahamas before heading to school with some lessons of their own.
"I think I learned how much boating means to me and how much I want to make it my life,” Gardiner-Smith said.
A life that, for now, is grounded at Eckerd College. But Gardiner-Smith said she is already dreaming of the next trip she and Elli will take.