Luke has the internet pretty freaked out over his recent video of him paddleboarding over a thousand miles from land. Photo: Sailing_Songbird//Tiktok
Last year, Luke was a middleschool music teacher with the dream of sailing around the world. Now, he’s crossing the Pacific Ocean solo, and a video of him paddleboarding in the absolute middle of nowhere has the internet pretty freaked out.
Luke, known as sailing_songbird on TikTok, started his journey by quitting his job and selling his belongings to buy a 27-foot sailboat. From there, he spent seven months fixing the craft in his yard, before finally pushing off from Seattle in October. After an initial voyage to Mexico, he’s now crossing the Pacific to French Polynesia.
On Day 31 of the trip, Luke found himself with some time to kill. “I’m stuck here in the doldrums,” he explained in his most recent video. “There is no wind. So I pumped up my inflatable paddleboard and I’m getting some exercise in. It is incredibly disorienting to be out on a paddleboard with absolutely nothing on the horizon except a super cool sunset.”
The post ended up going insanely viral, but it wasn’t just because of the majestic vista or Luke’s inspiring story. Rather, everyone was mostly stressed out about just how terrifyingly far away from the entire world he was. In an aside during the video, Luke showed a pin on Google Maps that proved he was, “just about as far away from land as you can be on this planet.”
It’s not Point Nemo, but its pretty damn far from land. Photo: Sailing_songbird // Tiktok
“I am well over 1,000 miles from any piece of land and it’s so quiet,” he narrated. “This definitely feels like one of the more incredible things I’ve been privileged enough to experience.”
@sailing_songbird So disorienting with nothing on the horizon 🤯 #sailing #solosailor #paddleboard ♬ original sound – R❤️♾️
