The sun shone down on the stern bench as the bright orange wheel spun gently on autopilot, keeping the 47-foot sailboat Alkemi on course to the Marquesas Islands.
A week out of Panama, the passage had been smooth, with the crew of six settling into a comfortable rhythm across the 4,000 nautical miles of open water.
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Then, an email arrived from the Pacific Crossing network that shattered the peace: coronavirus had become a worldwide pandemic, borders were closing fast, and there was nowhere left to land.
Angela found herself confined to a 14-metre vessel with three strangers, a dog, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend—referred to simply as 'the Captain.'
While actor friends back in Los Angeles reported closed restaurants and strict lockdowns, Angela was facing a different kind of confinement.
She was stuck in the middle of the ocean with a partner she had only recently reunited with after a history of red flags.
A History of Escapes
The relationship had begun five years earlier in Austin, Texas, where the Captain lived across the street.
He was much older, divorced, and possessed an adventurous background that drew Angela in, culminating in an epic road trip across the American West.
However, differences in values prompted Angela to end things before moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting. That choice met with a barrage of desperate texts from him.
Two months after her move to Los Angeles, Angela survived a brutal sexual assault by a producer under the guise of a job offer.
