Jon Martins was a qualified tandem sky-diving instructor, parachute packer, and cameraman by the age of 20. After performing thousands of jumps, Jon met tragedy on New Years Eve of 2012 as he experienced a hard landing that caused a spinal fracture, making him an L1 paraplegic.

In his words, “I see it as a gift, a tremendous blessing in my life, but it is necessary to act quickly upon it. When you have these life changing enlightenments and you don’t act quickly, it will just fade away, go in the background and you forget about it”

Jon turned his focus to sailing, becoming the first disabled sailor to circumnavigate New Zealand, to cross the Caribbean Sea, and to singlehand across the Pacific.

But you won’t find him wallowing in the spirit of tragedy and despair.

Deeply philosophical, self analytical, and curious about the world around him, Jon joins Seabird’s John Herlig from his New Zealand home to talk about his life, accomplishments, struggles and aspirations in a fascinating and moving episode.

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