The 5-Minute Interview: Dee Caffari, Sailor

'I'm focused and driven - and quite nervous'

Dee Caffari, 32, the first woman to have sailed single-handedly non-stop around the world, is leading an all-female team in the Mark Webber Pure Tasmanian Challenge. You can follow her progress on www.spinvox.com.

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

At the team dinner. I'm quite nervous now - it's quite close. The realisation of how tough the adventure is, is really coming home to us now.

A phrase I use far too often is...

Grunt up and get on with it.

I wish people would take more notice of...

The environment. If everybody did something it would be a lot easier to protect the environment which we're slowly destroying.

The most surprising thing that ever happened to me was...

Sailing into the history books. I never dreamt I would get there. It was pretty special.

A common misperception of me is...

People often think I'm more confident than I am. I don't let on that I'm nervous. I'm quite focused and driven - everything I take on I want to do well. The reality is I'm often quite nervous or a little out of my comfort zone.

I'm not a politician but...

I would look after teachers and nurses because they do great jobs.

I'm good at...

Inspiring and motivating.

But I'm very bad at...

Being honest with myself.

The ideal night out is...

Going for a nice meal with friends and family.

In moments of weakness I...

Cry.

You know me as a record-breaking sailor, but in a truer life I...

Still would have looked to push my limits and stretch myself.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

You have to dare to dream and not be afraid to go and try things.

Elisa Bray