Sailing Story: Zander Nelson

Sailing is a passion that runs in Zander Nelson’s blood. 

“I’ve actually been sailing pretty much my whole life. My father was a sailor and his father was a sailor,” he said. “It’s been a family tradition.”

At age four, he was already sailing with his dad on a Sunfish. By 12, he was racing Lasers. Then, in college, he joined the sailing team and raced FJs and 420s. 

“That was probably the most sailing I’d ever done. We sailed everyday. My coach was a former Olympic sailor,” Zander recalled.

However, after two years of college sailing— Zander realized it just wasn’t a passion he could keep up with. 

“It started eating into my ability to function as a student,” he explained. “My sailing slowed down a bit even though it was something I loved.”

For nearly a decade, sailing receded into an occasional hobby for Zander. 

“That was kind of my MO,” he said. “Just occasionally taking the Laser for a spin, maybe one race a year.”

Then, everything changed. 

“About July of last year I unfortunately got really sick,” Zander explained. “It ended up being cancer.”

What started as an ER visit for vocal cord paralysis ballooned into an abrupt stage 3 cancer diagnosis. 

“It was pretty much the worst testicular cancer you can get. They said I had a 50% chance to live five years,” Zander said. “That was a very traumatic experience. Things in my life were upended. All my priorities were shifting.”

As Zander began chemotherapy treatment, his mind began to wander back to his sailing days.

“During chemo, as all these priorities shifted for me, I thought about what do I really like to do,” he said. “It’s always been being on the water.” 

So while Zander endured the painful process of months of chemotherapy — he also pushed through the pain to go boating. 

“Occasionally on the weekend I would still take one of my motorboats out and those were some of my happiest moments,” he recalled.

However, Zander wanted to do more than just take a motorboat out on the lake. Once he finished treatment, he wanted to get back out on sailboats— and not just the small dinghies he had grown up racing. 

“I just really love the idea of being able to cruise— going to a destination and sleeping on a boat,” he said. “That’s what I was dreaming of all through chemo.”

Chemo wasn’t the end of Zander’s fight against cancer though. In November 2023, he went in for an 11 hour thoracic surgery. Luckily, things went well.

“It was a complete response, the chemo killed everything in there and all that was left in there was basically dead cancer,” Zander explained. 

While this would be far from his last surgery, Zander was ready to get back out on the water. 

“My [latest] surgery was mid-January. Maybe a month later I was on the phone with Genevieve [from Go Sail Virgin Islands],” he explained. “I booked [a Virgin Islands sailing trip for] the next week.”

“I told her about my situation,” Zander said. “I was a little worried but she really comforted me and she told me there wouldn’t really be any obstacles for me to do it.”

So off he went. 

“It was just one of the best trips of my life,” Zander recalled. “I was so proud of myself for being able to do this physically demanding stuff.”

Zander had re-caught the sailing bug. As soon as he got home, he was ready to go out again. 

“Four or five weeks after going out and getting the ASA certifications, I worked with Genevieve to do a bareboat charter,” Zander explained. “It just helped solidify all those feelings that I have to do this more.”

Now, Zander and his girlfriend are in the market to buy their own sailboat. 

“We’re going to start getting pretty serious about it being a big part of our lives,” he said. “I’m going to focus on doing stuff that I love to do. It’s unfortunate that I had to have this experience [with cancer] to realize it.”

While his cancer diagnosis has been a hard pill to swallow, Zander can’t help but find himself somewhat thankful for it. 

“If it didn’t [happen], I would be stuck not appreciating life. Not doing things that make me happy,” he said. “I was caught up in the grind and the monotony of life. This was kind of a blessing— it shocked me into realizing I really need to go after these dreams.”

“I was basically not very happy before all this happened,” Zander reflected. “It has put me in a position where I can be more happy.”